More than 25 percent of search results on Google for the world's 20 largest brands are links to consumer generated content, according to research released by Nielsen BuzzMetrics at the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit & Research Symposium this week.

Max Kalehoff, BuzzMetrics's VP of marketing, points to the research as proof that consumer-generated media is a fast-growing part of the online conversation; and, he says, search is the connective tissue between information seekers and information publishers, writes MediaPost (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

Companies would do well to tune in to the "conversations" of consumers online to gain consumer insight.

Interestingly, Maxine Friedman of research and consulting firm Brandimensions says Google is not the best search engine to use for this type of research. She suggests Linkmap, which provides a system of links in and out of specific blogs.