Can you find any flaws in this statement: the better a search engine gets the less reasons searchers have to even look at the ads that accompany the search results, let alone clicking them.
Or in other words, the ratio: Search-Results/Ads clicks should get bigger and bigger, the better the search engine gets.
To make the point even clearer, if the internet had a perfect SE, would you click ads there? Why?
So how come Google keep making so much money from its SE?
The main reason: They have two categories and give very different quality of results for each one.
The first category is when their AI knows in advance it won't show any ads along with the results. Examples are when you search something specific in Linux, Mac, Windows, or some functionality in a specific program like a word processor or a spreadsheet, when you search lyrics of a poem, some event in history and so on. In those searches there is a very little chance of squeezing any money from the searcher.
The second category is when there is a much higher chance to squeeze money from the searcher. Then and there you get your ads along with the results.
The secret is: In the second category the search results are quite shit usually.
How is the secret kept? I'll quote from a great post that should've got much more attention by now IMO (https://write.as/vaela/using-the-left-weapons-against-them-quickly-and-swiftly):
"The good results where no ads appear are really just a hidden advertisement, to lure users to believe they're always getting good results".
"…they also apply what can be called "One hand washes the other". Part of the "shitty-on-purpose search results" algorithm is to include results that send you to the same urls the ads will… This gives more incentives to the advertisers and consequently they pay more, which results in even worse results."
What can we do about it, so Google will stop milking the world for no reasons/added value given? I'll continue to quote from the mentioned post:
"… If you mean what can be done to destroy the fake search engine, which is what I assume you mean, there are few things. The first is to give the same lecture you got so far to others.
Another important one, which includes monetary incentives to whoever will produce such a thing, is "Ad search engine". The basis will work the following way: A user drags Google ad to that SE, then the results he'll get will be other, similar ads from the web.
And so, if he searches Google and in return gets results that include ads, he can then choose one to drag into that SE search box. Here he'll at least get bigger list of ads, and probably more targeted, to choose from. That SE can add real results to accompany the ads. It can also "ask" the user what search he inserted into Google that produced that ad. There are many ways to make money from a thing like that. Over time, this will drastically reduce what advertisers are willing to pay Google.
Another and a very simple one is an add-on for browsers. This add-on will allow users to insert percentages (right column) to a table where inside the left column are search engines names. Now say you adore fake SEs. In this case insert 80% or so next to Google. Other users will give much more weight to more distinctive, specific and sometimes just weird SEs, like music, science fiction, legends or weird stories, specific animals, art… You name it. A click for the search will randomly choose your SE according to the % and the correspondent SEs.
This will produce a cycle where builders of SEs will allow themselves to specialize at just a few subjects, instead of trying to contain the whole world. In return, users will have more fun and mystery when searching the web. They won't always need or want to be very specific in their search terms. Altogether you'll get a much more distributed search engine market. "