People use Google because the algorithm is a black box that is constantly updated to keep away black hat SEO crap. An open web page ranking algorithm is useless in an adversarial environment. There is no current signal that can’t be trivially gained that doesn’t effectively require mass user surveillance (to see “what’s really popular”).

> 2. “This is why the search engine company should be separate from the company which owns all the other products”

This doesn’t solve the problem. They can still alter top listings to push things for “preferred partners and truths”.