I don't agree with the premise of the article, although I accept that the example given is clearly terrible.

I haven't noticed it before, is it a recent bug? It certainly seems a significant one, but not representative of my experience using Google - which I also acknowledge is skewed according to the data they have on you and SEO gaming.

But generally - those constraints acknowledged - I still find Google's search to be one of the modern wonders of the world, still the go to, and - yes - not perfect.