[joshvm]

> When price comparison search engines were all the rage, Google realised that if the "purchase" button led off-site, that was a marker that an intermediary was pushing the price up through affiliate schemes, so started to push those down in the rankings.

This hasn't gone away at all. Do a search for any "best X" and you'll find a slew of review websites for the best X which are stutfed with Amazon affiliate links.

It's virtually imoossible to find reviews of household items that are trustworthy. I've resorted to appending things like "reddit" and looking on eg /r/buyitforlife.