spreporter - 7:33 am on Aug 7, 2012 (gmt 0)

"this easy fix" IMO this is the problem.
Probably it was a kind of easy fix to the algo in their effort to fight spam. I'm sure they know that there are out there hundreds of great websites with information dedicated to the subject and not the item a, b, c, of www.brandsite.com -but- it might be the case that they are satisfied with their profits that coming from the current results, at the moment, or, with the current link/anchor text algorithm they facing problems to discover the good "non authority" websites (or they devalue them) therefore they just through the baby with the water and you get served by the easy results you see today. Finally is not Google to blame but the black hat community, the blogosphere and the uncover of JCP spam that led to the current updates and situation.