BonesOfTheMoonExactly. Delete Reddit.
This ain’t just Google. SEO effectively killed all search engines. As an IT guy who’s been googling shit before I was 10, I can’t find shit anymore.
As a programmer and system admin, I’ve been using Google since its inception, too. I can’t think of an instance that I’ve failed to find whatever I’m looking for in recent times. People say what you’re saying a lot, so I don’t doubt you. It just makes me wonder what it is you guys are searching for because I search for some extremely obscure stuff quite often with no issues. This is all say, I have a fair share of qualms with Google, but the search engine itself isn’t one of them.
I’ve seen a few people mention exactly what you said, so either it’s Google A/B testing some dumb shit, or it’s because you haven’t been using Google the same way I have in the past. I don’t just look for information that is objective, few years back, Google was very good at providing links to articles with steps to do X. Nowadays it always redirects me to sites where words related to X are mentioned the most, rather than providing useful information.