So, web darlings Google have now decided to branch into content-based advertising, which is putting them on the path to trying to be like a DoubleClick or something. It just proves my point that nobody can make money with just a search engine. Look no further than FAST/All The Web selling out to Overture. All you can do with a search engine is endear yourself to others, which Google has done a brilliant job of doing. However, look at what Google has done over the last few months: introduced a pay-per-click advertising product, purchased Pyra labs, and now this. Do any of those three things have anything at all to do with search? No. I’m really curious to see what else they’re up to. The more stuff they pile on, the less percentage they devote to their core product. We’ll see if the product is strong enough to withstand that, and more importantly, how quick the quality of other competing search engines catch up to them. Put it this way: it’s probably only a matter of time before all the engines crawl as much of the web as Google does. Then you have an even playing field, but Google has quickly escalated themselves to become a verb, and that is one of the most powerful things that can ever happen to a business.
