Wow, the silence is deafening. This is a good, highly relevant article, @yourmarklubbers. I wrote about this type of stuff in a three-part Google Series, a few years back.
I think this could still be useful, even though much of it has become outdated. One thing I noticed...do you remember the push for "Privacy Search Engines?" I do. They were all taken over or crushed by the big guys.
Google Turns a Massive Monopolistic Eye in the Direction of Privacy Search Engines
https://hive.blog/informationwar/@canusapatriots/google-turns-a-massive-monopolistic-eye-in-the-direction-of-privacy-search-engines
Yes I do remember that, and I was a person who embraced Duck Duck Go as a valid alternative. So this shocked me and I had to write about it.
Ya, figured they were corrupt a while back too...did you read any of those articles? You'll see what I mean... You know all the search engines typically use each other's algorithms, right? At least in part. Even the new ones I've checked out blatantly do this. Presearch comes to mind. Yes, you can shut stuff off... but most won't.
Mostly now it's just the smaller ones using Google's search results, which is why they're still so similar when you compare them. Also, most people still register with Google or its affiliates so that gives em a whack of power.
Probs still a random few specialized ones, if you look hard enough, but the way forward is to avoid SE's and lilly-pad-hop, using the recommended websites from your trusted sites, bookmarks and going direct to source whenever possible.