Google knows exactly what it is doing. This article goes into it (linking to Hacker News as clicking through them might bypass the article paywall).
Speaking on the enshitification of Google search, did anyone else notice they restored the Discussions search functionality? Ten years ago they removed it (tbm=dsc), but it is now back as the Forums tab. I first noticed it would show up on some search terms back in February when I was visiting the US. But there was no way of forcing it through a URL and it never appeared again when I returned home. But it appears they have rolled it out globally and there is now a URL parameter, udm=18, to force it.
