If you want most valuable just say most valuable. Holy grail inherently has that emotional response to it.
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Out of curiosity I googled “Pokémon holy grail” and the results where mostly the Illustrator. Here were the related searches:
History, iconic nature and stories/buzz around a card make it a better candidate for the holy grail over rarity alone. I consider the Illustrator the Japanese holy grail and 1st edition base Charizard the English holy grail. Both cards standout in their respective categories and have inertia that can’t be reversed.
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As someone who considers himself a webmaster, where I create content based on keywords, I promise you that’s not a good metric. If you give me a year I can make base set caterpie the only thing you see when you google Pokémon holy grail.
Even now when I google it I see gold star rayquaza, base set charizards, pr raichu, and some fake cards.
Edit I realized I misread you first post. The related searches are just things that people type into google in the past + your related search history.
here’s mine: i.ibb.co/G9pL5h4/D8343-FD9-4611-496-C-A0-DA-CB03-C319-C4-A4.png
illustrator is the grail
le Saint-Graal 
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charizord is rly popular but he is no grail 
I’ll go with this: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Holy%20grail
Do a quick “favorite card/art/pokemon” forum search with the urban dic definition in mind and you’ll find that even Base Set Electrode can be a holy grail card!
Any holy grail is only “holy” to those who worship it or its category - I for one do not collect or worship some of the things that other Pokemon people worship. 
I think understand the position the OP made.
If I read it right, once the illustrator POP rose well above what people thought it was, the price should of dropped below Pikachu, which was thought to have a higher population than the illustrator. The Pikachu should be looked at as the more historic card.
That point make perfect sense to me. However once the legend of the illustrator set in, it has not and probably will not respond to the increase in supply part. This is because the legend status of it keeps the demand higher than the Pikachu.
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Illustrator cool and unique art, unique symbol, one of the rarest cards in the hobby, it features pikachu. #1 Trophy 97 yeah first trophy, much more rare, features pikachu, not unique art and not as cool. Also I see many fake news for the Illustrator as being the rarest card in the hobby, like when Gary went to Anthony Padilla’s show, they stated “rarest card” and no one corrected the dude. It’s not cool to slip those misconceptions, just my opinion.
@papafrankgod, Like the topic of this thread, the usage of these terms can be somewhat arbitrary at times. I always say “most valuable” to avoid the “rarest” argument. While I agree the 1997’s are rarer, at this level it can be splitting hairs.
But yes the 1997’s should be the same price as the illustrator. Ignore my avatar image
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100% agree on most valuable card in the hobby
The true grail is being held by this guy 
Or is that cute chubby pika the grail himself?!?!
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by far my favorite of the pikas. Being No.1 is cool and all but No.3 is such an awesome artwork!
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I wish that No. 3 was a plush! Ill have to settle for this guy:
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It’s things like this that make me feel pokemon is missing out on such creative ideas. You have overused pokemon-poncho/jacket pikachu. In PokemonGo it’s pikachu or eevee with hat. I was really excited for the SH Figuarts pokemon figures. Again, they stuck to the main trio or pikachu. As much as I love the games, they are mostly a rehash of the same things. Long rant to to say I like the idea of a trophy pikachu plush.
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Good to see you haven’t changed your position from when we discussed this 11 years ago.
pokegym.net/community/index.php?threads/700-for-a-psa-10-1st-edition-base-set-charizard.111691/
For what it’s worth, I agree that the Illustrators and the 1997 Pika Trophies are the “Holy Grails” of the hobby. But the 1st edition Base Set Charizard will always be the most iconic card of the hobby.
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I’m glad you referenced that old discussion! That was before I owned an Illustrator!
Correct me if I’m wrong but there doesn’t seem to be much recognition for the winning cards the Illustrator was made for in the first place due to the Vending copies to which I still have confusion identifying unless it’s only by having no rarity symbol. Poliwrath, Snorlax and Mr. Mime. No one seems to talk much about the cards that made Illustrator what it is when every related contest after had the artist’s work as the prominent force.
I presume also Snap winners didn’t win this but there screenshot only?
There’s no way to distinguish the winner’s copies from at least one of the mass produced version (don’t remember if it’s the vending or quickstarter version)
Also to more directly answer your question, the noteriety of the illustrator comes from the rarity, uniqueness and artwork of the card itself so in a funny way the actual contest has very little to do with the appeal of the card