"The Hyper-Relevant Zone"

The Hyper-Relevant Zone is where a search engine showcases a selected result or vertical search option atop its natural results.

In this MediaPost article: http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=42339 the idea of Google presenting these listings may present a conflict of interests with advertisers.

While not in the advertisers best interest, it certainly seems to be hard to argue that consumers and users don't benefit from this treatment.