My recent changes towards more privacy friendlier life

You may have already seen it but have you had a look at Kagi? It has a “small web” lens which specifically searches for things like personal blogs or small independent sites. It’s paid of course but I have to say, as a doubter for a long time and only a recent convert, I absolutely love it. The results are great, it’s privacy focussed and it’s incredibly customizable. If you want to you can even write custom CSS to make it look exactly how you want, I’ve had a lot of fun with that feature recently.