I remember trying to find things online before Google, using Archie, Fetch, etc. I'm not so sure they haven't earned what they make. One can exclude one's content from Google Search, after all. More people seem to be trying to draw added Google attention to their content than the other way around, it seems to me. And indexing and searching content has costs, and involves work. Arguing that Google shouldn't get paid if they help someone find your content seems a lot like arguing against paying book publishers for the work they do. But perhaps there are issues here I'm not aware of... I'm always willing to learn something new.
