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This article focuses on five debates concerning the way that Google’s search engine treats information: editorial neutrality, manual intervention, algorithmic transparency, preferential treatment incentive, and personalization of search results. Rather than viewing these controversies as problems that urgently require solutions, this article explains how they can be considered as consubstantial to the search engine. In other words, they help to make it what it is, i.e., a socio-technical information and communication tool that is not, and never will be, entirely satisfactory from every point of view. Being aware of these controversies allows enquirers to keep some of the tool’s inherent limitations in mind and to form their own opinions about what can and should be done with information that is obtained via search engines. In so doing, they avoid the pitfalls inherent in claiming either that “Google’s search engine is beyond reproach, you can use it without giving it a second thought,” or that it should never be used again simply because there are controversies surrounding it.