I agree with the conclusions of the article, and I am no fan of Amazon or search ads on any product.

However, I would like to play devil's advocate for a moment to brainstorm another issue.

Let's say I build a product that is better than others in the market. We all agree that competition is good becuase it leads to better products and lower prices.

However, the algorithm favors entrenched players. A product that has been bought many times and has positive reviews will be the first in the search results and people usually buy that. Which means I have no way to compete other than paying my way at the top of the list.

I'm not stating this as the ultimate solution or even a good one. But I think it's worth to ask the question.