I'd go further than this and ask why pretty much everything is awful.
This issue comes up a lot when people talk about Google "stealing" content or favoring their own properties. I think there's some merit to this argument and it's worth monitoring but the other side is that Google ends up embedding things in search results because the sites for those things are both trivial and awful.
Example: go Google "mortgage calculator". You will get exactly what you want embedded at the top. Put in the principal, loan length and interest rate and it'll tell you waht the payment is.
Now go click on any of the links on the first page. You will get hammered by ads. You will get pages that split their calculators over multiple pages to get more ad impressions. The whole experience is just plain awful.
So it's no surprise to me that Google just embedded their own for what is really a trivial function. As a user I much prefer that and would hate to see any government action forbid such a thing.
So, WebMD. WebMD is an example of all the bad incentives that make those mortgage calculators terrible. It's all about maximizing ad impressions.
Now I absolutely hate Google AMP but I also understand the motivation for it (even if I vehemently disagree with the solution). So many sites are just plain awful and slow.
Exceptions to the "slow and awful" principle are rare but exist. Stack Overflow is a prime example.
This issue comes up a lot when people talk about Google "stealing" content or favoring their own properties. I think there's some merit to this argument and it's worth monitoring but the other side is that Google ends up embedding things in search results because the sites for those things are both trivial and awful.
Example: go Google "mortgage calculator". You will get exactly what you want embedded at the top. Put in the principal, loan length and interest rate and it'll tell you waht the payment is.
Now go click on any of the links on the first page. You will get hammered by ads. You will get pages that split their calculators over multiple pages to get more ad impressions. The whole experience is just plain awful.
So it's no surprise to me that Google just embedded their own for what is really a trivial function. As a user I much prefer that and would hate to see any government action forbid such a thing.
So, WebMD. WebMD is an example of all the bad incentives that make those mortgage calculators terrible. It's all about maximizing ad impressions.
Now I absolutely hate Google AMP but I also understand the motivation for it (even if I vehemently disagree with the solution). So many sites are just plain awful and slow.
Exceptions to the "slow and awful" principle are rare but exist. Stack Overflow is a prime example.