I suspect that this is the direct result of AI generated content just overwhelming any real content.
I tried ddg, google, bing, quant, and none of them really help me find information I want these days.
Perplexity seems to work but I don’t like the idea of AI giving me “facts” since they are mostly based on other AI posts
ETA: someone suggested SearXNG and after using it a bit it seems to be much better compared to ddg and the rest.
I asked Google why search engines are so bad now and its AI summaries its own deficiencies quite well:
Some say search engines have declined in quality due to a number of factors, including:
Search engine optimization (SEO) spam A wave of SEO spam has contributed to the decline in search result quality.
Affiliate marketing Affiliate link sites contribute to the low-quality content that floods the internet.
AI-generated content New technology can quickly produce low-quality content.
Marketing Search results are filled with marketing and links that may not be relevant to the query.
Recommender algorithms Some say the algorithm that recommends content is a mess. For example, someone might be recommended alt-right content after watching a click-bait video.
Ads Google’s biggest business is advertising, and it’s inserting more ads into its products to make more money.
Some say it’s harder to find specific information these days, and that search operators are often needed to filter search results.