Wasn't Google's original appeal the lack of clutter?
Yes
I meant, the "no ads" thing was only feasible in the very beginning, when they were solely funded by venture capital.
Ads are fine in the form of search results that are clearly marked as sponsored. The issue with ads are when they are manipulative, intrusive, obnoxious or have sketchy data collecting
It is incredible looking back to 2005 and realizing that the world has 1.5 billion MORE people today and the number of internet users grew by ~5.5 billion. Doesn't really explain Google's changes - still remarkable how different the internet was that Google built its search platform around.
Wasn't Google's original appeal the lack of clutter?
Yes
I meant, the "no ads" thing was only feasible in the very beginning, when they were solely funded by venture capital.
Ads are fine in the form of search results that are clearly marked as sponsored. The issue with ads are when they are manipulative, intrusive, obnoxious or have sketchy data collecting
It is incredible looking back to 2005 and realizing that the world has 1.5 billion MORE people today and the number of internet users grew by ~5.5 billion. Doesn't really explain Google's changes - still remarkable how different the internet was that Google built its search platform around.