atlrus - 4:37 pm on Oct 4, 2012 (gmt 0)

People search for information - sometimes that includes business details, but not always.

This is way too general, "people search for information". Everything on the internet could be described as information.

I would say the reason people go to google is to find a destination. They need the information, but they don't know where to find it - they go to google for the destination. They know google does NOT have the information, they are basically telling google "which websites have this information".

And google as of late has been working the following way:

1. Is the information "money generating" (lots of adwords)?

1.1 If "yes" - return "general information" (wiki, ehow, yelp) organic results with relevant ads

1.2 If "no" - return on target organic results.

1.3 If "unsure" - return general information results (wiki, ehow, wikihow, etc.) with some targeted organic results.

My advice to actual webmasters who find themselves competing in this type of environment is to try and disguise their "money generating" website as a "general information" website.