Comment by crote
1 month ago
> You can search Google for free
I thought the ads counted as payment? That seems to be the logic used to take technical measures against adblockers on YouTube while pushing users towards a paid ad-free subscription, at least.
If viewing ads is payment, then Google isn't a free service. If viewing ads isn't payment, then Google should have no problem with people using adblockers.
I don't disagree with the logic and it definitely is/was their business model, scraping/crawling the web and subsidising the service with ads. But clicking on ads are optional.
No google's business model is showing you ads, not clicking on them. That's the job of the person who designs the ad.
Google would like you to click through as it looks better for their stats, but they don't actually care.