Does Google Prefer Topical Directory Portals For Niche Queries?

[martinibuster]

First, please let's not call out a specific website or allude to them. :)

Have you noticed that for both Niche Product and Service queries, Google seems to prefer portals? There are hundreds of portals spread across every niche. Whether it's law, home services, products for business, products for consumers, Google almost seems to be defaulting to the Big Portal first, then listing smaller sites on positions five on down.

Anyone else see this?

[aristotle]

Isn't a portal similar to a list? Because google has been giving high rankings to Top 10 types of lists.

[martinibuster]

Well, that's interesting. It's not a listicle. But yes, they do have lists.

I suspect it's a user experience thing, that users tend to prefer these kinds of service and product comparison sites.