This hits the nail on the head. I feel like Google results have gotten worse not because technical problems need to be solved, but because the financial incentives means that I'm now scrolling through tons of ads, little "tidbits" that have just gotten more annoying over time, AMP carousels, and god forbid I'm searching for anything that happened over 20 years ago that has any slight resemblance to a current event - all I get are pages and pages about the current event, and Google has "memory-holed" the past.

IMO, all startups have a sweet-spot where they've figured out what the market needs, and they can be profitable, but they haven't yet sucked that bone dry to where they're forced to extend more tentacles to grow their revenue. For Google, for me, that was about the 2007-2012 time frame.

Any other competitor would have the same financial pressures eventually. Long term, it's impossible to "not be evil".