MrSavage - 5:18 pm on Jul 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

@indyank, won't happen.

@netmeg, great advice in there thanks.

Big brands and what I'm seeing is that Google is saying that for example, that Amazon is the most trusted website regarding electronics, computers, laptops, and anything else you can think of. So if you are looking for any of those 5,000 products, bingo, Google says Amazon is the best match. But the clincher is that Google is getting (in my opinion)very loose on their authority definitions. It's very loose imo. So you type in anything remotely close to those electronics, and Amazon is coming up. Pre Panda I personally think that if you had a niche, you would be rated against other niche and that niche would win out. Now because Google is saying that your niche is really electronics, then Amazon is the most trusted authority. I would throw CNET, Engadget and others into that mix. That's why brands can and seem to be winning. It's because Google is using broader scope to subjects. So say, 5000 keyword phrases before would see CNET rank in the top, but now you could say it's 50,000 keyword phrases because Google is broadening the scope of what CNET is an authority in. Not sure if this makes sense the way I'm describing it.

With all the weight in trust, and combine that with Google broadening the scope of what keywords these sites win out on, would explain the demise of a lot of competitive niche type websites which also have CNET, Amazon etc lurking. If you went to a highly targeted niche that was in the technology realm, you didn't need all that weight of brand to get organic traffic. If Google is now saying, you're looking for "blue widget with bluetooth port xyz", there is your site with that review or there is CNET among others. Just because you are an expert and that's your site focus, it can't possibly win out when you take these "trust" variables that Panda puts so much weight in. You are a drop in the ocean and in most of my research, that means you are well behind now in the rankings. Those trusted sites essentially gobbled up those niches because Google puts their trust in their site. They cover what you cover? You're toast.