Google’s Matt Cutts is brushing Vince’s update off as one of 300-400 per annum but webmasters and SEOs have turned their attention to Google CEO Eric Schmidt who publically stated in October 2008 that the internet is fast becoming a “cesspool” where false information thrives and “brands are how you sort out the cesspool.” It’s also been noted that the net’s founder, Tim Berners-Lee, has been making similar statements of late which leads everyone to believe that Google is giving brands a helping hand in the search results by creating an algorithmic brand element.

Those monitoring online brand conversations for their clients have noticed that an increase in brand chatter is often quickly followed by improved search rankings and consequently improved organic traffic.

So the key question being asked is how do unlinked brand mentions and social media buzz get incorporated into Google’s algorithm? Is it purely due to brand and product keywords regularly appearing side by side that results in the brand becoming associated with the product? Forum contributors observe that advertising campaigns often result in numerous video and image links – could this also be a factor?

One cynical observer pointed out that by favouring the brands Google makes them even bigger and, by so doing, increases the Adwords spend of smaller players trying to compete with the brands in the SERPs. Another sees it as a way of supressing affiliate sites which are seen as contributing to the current “cesspool”.

It’s unlikely we’ll get direct answers to these how and why questions so it’s probably best to simply be aware of the development and to factor it into SEO campaign planning.