Why Google Doesn't Help You Learn
Google's SEO creates a massive roadblock for learners at the start of their journey
Have you ever started on a mission to learn or do something, all excited, and suddenly felt all your energy whoosh away completely after going through the first few Google search results? You would not be alone if you ever felt like this.
In today’s day and age, deciding to learn or do something new is in itself an achievement since that means we were able to overcome the overload of choice of things to learn or do and made a commitment (even if temporary)! With that said and done, when we take the first step, open up our laptop and go on to Google, at the peak of our drive and motivation, everything that happens from that point onward is a downer.
You see Google has incentivized content marketers to pen down gigantic, comprehensive “guides” to learn or do anything under the sun so that their pages can appear towards the top of the search results. This works through a mechanism called SEO. You would have heard of it.
Now, this is hardly what a beginner needs. In fact, this is the exact opposite of what a beginner needs. A beginner needs a simple, toned-down primer on just a few basic things they need to do to get started. Ideally, in a plaintext format.
The current way Google presents results has an adverse effect on beginners in terms of possibly scaring them off again to an indecisive state as they assume that there is a mountain to climb ahead.
Ideally, there should be a platform that, unlike Google, enables beginners to take the first few baby steps through a welcoming process and then offers effective expertise in a step-by-step manner as and when they need it. This could be partly automated and partly human-driven.
That is the search platform beginners need. Not Google. But such a platform doesn’t exist. Yet.
Very well called out Sudip. In this age of information overload, it is common to get distracted and losing track. And its not just about social media out there that's distracting. Just like how you mentioned navigating Google for learning a specific area can be a maze in itself.
The way out is relentless focus, prioritization and a guided journey for the learner.