At the end of a year when Google's "alternative" image has come under attack, executives at the seacrh engine company are likely to relish leaving arch-rival Microsoft languishing in seventh place in an annual poll by Harris Interactive, the market researchers, of America's most reputable companies.

In the poll published today, the seven-year-old internet company trailed only Johnson & Johnson and Coca-Cola on its first appearance in a closely watched index of corporate America's public image.

Google aims to become a portal through which consumers access all the worldwide web has to offer - from information to goods and services. The plan's success will depend heavily on the perceived trustworthiness of the company and Google has for many years operated under the motto "don't be evil".

However, the company's explosive growth and its charge into an ever increasing range of services has unsettled some pundits.

Indeed, when, earlier this year, the company created Google Talk, which lets users make voice calls over the internet, some analysts surmised that that the company actually wanted to take over the world.

Brian Lent, the president of Medio Systems, a technology start-up, told The New York Times: "Google is the new evil empire . . . they have potential monopolistic control over access to information".

Earlier this year a second public offering to raise $4 billion on the stockmarket from a company that has nearly $3 billion in cash further stoked speculation over Google’s ambitions. Among the ideas reportedly considered by Google, which dominates the web search market and makes money through online advertising, was building a "space elevator" to transport people into orbit by means of a 38,000km conveyor belt.

However, there is one realm where Google's reputation looks well deserved - so far. After making their debut at only $85 last year, Google shares are now worth more than $400, making the company a hit with investors.

And even those journalists who meet with Google's wrath find it hard to knock the company. Earlier this year, News.com, the internet news site, was blacklisted by Google's Eric Schmidt, after it published a profile of the Google chief executive using personal information gleaned from Google's search engine. Despite the snub, when the site created a blog devoted to the company, it decided to call it "the web's search king".

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive