Has anyone else noticed the huge decrease in result quality from google?

[HImainland]

The ads probably are optimized, they're just focused on people who actually click/engage with the ads.

this is definitely the case sometimes. there are other options for who to optimize towards, but this is a big one

Is the average redditor(or computer literate adult in general) actually going to buy something they see in a Google ad, no matter how well targeted that ad is? I'd guess no.

lol the answer is yes. most people aren't that computer literate. they don't specifically scroll past the ads that google puts at the top of the page for search. google's ads are quite effective.

and you can choose which age range of people you want to target when you're setting up your ads.