I disagree. Google gained popularity not just for search results, but because their clean search page was a breath of fresh air compared to the busy portal sites of the day. Gmail became popular because its UI was so much more refined than the other email sites of the day. Likewise for Google Calendar.
I think they've taken people's attention seriously from day one.
I started using Google in 2001, after seeing it on the screen of another computer in an Internet Cafe. I was trying to search something, and Altavista was returning shit filled with all kinds of commercials.
Opened Google, typed my search query in that lovely text input, hit Enter, and WOW, the first 10 results were all relevant. And no commercials. I was so impressed that I instantly switched.
Even when they added commercials, they were marked as such, while being clean and non-intrusive (well, that changed in the meantime -- I find their search page a little cluttered with commercials nowadays).
I think they've taken people's attention seriously from day one.