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.
The search problem is largely due to not being the actual customer.
Look at me. I’m the customer now.
If I use ublock or whoogle I may not be customer. But the customer wont get anything from me anyway.
And you won’t get good search results in exchange.