Googlezon GoogleNet arming for battle?

Is Google going to bribe you with free Wi-Fi in order to get enough info to go behavioral?

Could have huge advertising ramifications.

But they still won't be able to do local well.

Comments

[Alexander Muse]

Wonder why they won't be able to do local well?

[Mike Orren]

Mainly because they are an aggregator, which means that they can only supply what is already out there. Local, and hyperlocal by extension, are sorely underrepresented. And even if they weren't, Google's still a ways off from being able to do behavioral as opposed to contextual. Even once they can, at the scale they're operating at, the signal-to-noise ratio at the local level is incredibly low.

Finally, and most importantly, they don't have feet on the street, which is an essential necessary evil in reaching local advertisers.

But even saying they'll go behavioral may be giving too much credit: That presumes registration for search, which means that any number of companies could catch up very quickly.

But then, those Google cats are pretty smart. And they got lots o' powder...