I consider myself a digital archaeologist, a firm believer in what I like to call the "dead internet" theory—or at least most aspects of it. Sure, I might overlook the disappearing friends, the people who move on, switch favorite websites, or sadly, even pass away. But hey, that's just a part of life. We all move on, don't we? Besides, in the past, we used to be more open to exploring new websites, unlike today where most individuals confine themselves to a mere handful of sites they visit daily. And when it comes to online shopping, people tend to stick to a maximum of three locations, unless they're searching for something extremely niche.

Just think about it for a moment. When was the last time you stumbled upon someone's homepage by accident? You weren't even actively searching for it, but as fate would have it, your keyword or boolean search led you there, and you found it utterly captivating and right up your alley. Back around 2014, people stopped actively seeking out new websites and even lost interest in creating their own. Even corporations joined the bandwagon, abandoning their individualism to embrace social media sites. Gone were the days when start-ups and small businesses could leverage the power of the internet to compete with the big players. Today, it's all about paying to play.

And let's not forget the ever-changing maze of search engine optimization (SEO). Unless you're a big corporation with deep pockets to hire staff solely dedicated to keeping up with Google's SEO algorithms, you can pretty much kiss visibility goodbye. Google has now transformed into nothing more than a never-ending favorite links page. Gone are the days when we used multiple search engines to dig deeper into the online realm. The search results rarely extend beyond the first few pages, and if your SEO expertise only guarantees you a spot on page 55, well, good luck with that! Sure, they say most people never venture beyond the first three pages, but some of us did, remember? Some of us desired more.

Back in the day, certain search engines allowed us to customize our preferences extensively. We could choose how many links we wanted displayed on a single page, reorder the index based on various metrics, or even start browsing from the last page and work our way back. I vividly recall my days of studying for my GED, scouring the internet for relevant information. I would search for a particular topic across multiple search engines and browsers. When I looked up "video," for instance, the search results would present me with a diverse list of 100 videos. Surprisingly, several of them weren't even on Google; instead, they came from personal homepages, private sites, and YouTube competitors. Yet, all of them were relevant to my interests. That was the beauty of early internet exploration.

Sadly, this landscape has drastically changed. Nowadays, when you type in a search query, all roads seem to lead to Google or Google-approved sites, and let's not forget the plethora of bogus encyclopedias. But somehow, we tolerate it. Have you ever wondered what happens when you visit a modern webpage using a non-Google search engine or browser? Brace yourself, for you'll find it loaded with several Google, API, and FB apps, and AWS even if there isn't a single trace of Google branding. It's as if these three companies—the web's modern zombies—have taken over, manipulating our online experiences without us even realizing it.

I, for one, hail from the early days of computers. I fondly reminisce about a time when they were a source of joy and excitement, when stumbling upon a unique, undiscovered homepage would leave me eager to share it with my friends. But alas, those days are past. The internet, as we once knew it, is dead. We know exactly which three companies were responsible for its demise. But fear not, my fellow digital adventurers, for the internet still thrives in the underground realms. Welcome to the era of the "Zombification of Internet Search," where once vibrant exploration has been compromised.