Brand Refinements on Google and what it means for online marketers.

Google has announced, on the 2nd of May, that generic product keyword searches will product brand suggestions above the first position on the search engine result pages.

So what does that mean? When a user types in a generic term for a product, like “Laptop” for example, Google will make a small list of the best “optimised brand websites” for that keyword.

The keyword “Laptop” produces only 5 Laptop brands; Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer and Apple. A serious slap in the face of the other major laptop brands that are not listed in that category. Sony for example should be fuming right about now!

Google is one of the world’s most influential tools when it comes to marketing. Being left out of the top brands in Google’s eyes is a serious issue that can not be ignored by major brands.

Luckily for Sony, all they have to do to get back in the race is optimise their site better to be listed in this very important category.

Exerpt from Google Blog.
Brand refinements in search results
Sometimes when searching for product information on Google, you may not know some of the brand names relevant to your particular search. For example, if you're taking on a new river-rafting hobby, it's quite likely you don't have a clue about kayak manufacturers just yet. So, we wanted to make it easier for you to find the brands other people consider useful for popular product searches. So this week we launched a search refinement that calls out brand names related to your query in a single line above the rest of the results. Determined algorithmically, these highlighted brand names may help you find what you're looking for faster, and make your research and shopping experience all the more enjoyable.

Example searches: [wedding dress], [digital camera] and [stroller]