Not surprisingly, the massive slew of Google services have brought it popularity and rocketed it to the first position in the United Kingdom's top-ranked brands. That's nothing to take lightly, considering that one year ago the same study showed that it was only the fifth, behind leader BBC, Microsoft, British Airways and BT ahead of it.

The rankings are generated from feedback from a council of senior business leaders in the UK and a survey of 1,500 professionals, according to Web User. The companies are rated for their reputation for quality, reliability and distinction within their market sector. It's no wonder Google won top honors, it's basically trashing its competitors wherever it can, except in China, where Baidu rules supreme. Then again, it's not the Asian country we're talking about.

Last year's runner up stood put on its position, and Microsoft can't be very happy about it. The remainders of the top ten are British companies, those mentioned above among them, and also some brands that have strong UK ties, such as Rolls - Royce or GlaxoSmithKline, the same source mentions.

"British business opts for what it knows and trusts and as we head towards economic slowdown this is only going to become more important. The next year will put even the strongest brands to the test as they defend their organisations from the challenges that await," said Stephen Cheliotis, Chairman of the Superbrands Council.

Surprisingly, Yahoo! wasn't mentioned at all, although it owns one of the most popular email services in the world, and its homepage is very visited from the United Kingdom, as some statistics published a while ago showed.

'ello, wass this all 'bout? Google came first? Aye, it deserves it, but will it be 'ere next year too?' That question could be problematic, seeing as the Mountain View based company rose to the top spot in just a year from the fifth, but something tells me that once up there it won't be easy to drag it down.