Yeah, it definitely feels like Google has gotten into this phase of a monopoly where you just stop trying. It was specifically Google that used to have all kinds of advanced user thingamabobs, now they actively make it harder on advanced users.
I’m shocked at how good DuckDuckGo is these days. I switched my desktop and laptop to it months ago.
Maps on it are still awful, so for the moment my cell is using Google.
DDG has been my daily driver for years now. Except for very occasional very esoteric programming questions, I see no reason to switch back.
DDG maker also has a history of selling users' info to the highest bidder