I don't think the blame is misplaced - raganwald addresses your point in the post, that "whatever people click on is obviously right", and that it's a cop-out.

Yeah, a lot of people will choose a Big Mac over a salad, and a lot of people will scarf down fried chicken before a sandwich - that doesn't make their choices optimal, either for themselves or for society at large.

You're also discounting the enormous effect policy has. We've gone from a nation of chain-smokers to one where I don't have to walk through clouds of smoke to get from A to B, and this has largely been driven not by some phenomenal and accidental change in social norms, but by a concerted effort of government and individuals.

So it's not so much blaming Google, as to say that with Google's money, intelligence, and influence that we can be putting this "remnant inventory" to socially higher causes, rather than try to collect a pittance on it by hawking scams and get-rich-quick schemes.