Unfortunately, from many of the searches that people are commenting on and how rapidly very valid sites that are exactly what a person would be seeking are falling off the radar and the number of invalid or irrelevant sites that show up, I'd have to agree that this seems to be the up and coming factor -- and will kill Google. I know that I've switched at least 20 people over to Vivisimo during the past month and will continue to push it.
The public isn't terribly well-educated on searching practices; however, even the most novice know when they aren't reaching what they want to. They will tend to discount ANYone who comes up in a group of irrelevant sites as being equally irrelevant. They may not know about link mongering, but they do know about scams and shams. It's a pity.
So many web businesses have worked hard to create very valid sites, very valid product lines, and have played all the
SEO games -- and now, through no fault of their own, they are nearly down and out and only crap is floating in the cesspool of the commercial internet.
I understand the basic premise - that a major player will by its nature accrue a fair amount of wannabes who will ride its coattails and proclaim through links, "See, we play with the BigGuys." It's a valid POV. Who is orbiting who? The Sun in the middle must be the "most relevant."
However, it's not the only perspective. And, if link mongering goes to its own natural bloated exteme edge of the continuum, it'll dilute the value of this POV to inconsequential. Cus, there is no way that "Aluminum siding" should be linked to "fluffy bunnies."
Looks like just another event in the life and times of "how people behave." It's not always a pretty picture and it frequently hurts those who are really trying to conduct themselves with ethics. Money has made a mockery out of ethics many times before, this is just more of the same.
I think the thing that is the most disturbing about this is that Google WAS "the little guy." Now, I'm rooting for MS to make its play.