alt Hacker NewsI haven't noticed this because in all of the above examples the first result is the one I want, almost without exception. In a scenario where the top result or two is correct, showing other stuff after result 3 doesn't sound that bad.
What sorts of searches are you doing? My guess is this really matters and that you're using search for a completely different purpose to me, but I don't know what that is.
I'm not the person you were asking, but broadly speaking, almost any instructional video.
How do I do/fix/repair/cook/make XYZ?
It's a complete lottery whether the top 3 results will actually answer the question and they usually won't.