He was elevated to CEO of Google to keep things running as-is while the founders moved their exciting ventures up to Alphabet. When those other bets were abandoned, Sundar was left as the top engaged executive, but he's still only a caretaker when the company needs an actual leader with vision to navigate their competition.
So, no. He has not been a good CEO. He was a good middle-manager and a decent CEO at best, but he's not been what the company needed, and he's definitely not what they need today.
Leadership with actual visions is a rarity these days across the board. It's not just large companies who are getting their lunch eaten by startups left and right (cough Oracle), but also politics. Most people in high positions want the fame associated with the title (and for companies, the compensation), but not provide leadership beyond managing the status quo - and to make it worse, both shareholders and voters seem to prefer stability over progress.
He was elevated to CEO of Google to keep things running as-is while the founders moved their exciting ventures up to Alphabet. When those other bets were abandoned, Sundar was left as the top engaged executive, but he's still only a caretaker when the company needs an actual leader with vision to navigate their competition.
So, no. He has not been a good CEO. He was a good middle-manager and a decent CEO at best, but he's not been what the company needed, and he's definitely not what they need today.