I switched to using startpage.com recently based on a comment I read on Lemmy and I've been generally pretty pleased with the results. Just one more google service I can stop relying on.

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Ecosia! I did try Kagi, and honestly did not understand the appeal.

On a semi-related note, I used to know a friend that worked at a small tech company (won't say whom, since the company's still around and they still work there) that, if memory serves, worked directly with Google to provide clients higher search results for their services/webpages. While I know this isn't the exact cause of the enshittification, it certainly helps.

Take this with a grain of salt though, I don't remember exactly what they said, and that was quite some years ago.