I think results for Google, Yahoo etc. will eventually look just like the rest of the shopping malls across America with the same top corporations dominating all the ads. It might look like they are a lot of different companies but really it is just owned by a handful.

With the regulations going on the internet right now (i.e. Yahoo and AOL want to charge for emails, Verizon etc. want to control bandwidth) it is coming fast. The creative small business owners will be pushed out. I have already seen it with PPC. The costs have
sky-rocketed. This community should really pay attention to the internet laws as well. Rather than just the search algorithms that are being used.

For example did you know viacom owns these channels and 1000's of radio stations? Go to their web site:

BET
CMT
Comedy central
ifilm
mtv
mtv2
spike
paramount
dreamworks
neopets
nick at night
logo
tv land
nickelodeon
vh1
noggin
etc
etc....

So what is my point? It may be pessemistic but since there is so much money to be made the little webmaster will be gone soon.
I hope not. But we need to be creative and stay informed! If you do not it will not be a level playing field like it was in the old days on the internet.