Big Brands Get a Kickback from Google, Everyone Else Gets F*
Just because I decided to start using Bing versus Google for all my web searching doesn’t mean I don’t revisit to see whats going on and compare results with those returned at Bing. At some point over the weekend, I noticed that brands seemed to be popping into the result pages much more than before when I was searching for things related to my sites… guess what, Google made another change to reinforce brands!
In the past, when you searched for an Apple ipod or an HP Printer, you had a choice of which website to visit, now you see a majority of the top 10 results are to the single brand itself! In some cases… all the top 10 serps are to the company that makes them!
Just imagine how authority retailers like Best buy or Amazon are effected by this… now imagine how a niche site builder, one rung further down the food chain, is affected!
Google Says:
Today we’ve launched a change to our ranking algorithm that will make it much easier for users to find a large number of results from a single site. For queries that indicate a strong user interest in a particular domain, like [exhibitions at amnh], we’ll now show more results from the relevant site….
… Now, we determine that the user is likely interested in the Museum of Natural History’s website, so seven results from the amnh.org domain appear.
What they really mean is… Today, we (Google) decided to pump up our referral rates to large brand names, so their earnings reports will reflect huge amounts of growth in Q3, leading to more consumer confidence and a stellar holiday shopping season!
Brand Names Get a Kickback, Everyone Else is Up the Creek!
This latest change is just one of many instances where Google thinks it knows better than the actual searcher does, and in some cases, it may actually be right.The problem I have… is that last month, they launched the Mayday and Caffeine changes, which more or less penalized sites who relied on long tail queries, and now they are taking it a step farther and bolstering brand names, by pushing everyone else out of the top 7-10 results!
It will be very interesting come time for earnings reports…. Google once said they could predict the stock market, but that would be illegal. Google have been doing some strange crap lately… here is another good read from Gawker!
Isn’t this in effect, the same thing?
Previously Published Articles You May Like to Read:
- Finding the Right Brands for A Product Review Site
- Google PR Update and Niche Stores
- The New Google… An Early Christmas to Me!
Rate This Post
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
I have been doing my part to "Build the Internet" since 1994, when I built my first website! Since then, I have built hundreds of niche websites for myself and many others, focused on design, applications, ecommerce, search optimization and internet marketing.
Mark-
Thanks for the info. It looked like there were a lot more brand results on searches. Ughhh, Google! What a time to be mucking around again!
Wow. At what point will Google be affected by those of us who are switching to other search engines? In other words, when will they realize that we no longer want their results?
Sadly, I don’t think the majority of people will switch simply because they are ignorant to what is going on and do not realize they are being fed results that aren’t necessarily the best.
As I said in that email I sent to you, I’ve noticed some crazy drops in rankings for some of my BRAND type keywords, I’m also seeing that search results in Google at the moment are extremely “fluid” i.e. all over the place. It’s like fighting a lossing battle at the moment!
I’m seeing some results that I really shouldn’t be seeing … come on Google … sort it out!!
I dunno, Mark. While this isn’t scientific, I just did a G search for Toshiba lcd tv and, while the Toshiba site was one of the serps, the rest were the usual suspects, including Amazon, Overstock, etc. Maybe this just hasn’t been fully implemented yet.
@potentmix – Try toshiba laptops.
Its very “all over the place” for sure.
Mark
I agree with all of you,it is very frustrating. With Ebay changing their stuff every month and Google fooling with the search, it is hard. When will someone realize G has too much power? What would stop the top guys from buying stock in certain companies and then help their listings? Why wouldn’t they reward their companies that pay zillions in PPC by helping them out in search? They have way too much unregulated power.
So perhaps it better to not go after actual brand names and concentrate on the broad niche subject i.e. Not iPods but MP3 players ?
@Diane – Agreed Diane… Always a challenge! That’s Also one of the things I LOVE about IM.
You said quite a mouthful when you say: “They have way too much unregulated power.”
Without doubt! The flip of a switch will make or break anyone… and they hold the switch!
@Roy T – Great point Roy!
I wonder what the tipping/trigger point is for Google on the brand search? I mean… why show brand only for “apple ipod” versus something like Microsoft zune, creative zen, etc. (Just random examples, didn’t check them)
Why show brand only for one, and comparison engines for others?
Net Neutrality.
They do not believe they are public domain, although their domain does exist on the public domain. Why would they give the small mom and pop shop more traffic over the well established site.
Look it up. FCC doesn’t like it either.
I think the motivation is pretty clear – how do you get on the first page of google if you are not the brand itself? You buy it.
It feels like when my son plays the crane game. Put in your money and see if you get a prize.
@Sean – I know, I read a bunch about that a few weeks ago when they opened the investigation! :-) I think it will result in the algo being public when its all said and done.
@Brent S – “You Buy It” Thats EXACTLY what a lot of people think may be the case!
Mark
Hey – I just logged into my shared hostgator cpanel account and saw these new SEO tools. Has anybody tried them. Don’t know if they are new but the ‘Shiny Colored Buttons’ caught my eye.
Hi Mark,
If we take off our “marketer’s hats”, and put on our “user’s hats” for a second, I think it’s not too hard to see this as a “correct” decision. Realistically, if I type in something like ipod, I should expect to see Apple’s website dominating that 1st page.
As a user, there’s nothing more annoying than searching for information on a well known brand, then having to wade through results that are dominated by pages produced by marketers trying to sell me something.
As a marketer, I understand why “we” want those pages to be there.
But again, realistically, Google’s job is to avoid (as much as possible) annoying the users … and if the marketers get F****d in the process, so be it.
And really, what Roy said above … I’ve been hearing for years now that targeting specific brands as an affiliate marketer is almost always a short-term strategy … if some people chose not to believe that, well again, it is what it is.
… just my two pennies.
@Todd Morris – Hey Todd, thanks for the comment and I do understand where you are coming from with the user perspective.
In my opinion, the marketer is not the only one getting screwed with the brand serp results, everyone does! (except the brand and Goog, who shows one adwords result above the serps)
A short-generic search like “apple ipod”, in my opinion as a user of Goog, should return a much wider selection of search result types(Manufacturer, ecommerce, price comparisons, reviews, repairs, troubleshooting, etc) not a short manufacturer only set of choices.
The only one who gains from the shorter query search results is the brand or manufacturer, everyone else, including the user, loses. Again, just my opinion from a marketing perspective.
On the plus side… it will increase long tail searching even farther! Once the user realizes that apple ipod only shows the brand, and they were looking for something else like prices, or repair, or whatever. :-)
Mark
Are You Too Set In Your Ways?
Site Categories
Monthly Archive
My Favorite Places
Blogging Sites
Blogroll
Places I Write
Technology Sites
Site Credits
Niche Store Builder is powered by WordPress, using a modified theme originally inspired by Arthemia.
Home | About | Terms & Privacy