Pagerank definitely made a difference - but I've always argued that the speed of Google results also was a major factor in winning over consumers (and something

Pagerank definitely made a difference - but I've always argued that the speed of Google results also was a major factor in winning over consumers (and something I rarely hear people mention). I remember the first time I saw results from Google, I simply couldn't believe they could have delivered them that quickly. I think Google's success can be attributed to the "4x factor" - that is, that in order to change consumer behavior, you need a solution that is not the same or twice as good as current technology - you need a solution that is, at minimum, 4 times better. That's what Google Search delivered (and the iPhone, Uber, et al). So for me it is easy to understand why people don't switch to Bing or whatever - their results are maybe, at best, 1.5x as good as Google - not good enough to alter behavior.