Search Engines and Run Down Shopping Malls

search engine results have become advertising in disguise, with the first 10 results either being flat out ads or those who spent a lot of money on advertising or shifty SEO tricks to show up first. It’s like a run-down shopping mall, with no local products or employees and chain stores selling knock-off products rather than the high quality ones.

Wow, that kind of nails it right on the head. I think very specific technical queries still give decent results but anything consumer, like “best laptop for college kids”, is absolutely worthless.