[kibwen]

> Nobody wants to block the GoogleBot

This only remains true as long as website operators think that Google Search is useful as a driver of traffic. In tech circles Google Search is already considered a flaming dumpster heap, so let's take bets on when that sentiment percolates out into the mainstream.

[dageshi]

If it reaches the point where google is no longer a useful driver of traffic then there's probably little point in having a website at all any more.

[5h]

Strange take ... I seem to remember websites having a lot of point before google.

[dageshi]

They had a point back then because no alternatives existed.

How many websites back then would be youtube channels, podcasts or social media accounts if they had existed back then?

Nowadays most sites survive via traffic from google, if it goes away then most of those sites go away as well.

[pixl97]

They had a lot or point because....

1. They were a major site that was an initial starting point for traffic

2. Search engines pointed to them and people could locate them.

---

That was all a long time ago. Now people tend to go to a few 'all in one sites'. Google, reddit, '$big social media'. Other than Google most of those places optimize you to stay on that particular site rather than go to other people's content. The 'web' was a web of interconnectedness. Now it's more like a singularity. Once you pass the event horizon of their domain you can never escape again.