Why doesn't Spotlight reveal searched item if it is inside a Desktop folder

Scvenario:
I created a folder on Desktop called Test into which I placed two Word documents and one pdf document.
Then I went to Spotlight and had it search for these documents.
Spotlight listed every occurrence of these items EXCEPT their presence in the Desktop folder.
In seven years of Mac ownership, I never knew this.
So if I have several folders on the Desktop into which I have put a number of items, there appears no way to locate a specific item via Spotlight but only by opening each folder separately and looking into it.
Surely this can't be right.
Thanks

I have some new information:
I created a folder on the Desktop called XXXXXXXX
Into this I dropped a Word document and gave it a name that is not present anywhere in the computer.
Then I went to Spotlight. It finds the document in Word but makes no mention of the XXXXXXXX file.
HOWEVER, when I click "Get Info", it shows the document to be in folder XXXXXXXX
I have a friend whom I am trying to get to clean up his Desktop on which resides perhaps sixty files/folders. I want him to put these items into a couple of folders. He maintains he will not be able to find the files. He knows very little about computers, and I am trying to make this as easy as possible.
But Spotlight will not pinpoint a file inside a Desktop folder unless we click Get Info.
Why???

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