I do remember that from the 90s. There were whole books with google search tips. The extra syntax that you needed to know.
The meaning of quoting search terms (all 3 different ones). The + and - things: +term -term. The special syntaxes "site:", the use of asterisks within quoted search terms, "define:", "link:", "related:", "...", "nearby", "filetype:", ...
And then the many "soft" tips, like leaving out unimportant words and so on.
I mean it was ... euhm ... well I remember it was all kinda cool (and it still works !), but ... today it is better.
The human mind is far greater than the sum of the algorithms - when we allow it to be.