Google has topped Forrester Research’s survey of consumers’ favourite online brands, though respondents believe the company is untrustworthy.

Forrester surveyed more than 4,823 US consumers to gain insights on favourite consumer online brands.

According to the survey results 44% of consumers rate Google as their favourite online brand in 2009, compared with 36% in 2007. The search engine dominates in wealthy homes – 55% of those earning more than $100,000 annually rank Google number one.

However, only 25% of Google fans rate the engine as ‘Relevant’, a category where Yahoo! and Microsoft inch ahead at 33% and 30%, respectively.

Meanwhile, only 35% of Google fans view the brand as trustworthy and reliable, while only 6% of YouTube fans say that company had the same attributes.

Among young adults ages 18 to 24, social brands rule, with 69% of YouTube fans rate the brand as fun, while only 7% of Google lovers rank it as fun.

Following Google as favorite brands were Yahoo!, Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Microsoft, YouTube, MySpace, Apple and Sony respectively.

Forrester Analyst David Card credits Yahoo!’s new CMO for successfully bringing in Landor Associates and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to work with the company’s main agency, Ogilvy & Mather.

“Yahoo!’s $100-million advertising campaign puts the focus on ‘relevance’ and highlights ‘fun’, another critical area where Google falls short,” explains Card.