Controversy over Google’s boost to big brands

Monday 29 June 2009 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

Back in February, an update from Google effectively boosted the SERPs position of big brands in the US and now the modification has been exported to Google.co.uk. From 29 June, the top pages over here have been full of authoritative websites from big brand names which seem to be ranking higher than might be expected for competitive search terms.

When the change hit the USA and sparked some controversy, Google denied that the move was anything significant. Software Engineer Matt Cutts, speaking on Google's Webmaster Central blog, passed the change off as "a simple update", saying that it was one of over 300 Google makes each year.
"We don't really think about brands," Cutts claimed, stating that Google instead put emphasis on trust, authority and reputation.

The brand-boosting algorithm change – dubbed 'Vince' after the Google employee who masterminded it – has significant implications for SEO. Google seems to be letting authoritative websites rank based on internal linkage and trust, even when they have comparatively few targeted external links. This affords big brands a much easier path to top rankings. Rather than traditional SEO, factors that are becoming increasingly important for SERPs success are mentions in national media, links from mainstream media sites to your homepage and search volume for your brand.

For anyone carrying out SEO for medium-sized firms, the implications are huge, as there are suddenly many fewer places available on page 1 for competitive search terms. If, in the past, there were ten spots available, Google might now be placing six brands on the page, leaving only four spots for smaller firms to fight over.

Most people understand why Google has implemented this change – it wants to deliver results that are clean and trustworthy to the user. In fact, Google CEO Eric Schmidt indicated the road that the Mountain View giant was to take last October, when he said, "The internet is fast becoming a 'cesspool' where false information thrives. Brands are the solution, not the problem. Brands are how you sort out the cesspool."

But is it fair that a company that is powerful offline should get the best rankings given to it on a plate, even if it has shockingly poor site design, structure and online marketing? Surely this move penalises those small businesses that invest time and money in their sites to clean their code, optimise their content, improve their structure and place great links?

Some pundits argue that Google has taken a short cut to neat results, rather than undertaking some more complicated (and costly) programming. However, Gosh! Media believes there's no denying the power of brands in the way that people's perceptions of authority and trust are developed. That's the power that Vince is trying to harness. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

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