Having your logo be not-Google doesn't clarify what you are, just want you aren't.
What you would you expect out of the not-Nike brand?
As Google evolves and changes, the meaning of not-Google branding becomes ambiguous. Does it mean the not-Google-from-2015 or the not-Google-from-2020?
The definition of the "same things as Google" is involving constantly.
Interestingly enough, New Balance positioned itself to be the anti-Nike, touting its shoes as U.S.-made and not benefiting from exploited foreign labor. I read somewhere that the way their N logo is put on their shoes is meant to echo the Nike swoosh. And people have criticized that branding as insufficient, as well.
So a logo with the same shape as the Google logo but with a different orientation makes a lot of sense.