If you've heard of Duck Duck Go, you know that it has hung its hat on your privacy, whereas Google has prioritized company profits. I've been moving my search more and more over to Duck Duck Go, and one big relief from my end is that DDG does believe that this blog exists:
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| I even got ahead of the AI Context Parallelism blog. From August 12, 2026. |
That makes me feel pretty good to know that both Bing and DDG know I exist. Alas, Google still thinks I'm a figment of people's imagination:
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| As of August 12, 2026. |
Their AI doesn't even have the correct blog, much less a direct entry to it. Thanks to Atheren for referencing me at least that one time, which is how Google knows there might be something there.
And for completeness, here's Bing's results:
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| As of August 12, 2026. |
Funny how the graphic they have there is a pretty old one about Mass Effect, but hey, at least I'm at the top of the search results.
I've kind of given up trying to understand why the supposed "best search engine evah" can't find a blog that's been around since 2009 and has over 1800 published posts. I guess they want money from me to suddenly "improve" my search results --I know that Bing does-- which would effectively turn Google into the 2020's version of Yahoo. You know, that's not exactly a comparison I'd be proud of if I were Google.
#Blaugust2026
The reason Duck Duck Go and Bing both find you is that they're basically the same thing. DDG uses Bing for most of its search results. It's even in their FAQ. They talk about having other sources and their own crawler but they mainly outsource to Bing. I used DDG in Firefox for a few months until I realized that and it was a demonstrably inferior experience to using Google search. I frequently had to go to Chrome and use Google to get an actual answer I could use.
ReplyDeleteAs for your bizarre invisibility to Google Search, I don't think they're in the business of targeting individual hobby blogs for monetization. That's tin-foil hat territory. It is extremely weird, though. I just typed ""parallel context" gaming blog" into Google Search and it couldn't find you but above the failed search results, in Gemini's summary, it said
Parallel Context is a long-standing personal gaming blog written by a blogger named Redbeard. It is part of the classic, interconnected community of old-school MMO and RPG bloggers—frequently referenced alongside sites like The Ancient Gaming Noob and Tales of the Aggronaut.Content and ThemesFocuses heavily on MMORPGs, RPG design, and gaming culture.Features regular community traditions like "Meme Monday".Discusses game difficulty, player power fantasies, and specific titles like Rift and WildStar.
That includes a hyperlink to the two other blogs mentioned but not to yours. I asked a follow-up question to Google, the answer to which may mean more to you than it does to me. Warning - it's long. (Actually too long for the comment section - I'll put it in a second comment...)
And we go on...
ReplyDeleteMy question: Following the previous query and reply, can you explain why the gaming blog Parallel Context does not appear in Google Search results? It isn't even directly linked in Gemini's AI summary.
Gemini's answer: The primary reason Parallel Context doesn't appear prominently in traditional Google Search results or direct AI summary citations is due to its domain platform architecture (Blogspot/Blogger) combined with a common SEO issue known as "snippet suppression" or indexing gaps.When looking for the site, Google primarily indexes external references to it, such as mentions from The Ancient Gaming Noob and blogrolls on Tales of the Aggronaut (via Mailvaltar).Why Search Engines Struggle with This Blog1. Platform-Level Technical IssuesThe blog is hosted on a blogspot.com subdomain (parallelcontext.blogspot.com). Google frequently applies strict duplicate content and security filters to older Blogspot sites. If a blog relies heavily on a generic layout or unoptimized JavaScript templates, search crawlers may deprioritize it as a "low-authority passage".2. Robots.txt or "Noindex" RestrictionsOlder personal blogs often inadvertently have technical blockages. If the blogger accidentally toggled a privacy setting in the Blogger dashboard, a noindex tag or a strict robots.txt rule tells Googlebot not to crawl the site. As a result, the engine can only view other people talking about the blog, but cannot display the site itself.3. Structural Gaps for AI SystemsLarge Language Models and Answer Engines like Gemini synthesize data by looking for highly structured, clear text formatting. AI Overviews require clean, liftable text passages. When an AI searches for Parallel Context, it pulls from syndicated gaming communities like Massively OP because those sites have optimized SEO, schematics, and high topical authority.4. Natural Algorithmic BuryingThe blog has a relatively low volume of direct organic search traffic. Because modern Google Search prioritizes highly active domains with strong backlinks, deep-cut niche personal journals get buried under commercial aggregates, even if they have been active for years.Here is a look at how companies optimize content to prevent getting hidden by modern search filters:0:22The search game just changed. Here's how to ...29 days agoInstagram · NorthernIf you want to access the site directly, you can bypass search engines entirely. Would you like me to help you formulate a list of exact archived URLs or specific blog feeds for Parallel Context that you can copy directly into your browser address bar?
I asked it for those links etc. but what it gave me was generic to blogspot,. not to Parallel Context. It does seem ironic that three divisions of Google - Search, Blogger and Gemini, can't share their own information accurately between themselves but that seems to be what's going on.
I do apologize for the lack of formatting in that wall of text. I'd normally have tidied it up and made it readable but my PC already crashed on me once while I was doing that and I just wanted to make sure it got posted.
DeleteThanks for an independent verification of what is happening. I received similar info from Google when I was chasing this stuff down, although it's more explicit in its "issues". I did fix robots.txt where there were issues, but I've also gotten "can't read" results for my sitemap.txt file, which I find abjectly hilarious because Bing can read it and it is automatically generated by Blogger.
DeleteAs for my tinfoil hat speculation, both Bing and Google have thrown stuff at me on my Search Consoles about "improving my search engine optimization", and when I curiously clicked on it, I discovered it's a service that they charge for. So yeah, they both want some money to help "optimize" my search results.
The irony is that unless I go viral Google won't prioritize the blog, but I can't go viral unless other people find the blog and reference it. It's a vicious circle that seems designed to emphasize popularity over accuracy.
I should make one clarification about the search optimization services: while Google is more along the lines of "here's a service if you want to pay for it", Microsoft is much more up front in pushing their paid services. Both don't inform you that it's a paid service until you inquire about it, which is a clever way of trying to get you hooked, but I also consider Microsoft's more explicit push to monetize your search akin to a used auto dealer trying to sell you a car.
DeleteI never have trouble finding your blog using Google search, but they sure don’t have a jazzy AI overview on you. That’s so odd, you’ve been prominent forever. Foolish Google. Atheren
ReplyDeleteNot going to argue with you on the "foolish Google" part!
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