That's very true, and useful information, but it's the kind of thing only a sophisticated searcher does. Very occasionally I still use extended search syntax.

That's very true, and useful information, but it's the kind of thing only a sophisticated searcher does. Very occasionally I still use extended search syntax. On the other hand, back in the 90s it was a practical necessity to use extended search syntax with services like AltaVista to find anything because search engines were basically terrible. Google on the other hand has and continues to expend considerable effort to ensure such syntax is unnecessary 99.9%+ of the time. Consequently very few people know it any more. Combine this with the fact that in order to use the extended search syntax effectively you often need at least some understanding of what you're searching for (e.g., at least the ability to discern bad vs. good information), and you can quickly see why the average Joe is going to end up seeing and quite possibly believing the false information. (I, for example, not being any kind of foodie, only know that it takes much longer than 10 minutes to caramelise onions specifically because I saw a friend who is a foodie do it a few years ago. He specifically made the point that it takes ages, otherwise you lose the sweet flavour. If that hadn't happened I'd believe it takes 10 minutes because Google said so.)