https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-beat-Google/answer/M...
A few competitors such as you.com are in the works. I think there’s a lot of potential, but the ranking algorithm is going to need to be decentralized (aka user-configurable) in some way. This configuration would also need to be sharable, maybe something akin to an App Store, because not all users can be asked to be technical enough to configure everything.
There is an enormous amount of wasted value stemming from the disconnect between what Google thinks the user wants to see, and what the user actually wants to see.
If I had to guess why this happened, I’m betting that Google and others had a notion that AI and other advances could eventually approximate a user’s needs to a degree that would keep up with the demand. But the monopoly set in and there was no longer an incentive to innovate that far. I’m sure Google tried, but not to a degree that would have happened if the competition had really stepped it up, or even existed. However, I’m sure by now there’s less optimism that the above effort is even a solvable problem, or one worth solving. One-size-fits-all is extremely suboptimal, but that paradigm is Google at its core. Without a paradigm shift, it’s diminishing returns all the way.
What Google is good at, however, is monetizing what they do have. If you’re trying to challenge them in the monetization game, with the same business model competing for the same customers (advertisers), you most certainly will lose. Seriously, don’t do that. Get to unicorn status first.
Focus on the tech, make sure the business model isn’t competing with the giants, and say no to any buyout offer from Big Tech.