More proof that Google wants to monetize all information

Posted Sep 8th 2006 12:34PM by Brian White
Filed under: Good news, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Internet, Competitive Strategy, Google (GOOG), Marketing and Advertising

Is Google on its way to monetize all the world's information? If you don't think so, watch out. Donna Bogatin's blog entry over at ZDNet says just this, and this is a sentiment I've had for quite some time. My premise has been that Google's sole mission is to become the world's largest advertising "network." With search advertising it's already playing with the big boys of advertising and it's just through Internet ads for now. Imagine what happens when Google's dMarc radio auto-inserted ads and even its mobile advertising platform start becoming entrenched in the world.

Will Google really try to become the de-facto local advertising player that would make search results so incredibly relevant, personal, and local that it could double its coffers in the next five to six years? If that plan begins to pan out then perhaps Google is valued appropriately. But we've heard no official word on this, which continues to make me believe GOOG shares, as they stand today, continue to be overvalued.

Getting the offline local merchant market into the online search arena where these merchants are visible to prospective customers is no small order, and it's one Google will have to work at constantly for quite a while. Donna makes a good point in that Google has the product side down at this time in terms of the local search possibilities. Getting local "services" down to the estimated 80%+ of local businesses across the nation that don't even have an online presence will be a battle that probably will be Google's largest to date, but with incredible cash flow potential waiting to happen if done successfully.

Tags: GOGO, GOOG, Google

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-08-2006 @ 12:57PM

Gary E. Sattler said...

Boy, I like those Google guys. Hats off to you fellas.

Give me the young upstarts ANYTIME.

Anybody standing by and thinking google is a passing fad, is standing by with their pants down.

GO GET 'EM GOOG!

(hint... yellow pages)

Gary E. Sattler

9-08-2006 @ 1:16PM

Andy said...

I think that is only phase one of their game plan. Advertising can provide the on going cash flow to create their ultimate visions which are truely mind boggeling - artifical intelligence etc. There has never been a company like Google in the market that they are in and the potential of the internet exceeds anything that has gone before by eons. Their participation in the Star Trek Convention may be more prophetic than we realize

9-09-2006 @ 1:04PM

AGoToGuy said...

Point noted but the fact remains that Google's base search technology does not support that effort. Advertising on the local level is possibe now. However the local data is so scattered and useless on "local search" vertical web sites you need to visit 10 of them to get the complete picture (you can blame the Verizon's and the Bell's for that). Local search is virtually useless unless you're not picky about your info. In my view the consumer wants more than the crummy results they get from local search these days.

Google does not have the technology to find the local address and information of every web site online. Nor, can they provide search results accurate enough to make it worthwhile. Sure they can target advertising by location but if I'm looking for Bob's Pizza in Boise, what if he doesn't advertise with Google, and doesn't give a darn about it either?

Fact is that until there is a convergence of information sources AND BETTER intent based search technology local will still be just a smaller vertical of the bigger picture.

9-09-2006 @ 5:32PM

Richard Brandt said...

Google is working on local search, and it seems to me to be doing a decent job. I did a search on Cole Hardware in SF, a store I use, and Google Local found all four stores.

My concern is that it doesn't seem to be as good at upgrading products as it should be. The smart programmers at Google seem more interested in creating new products than in upgrading old ones. It must get on the ball, or Microsoft, which tenaciously pursues products until they win market share, will beat Google in the non-search markets.