Google PPC algorithm favours brands

Google's PR man, Matt Cutts, says that Google has now factored "trust" into its' PPC algorithm explaining why big brands are appearing in more of the top sponsored search positions for high volume generic search terms.

"Trust" signals, not surprisingly, include metrics such PageRank, (Google's public display of affection for certain websites) as well as other metrics that convey the importance and value of a page. 

 This "minor" algorithm update, which appears to have affected the generic terms as opposed to "tail end" keywords has noticeably pushed brands ahead of their smaller rivals with inferior PageRank and importance. 

The question is does this update help the consumer? Well yes and no. We know that consumers prefer to purchase online from trusted brands and websites however does this move by Google mean that new companies and smaller enterprises will be forced out of the market reducing competition which could ultimately result in poorer services and more expensive prices.  

In the short term, good news for ecommerce managers and search marketing managers working in the major corporations but bad news for small businesses who struggle to compete due to increased costs and lower sales conversions.