Yep - imagine a world where most the top search results are subscription only. That's a terrible UX for a Google searcher to have to go past page 1 to actually have content. Google definitely doesn't want that, and its also anti-open web

I actually would find it useful if Google had an indicator like 3 pay-walled results omitted, show them?

At least being able to know it exists can help consumers decide if they should pay for an article/subscription.

if Google is going to accommodate pay-walled results like that, you can expect this indicator won't just show/hide 3 high quality pay-walled results, but also 30 shitty ones that will want to get in on the potential pay-wall business.

Google could charge paywalled sites to make such a feature, but as a user I never want to see that.

> a link to blocked content is not very helpful most of the time

That's called advertising, but the WSJ will have to buy ads like everyone else.