Google, a business built on its ability to compile lists, finds itself sitting on top of a particularly impressive one. For the second year running, the US-based search engine company is top of the annual Business Superbrands survey, a list compiled not with algorithms but from the opinions of 1,500 business executives.

The news was not so good for some of the best known UK names in the business world, such as BBC Worldwide, the UK state broadcaster’s commercial arm, British Airways and, it must be added, the Financial Times, all slipped from this year’s top 10.