Google Sr. Software Engineer interview questions

Recruiter sent out numerous interview guides to review before the interview that repeatedly said 'talk out loud'. Interviewers asked questions that had pretty obvious answers so I explained all the more obvious but less optimal solutions before touching on the optimal one. The interviewers spent a lot of time asking about why those weren't optimal and apparently reported this as if I had to be guided to a solution. For what may be the first time ever, I got interview feedback saying I got to the optimal solution but it took some guiding. In summary, I did what the interview prep asked me to do, explain my thought process. This was perceived as if I kept taking the wrong path to the solution.

The screening round was a 45 minute interesting question. The interviewer was good and also provided hints. Overall a very positive experience. I feel that face to face would have been better experience as remote interviews have their own challenges. It took me a while to figure out to switch to google doc rather than the video. Also my unfamiliarity with google meet resulted in wasted 5 mins at the start - did not realise that I had to press a button to start the meeting.