Biggest online retail brands dominate SERPs

[eddyf]

Most players in e-commerce have noticed the trend of larger online retail brands dominating the SERPs. Found this interesting article describing the factors the author believes is driving this trend:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/11/01/new-world-order-natural-search

Just food for thought.

Ed

[DavidPwl]

Regardless of what ranking factors are influencing this trend, I believe that big brands should dominate the SERPs because they have better websites and a better infrastructure to handle a bigger server load on their websites - so they should be able to handle a big influx of visits - and give less 404 error pages.

In saying that, as a smart shopper I will still look around to get the best price and the best service - I will use websites like pricespy to find the site with the most reasonable price and delivery costs/reputation.

Don't you think google want to make their big partners happy? How much do you think amazon is spending on google adwords? According to a recent study they are the biggest spender in the retail category - sorry I am unable to post links on a new account but do a search for "how much does amazon spend on google adwords"

[Test-ok]

nice find eddyf
Google could also be giving some preference to the site size, huge sites usually have a lot of content. Hence the reason to add as much good content as possible. Kinda says content is still king.

[eddyf]

To me it says the distinction between SEO and SEM is more blurred than ever - it will take more than just links to rise to the top. Maybe that's why Penguin recovery is so hard? You'll need to do more than just fixing the link problems?

Anyway, my biggest issue with these mega shopping sites is that their influence in the SERPs goes beyond the product you're searching for.

For example, I mfg. and sell Blue Widgets. Amazon sells Blue Widgets also, but they have a limited selection imported from China. Amazon gives no support other than a return policy. On the plus side, they have reviews. But Blue Widgets are perhaps 0.0001% of their sales (if that high), yet the entire weight of Amazon pushes them to the top.

If I made a site only containing the Blue Widget pages from Amazon, it would be on page 2 at best. The content, selection, expertise and support is just not there.

Well, a web site is never finished, so back to work.

Ed

[YoFluffy]

Regardless of what ranking factors are influencing this trend, I believe that big brands should dominate the SERPs because they have better websites and a better infrastructure to handle a bigger server load on their websites -

I disagree. They shouldn't just rank highly because they're bigger/ better, ranking should about relevancy. There are a couple of the big boys eyeing up our main search term and although they don't have any offerings in this sector, they've started targeting it regardless, and, because of their might, ranking. Is that really what Google are aiming for? The big guys being at the top of every single search term whether it's in their range or not?

[Test-ok]

The big guys being at the top of every single search term whether it's in their range or not?

Would that be to Googles advantage?...I wouldn't think so. The big guys have money and would be more likely to use PPC if they weren't found? No?
Another assumption...Most of these 'big boys' have already had a taste of PPC and know most of their business depends on natural results, so they started paying big money for SEO/SEM, and it's starting to show. I would think Google would rather find a happy medium so these 'Big boys' aren't topping the charts. Google won't make any money with the Big Boys at the top of all the natural results.

[prasunsen]

Would that be to Googles advantage?...I wouldn't think so. The big guys have money and would be more likely to use PPC if they weren't found? No?
Another assumption...Most of these 'big boys' have already had a taste of PPC and know most of their business depends on natural results, so they started paying big money for SEO/SEM, and it's starting to show. I would think Google would rather find a happy medium so these 'Big boys' aren't topping the charts. Google won't make any money with the Big Boys at the top of all the natural results.

I don't like the theory that Google makes the results in a way to profit more. It makes sense at first only. They'll lose more term if their results are not relevant.

But I think they simply CAN'T make their search better yet. Bring big brands on top is not the target of their efforts. It's just the result of them.

[eddyf]

From October 2008:

The Internet is a "cesspool," a festering sea of bad information, said Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, yesterday while speaking to a group of visiting magazine executives at the company's Mountain View, California Campus during the American Magazine Conference. Schmidt suggested that "brands" are more important than ever and key solution for this problem is brands. "Brands are the solution, not the problem," said Schmidt. "Brands are how you sort out the cesspool." Branding, on the other hand, may be an essential element that helps people navigate the world, he continued. "Brand affinity is clearly hard wired," he said. "It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component."

Ed