Shaddows - 9:51 am on Feb 24, 2009 (gmt 0)

So for example, how would Google realise "shoes" shouldn't return a branded result, whereas "hotel flibflab" should? Perhaps based on actions of previous users who have used those specific search terms?

Nowns versus proper nouns?

Also, I notice a definite tendency to diversity, whereby deserving (high links, good content) sites of one type are relegated to page 2 by less-deserving pages of another type.

So, you get a few branded, a bit of info, maybe an ecom and/or some price comparison sites. But you don't 5x info, and the ecom might be better than other ecoms, but it shouldnt beat all the infos on page 2. Maybe its QDD (which I don't quite get), maybe its something else. However, on some middling-competitive terms, I notice surprising stability in the order of TYPE of site, even if the specific site varies.

In any case, brands seem to be a new 'type' of site, recently diversified from 'info' sites. Thus, its not so much "the rise of the brand" as the disambiguation of brands and disinterested (or largely neutral) info sites.

This would also have the effect of surpressing affiliates. Brands used to be outranked by infos, but now rank along side. The content is on the brand site, so affiliates lose out as G does not want to have the same content on two first-page results.