A design pattern with humans in the loop: 4-up evolution.

This is the MidJourney style feedback pattern I mentioned last week.

Provide 4 different options and allow the user to pick the one they like the best.

10 blue links is a kind of version of this, but without a feedback loop that puts you at a new similar decision immediately.

If the search results were good enough, you click a link and are satisfied and don't come back.

If the results aren't good enough, you might refine your query and issue another one and try again.

Almost every MidJourney user session presumably has many iteration cycles, whereas Google Search sessions presumably have 1.1 (or less) iteration cycles.

It allows the user to be in the driver's seat, but without having to be proactive.

It gives them waves to surf to their goals.

A Google search with only an I'm feeling lucky would have to hit an impossibly high standard to hit.

The likelihood a given query was not good enough is way higher.

10 blue links is way more forgiving, and gives a quality gradient to climb up.