The annoying thing is when you get pages of results for (popular keyword) which is maybe tangentially related to (alternate interpretation of keyword you used).
It's frustrating because it just translates into making Google harder to use, and multiple searches for the same thing are now common. I often see, on a four word search, the top five or so results all having "Missing: word3 word4". I often search for "<thing> <thing I would like to known about it>", and Google goes "Here's some general information about <thing> instead". It's not _useful_.
But does this happen because Google is ranking those results above ones that matched both words, or because nothing on the web matches both words? I'm often unsure what's going on when I experience this.
I think there's historical reference as well. If a site X publishes your exact terms but hasn't posted in a while, site Y that posts regularly appears to me like it'll be above it, even if it contains only a vague interpretation of your search term.
Generally speaking, I can find the information I am looking for, usually by forcing Google to include those words.
There used to be a time where if you typed three words and got zero results, it was "no page on the ENTIRE INTERNET contains those three words." Now it's "these are what the algorithm thinks you want".