> Arguably, the purpose of a search engine is to help
> people find sources that they don't already know about.
I certainly don't want that... I want a search engine to show me a set of results likely to be most relevant to my query and to my interests. Google does some limited randomization of results to prevent winner-begets-winner outcomes (based on my SERP result research) but they're purpose is certainly not to show people sources that they don't already know about. Most of these queries are basically "navigational" anyways: is someone searching for "trump tariff" looking for interesting results or are they looking to navigate to a story about "trump tariffs"?
If people already know the answers they seek or where to find them, then they aren't using a search engine in the first place. At a fundamental level, the purpose of a search engine it to help people find sources they don't know about.
Is Google Search used as an atlas used to navigate the Internet? Almost certainly, but it's not fit for that use case. Google knows this and steers people towards their curated experiences - Maps, News, etc.
