> if Google wasn't there and Altavista was the incumbent, would it be any different, or was the enshittification of search inevitable? You might not remember t

> if Google wasn't there and Altavista was the incumbent, would it be any different, or was the enshittification of search inevitable? You might not remember this, but before Google, paid search placement was par for the course. One of Google's innovations, one of the things that really endeared it to users was clearly labeling their ads. So, yes - it was inevitable. And, in fact, Google probably staved it off at least a decade; maybe more.