Alta Vista, baby
Thirteen years ago, DEC's Altavista was a great search engine - but that was before DEC became lax, the internet became gamed, and it became useless. Similarly, Google Search had one trick, on one pony ride, a long time ago.
Google Search's subsequent and continuing failure didn't require a lack of development or cheater links, for it never could search beyond the stinking pile of its own hubris. Not that it needs to, for it has morphed into a seller of misleading ads to buyers of shallow integrity targeting the most naïve of Home Shopping Network's clientèle; it is now the eBay of search engines, the Microsoft Vista of innovative technology.