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The Rich Are Different Than You and Me

Google recently made a change to search results. Certain searches will now trigger a link above the organic results and below the paid search results with a list of brands. Clicking these links do not take you to the brand’s homepage, but to your search result with the brand added in. For example, a search for “used golf clubs” triggers the below result:

If a user then thinks, “oh, hey. I know PING.” and then clicks the PING brand in the area between the paid and search they will then see this result:

Now the results change.

In other searches I conducted the brand that shows up nowhere on the unbranded search organically is now at the top of the list after adding the branded term via the Google brands link.

A few thoughts:

  • This will make bidding on Competitors names even more essential.
  • Longtail keywords will be increasingly more important than “head” words (great point by Linking Geek Brian Chappell).
  • Google is caving to big advertisers who are consistently getting beaten at SEO and PPC.
  • How does Google decide what brands to show?

If I’m a smaller company with a product that is just as good, or better, why can’t I have the same opportunity to get exposure in that same slot? Is a Google engineer making the decision?

This all reminds me of this Great Gatsby quote:

They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.

and this exchange as well:

Fitzgerald: The rich are different than you and me.
Hemingway: Yes, they have more money.

I could be reaching there, but hey, I was an English major. My earlier point is still valid. Google knows where there money comes from: big brands with deep pockets.

A bit more on the branded results subject from Barry over at Search Engine land

  • http://setonstun.com JP

    Looking at the different search results, something struck me as odd: for the first result, the site that comes up is globalgolf.com. For the post-brand click, the result is golfsmith.com. While it’s good that Google is seeming to maintain a somewhat egalitarian SERP (clicking on the Ping brand wont immediately take you to the Ping site) there might be a bit of click dissonance when the user clicks on Ping and doesn’t go to the Ping site.

    That would have been my first expectation. Another thing is how Google organizes the brand information. Look at Google Trends on the search volume on the brands: http://www.google.com/trends?q=callaway,+ping,+taylormade,+titleist,+adams+golf

    The brand search doesn’t match up to the brands listed. I wonder how that determination goes.

    I don’t think I like this change at all, for all the reasons you posted.

    And the Fitzgerald quote was perfect.

    Thanks!

  • http://www.marketingdon.com Al Scillitani

    JP- They started adding brands to first page search results a several months ago vertical by vertical. I would guess they are capturing all of this click data and will use it to refine their search algo. Right now Callaway is the only golf brand on the “used golf club” page. I will not be suprised if a couple of more show up shortly. Hopefully GlobalGolf.com will stay #1 :)

  • http://setonstun.com JP

    I haven’t seen these verticals show up in any of my current clients’ results. That’s probably why I’m a bit out of date :)

    Also, nice job on GlobalGolf… thats a tough niche to crack!

  • http://thirdpartylabs.com/ Rob

    It’s likely that Google has some sort of algorithm that determines which brand names are offered. Perhaps they just show the most popular brands as determined by searches performed by other users. This would still put the little guy at a disadvantage, but it would be a good play on Google’s part; essentially crowd sourcing the determination of semiological saliences between brands and search terms in order to provide more relevant results. More “Brave New World” than “Great Gatsby.”

    Did I just use the term “semiological salience” in a sentence? I think I need to get out more.

  • http://www.sixturnseven.com Ashley

    Dan –

    This is an excellent post and it definitely poses some questions for me. Did Google do this as a way to help searchers (that let’s face it, don’t know how to search very well) find the queries they actually want or are they doing it to back-scratch/unfairly promote the big guys?

    JP also made a great point with the popularity data – how are they determining who gets to be the icing on the top-ten cupcake? Without knowing, how can the smaller brands or resellers possibly hope to move toward that goal? Furthermore, if the little guys rank better for the general (and likely more common searches) then kudos to them – but they shouldn’t be bumped out or punished in this way.

    So all I have is more questions rather than opinions or answers – but thanks for tying this up so poignantly.

  • Dan

    I think this just kills small brands from getting a shot. Say I search for hockey sticks and I get some brands listed. They will most likely be all of the major brands that have been around for quite a long time. Now a new brand, that might be ranking well, loses exposure.

  • Dan

    If this post does not rank #1 for “semiological salience” i will be pretty upset.

    Great comments! Not sure if I want my search results crowd sourced though…

  • Dan

    It seems as if most people feel this is a punishment. I’d love to see some click data.

    I will type in a general term when i’m being lazy, or just don’t know much about that particular term. It is working for the term “phones” for me as well. don’t see the verizon, who is #2 for that term, in the list.

    Thanks for the comments!

  • http://thirdpartylabs.com/ Rob

    I agree, crowds are good for some things, but this isn’t one of them. It sets up a feedback loop for the most prominent brands, and I don’t think that’s good for anyone but the brands.

    This post is #1 for semiological salience, Googlewhack for “semiological salience”. Your SEO kung-foo is strong.

  • http://www.marketingdon.com Al Scillitani

    JP- They started adding brands to first page search results a several months ago vertical by vertical. I would guess they are capturing all of this click data and will use it to refine their search algo. Right now Callaway is the only golf brand on the “used golf club” page. I will not be suprised if a couple of more show up shortly. Hopefully GlobalGolf.com will stay #1 :)

  • http://www.ledscreenchina.com led signs

    How can i do my company name on Google Search Brand .

  • http://www.ledscreenchina.com led signs

    How can i do my company name on Google Search Brand .

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