Comment by hn_throwaway_99

Even without looking at the subjective quality of search results, the sheer user hostility of the design of the Google search results page is an obvious, objective instance of how search has enshittified.

That is, in the early days, Google used to highlight that "search position couldn't be gamed/bought" as one of their primary differentiators, ads were clearly displayed with a distinct yellow background, and there weren't that many ads. Nowadays, when I do any remotely commercial search the entire first page and a half at least on mobile is ads, and the only thing that differentiates ads from organic results is a tiny piece of "Sponsored" text.