[yummypaint]

I think this change is paralelled by gradual changes to search itself. Google seems to be aiming to deliver short answers to such queries without users leaving google at all. It's like a library card catalog that doesn't want you to actually pick up and read a book. I think this is also part of why tech companies push voice search so hard, because it better confines the user to the search provider's ecosystem where they can be spoon fed curated information. Companies then pay to influence how users are steered by the "search" results. End user freedom is less profitable.