mattinertia - 4:15 pm on Feb 26, 2009 (gmt 0)

Hi guys,

Im jumping in on this one a bit late so apologies if i repeat anything as ive only scanned the earlier posts.

Aaron wall has done an interesting post on the issues youre talking about: [seobook.com...] (maybe he got the idea from this thread?!). Anyway, it was quite insightful and Aaron points to an update that happened in late January that largely went unnoticed.

Personally, I'm not a fan of increased rankings for big brands. One of the examples that Aaron uses is Radioshack, who appear to have shot up to the top page for electronics. This raises a few questions, what have google changed to implement "brand rank" (coined a new phrase there!) and what do seos have to do to leverage that?

Maybe google have started to look at your web presence with regards to how often your brand name appears on other sites (regardless of linking) and in what context? They could use their many spyware tools to assess search count, direct traffic and loyalty?

Isnt "brand rank" gonna make it harder for the smaller business to compete on what has previously been a level playing field? Level playing field my arse! It's getting increasingly uneven if you ask me. (Maybe) soon you'll only be able to achieve internet success if youre a big budget brand, work in a niche area or offer a free service.