That's far from true. Did you actually use pre-Google search engines? Google was a huge step forward in user experience. And I think they achieved that through significant innovation not just in algorithms, but in using commodity hardware and ops innovations to greatly increase the amount of computation they could use for a given search. And they didn't just have one clever idea; they built an organization that could keep having and applying clever ideas.

But it was also innovative in business terms. Search at the time was monetized like media properties: running a lot of ads that were at best tangential to what users were doing. They instead recognized that a lot of search wasn't great for monetization, but some of it -- where users were looking for something that could be purchased -- was very valuable. So instead of banner ads and all that nonsense, the ended up with AdWords. And instead of selling it via media sales execs, they made a self-serve bidding platform.

If Google had just had a slightly better algorithm, any of the better funded players could have taken them down. But Microsoft has been trying for years to break in and Google still has 90% of the market.

Goto.com did keyword ads well before Google. I think you are just forgetting history to make Google seem super unique.