Everybody loves the underdog, until it becomes the overdog. For Google, this happened shortly after their IPO. Now it's very popular to cast "the Google" as a nascent Microsoft, so big and lumbering they don't care what happens to all the little players. But if you get past the trolls, and investigate a little, you find that the Google really is different, and really does care. This article by Matt Cutts is a great example. They really do have a lot of smart folks, and they really are trying to not be evil.
Also, it emphasizes the utility of Google's webmaster tools, which is just a really nice little package. If you run a web site, you really shouldn't do without it (them).
