- Related Stories
-
Growing pains at Google?
May 20, 2005 -
Google introduces personalized home pages
May 19, 2005 -
Yahoo, Google turn up volume on video search battle
May 4, 2005 -
Google News faces Microsoft rival
July 27, 2004 -
Net search wars heat up
May 13, 2004 -
Yahoo's bid to own search
July 14, 2003 -
Microsoft, Google may go head-to-head
June 25, 2003
The last several months have been marked by the addition of several new features as the search-engine leader attempts to realize its widening ambitions. The latest, introduced Thursday, is a feature that lets people set up personalized home pages--a direct answer to Yahoo's My Yahoo portal. But in doing so, Google's online face to the world increasingly resembles those of its Web portal rivals.
Google executives downplay rivals' influence on its direction, but industry observers agree that the company's identity is morphing. In the battle for the online ad dollar, the distinctions between Google and its Web portal competitors are fading.
What's new:
As Google reaches beyond its Internet search roots, introducing features such as personalized home pages, critics are asking whether success may breed an identity crisis.
Bottom line:
Google is downplaying the influence of rivals, but in the battle for online ad dollars, the distinctions between the search king and its Web portal rivals are blurring.
"No matter what (Google) says, it is their foray into becoming a Web portal," said Gartner analyst Allen Weiner. "They're taking dead aim at Yahoo."
Yahoo is the biggest of the Web portals, with nearly 115 million unique visitors to the site in April, according to ComScore Media Metrix. It's followed by Microsoft's MSN and America Online. Google comes in fourth with 78 million unique visitors last month, but leads in search queries and ad click-throughs.
Yahoo responded to Google's move on Thursday with a reminder of its stature in the portal space.
"My Yahoo is the No. 1 personalized Web page in the world," a Yahoo representative said in a statement. "We launched My Yahoo nine years ago and last year redefined personalization again by providing access to millions of content sources from across the Web."
Google has some catching up to do in the "personalization" front, analysts said. The company's home page tool, which is in beta release, lacks many of the richer features of My Yahoo and other portals, analysts said. For instance, it doesn't offer as many news feeds or the same level of detail on the stock market as rivals do.
Google executives dismiss the comparisons. In fact, Google Vice President Marissa Mayer, who worked closely with the team that developed the home page, said she hasn't visited My Yahoo in years. She also denies that Google is building a portal.
"We don't want this to be a walled garden," she said.
But creating a paradise for advertisers is certainly part of the equation, analysts said.
Google isn't advertising on its home pages yet, but those pages
- More from News.com on this story's topics
Search
Web sites
Advertising
Google
Time Warner
Yahoo
Microsoft
See more CNET content tagged:
Web portal,
portal,
Google Inc.,
rival,
Yahoo! Inc.
[Edited by: admin on Jun 6, 2005 11:44 AM]
CharlesJo.com
The New New Media
I am sure that the portal will be useful for many people, but certainly not for those of us who use google, or alltheweb, precisely because they are not bound to a portal like google.
I realise that google will continue to provide what they call the 'classic' page, and I can't imagine that they will ever discontinue that. However, labelling something as 'classic,' as always, shows quite clearly that the marketing dept is running things.