> Instead, they leveraged open source and commodity hardware to control their costs and were able to scale more effectively than existing search alternatives.
I would propose a caveat that Google's initial strength wasn't merely that it scaled better but that it used a search algorithm that produced better results. As Tom Preston-Werner argues, Google jealously guards their PageRank algorithm because it "represents core business value".
I believe you are missing the point of the argument. Substitute "PageRank algorithm" with "whatever method(s) they are currently using to rank pages" as it is always changing in response to people who are gaming the system.
I would propose a caveat that Google's initial strength wasn't merely that it scaled better but that it used a search algorithm that produced better results. As Tom Preston-Werner argues, Google jealously guards their PageRank algorithm because it "represents core business value".