One of the characteristics of an Aggregator like Google is the way in which they maximize absolute value at the expense of relative value. For supply — i.e. content on the web — Google dramatically increases the number of visitors, even as the value of any one visitor who comes from Google is worth much less than a visitor who visits directly; for an advertiser, the value of one click makes up for thousands of impressions of an ad that make no difference; for a user, Google helps them discover what they are looking for amidst the overwhelming abundance that is downstream from distribution being free.
