Google was supplying the search results for Yahoo in the year 2000, long before Adwords. Yahoo was one of the biggest portals at the time. I really don't understand how you can say Google was not relevant before Adwords.
Google was the king of the search business back then, and that was long before Adwords came along.
Adwords was not critical to Googles share when it came to searches. Google was growing massively, everyone was paying attention to Google long before Adwords came on the scene.
Adwords allowed Google make money, but it did not contribute to growth in search.
Who was the major player in search at the time Adwords was introduced? Ask.com? Lycos? Altavista? Or perhaps, Yahoo, powered by Google?
Your position has gotten a bit blurred the more you argue. To clarify again:
- My statement is that Google was a rapidly growing search engine because they made the right UI decisions
- Your statement seems to be that without adwords, Google would have stopped growing and ultimately failed
Am I understanding your argument wrongly? Because it does not make much sense.