Google search results
 

Perhaps my googling game is off or out of date but why is every search result now trying to sell me something? I know the google makes money off of ads (hell, my 'job' is paid by google ads) but this ad business is getting ridiculous. I remember not so long ago you could search the google and it would give you answers to your questions without trying to sell you something. Or led you to a website that had information you were looking for. Apparently those days are over.

I've just spent the past 3 hours trying to find out how (or if it's even possible) to adjust the belt tension on my push mower. The first 6 pages are all sites trying to sell me a new belt. Or some other part. Or a new mower all together. All I wanna know is how to make my mower stop turning wheels when I let go of the drive lever. I never did find an answer. Or even come close to one.

And it's not just this. The other day I was trying to find out what makes mushroom popcorn, mushroom popcorn. No, I don't want to buy mushroom popcorn, I want to know what makes it different than butterfly popcorn!

Is anyone else experiencing this? Or do I just not know how to use the google anymore?

And as an added rant, after this 3 hour foray, I found absolutely nothing about this problem. Every result that came up about a belt being changed or a problem with it was for riding mowers. Or Toro mowers. No, I need MTD. Push mower. Self propelled. Rear wheel drive. I was using 8 and 10 words to search and it still wasn't specific enough. I've done all the google tricks in the book to narrow the results and nothing works anymore (*, -, " ", 'or', etc). I miss library books and paper instruction manuals.

Been like that for years now. Bing is worse. Sometimes I just search youtube for info.

Seahawk turned me on to duckduckgo, which seems okay

A youtube search under "mower belt tension" came up with these options. For "how to's" I usually go to youtube first.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=How+to+adjust+mower+belt+tens ion

It is interesting that Google seems to work differently in different parts of the world.
I dont get any ads when using Google?!

Far too many people are too open to suggestion when it comes to buying items.

I know exactly what I want when shopping (online, and in stores) and will not be "sold" something I wasn't looking for. I can't imagine just browsing through stores hoping something catches my eye (and extra cash).

I just put in: push mower adjust belt tension

No ads....exactly what you were looking for "I think" ....

What do y'all get?

My googlefu is powerful stuff ;)

I plead guilty....seems to only happen on this site though. I blame Higgins and a whole bunch of other undercover salesmen that lurk here :)

On the first page I get 7 results for adjusting belts on riding mowers, 2 for Honda push mowers and 1 for a Troy-Bilt. None of which apply to my mower. That's why I try to narrow down the search by adding in the details. When I do finally manage to get a result, it's for a front wheel drive MTD which has a completely different setup than my rear wheel drive MTD.

But I think part of the problem also is that I was looking for how to replace the belt hoping it would mention something about adjusting the tension somewhere since the manual pretty much tells you to just slap a new one on and go. Interesting that if you remove the word 'replacement' then most of the ads go away. :confused: Still haven't found what I'm looking for but that's a start.

Absolutely.

Which mower is it? Model #? Some have a clamp where the cable attaches to the handle, that can be loosened to adjust the cable tension. Another common problem is grass buildup on the transmission which can cause the clutch to not work properly. Rusted away /broken return springs are common too.

Try: push mower adjust belt tension mtd rear

Didn't look at most of the results though....hope this helps....good luck!

I don't get a bunch of ads....fwiw.

20minute videos with multiple popups and ads paused in the middle is now more efficient than HotBot/AltaVista/Lycos?
Seems like we've regressed a bit.

(oh, and when the internet becomes 100% 'personalized'...)

A little sifting through UTube, there's always something close to or exactly what you're looking for. As a matter of fact UTube should present the viewer a online degree after 50 views or more. It's my go to.

Yes, Sir.

Talking to customer. "I kinda think your frammitz valve on your kermit palzer is sucking air in only from the left orifice"

"How much will that cost?"

"Well, not sure because you have a 66 Citroen. Let me research."

"66 Citroen right kermit palzer orifice blockage"

Surveillance capitalism=Google= evil
Now they own YouTube, they even control what you watch.

Many times, when using Google search function, it's how you phrase the question that yeilds the desired results. If I can't find what i'm looking for the first attempt, I try different wording for the next attempt. Usually, through dilligence, I can find the answer in short order.

Agreed, that YouTube most often has a obscure video of someone who has recorded thier efforts for your viewing pleasure. I don't feel the need to record everything I do, but am glad that other people do.