Sometimes you can choose to make a website whose sole purpose isn't to attract Google Search traffic, and that's OK! Not every website has to rank in Google Search to be useful.

but that isn't really true. google gets ~80% of the searches on the web. that means that if someone who isn't conforming to google's frankly arbitrary ranking system is being censored, to use strong language.

> but that isn't really true. google gets ~80% of the searches on the web.

Not every destination started as a web search.

Case in point, the list of links on this very site that we're all commenting on. This discussion didn't start with a google search. Google was never involed at all. Not everything on the web goes through google search. Nearly all searches go through Google, but there's a hell of a lot more to the web than searches.

As also evidenced by some of the largest & most visited sites driving a ton of non-search traffic - like reddit. And facebook. And twitter. And etc...

google's frankly arbitrary ranking system

Oh, it's anything but arbitrary. It's totally strategic, which is why people pushing back against them being able to dictate web policies is exactly the right thing to do.

I now see people link these "amp" web links, where the domain you are linking to isn't the domain you are trying to reach.

That's one step away from somebody seeing

    paypal.ampstuff.com

and thinking it's ok and then getting ripped off.

No.

How does one do that when browsers have the search and address bars merged?

You content yourself with the users that type https:// before your site name and never make a typo?

I think we’re at the point with the internet where modern design is inversely proportional to good content. I find more stuff on half-forgotten .edu sites, old.reddit threads, and weird forums than anything “responsive” nowadays. Most of the nice looking sites are just regurgitating stuff from the older, rougher ones anyway.