Yes, search engines do serve a similar purpose. It's not a very rigorous solution though, and there are plenty of ways to get to a website that don't involve go

Yes, search engines do serve a similar purpose. It's not a very rigorous solution though, and there are plenty of ways to get to a website that don't involve going through a search engine. Leaving aside the UX, I think there's also some value in providing legal authorities with a smoking gun in situations where phishing or other illegal activity does occur using a domain with a EV certificate. The extent to which current EV certs serve that purpose is debatable, but the idea is has merit.