Comments on: Halloween Special: Time to be scared – Troogle by Google only a few clicks away

By: One-on-one with Rob Torres, head of Google Travel | Tnooz

One-on-one with Rob Torres, head of Google Travel | Tnooz — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:18:21 +0000

[...] [Editor: not directly] [...]

By: Brian Hayashi

Brian Hayashi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:03:58 +0000

Hi Kevin,

Those complexities you mention are indeed a headache, which is why Google is breaking down the problem into increments. They have invited a number of AdSense users who have a history of buying “mortgage” and developing a system that reflects the nuances of the mortgage buying process. The DNA of the problem, and Google’s approach to managing those same complexities, will be baked into future iterations.

Note these insights stem from our experiences in working with some ex-Googlers in developing a solution to a similar problem (apartment selection), which you can see at http://www.rentmarketer.com.

By: Dennis Schaal

Dennis Schaal — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:50:56 +0000

Kevin: I guess one of the points I’m getting at is that if Google were to offer Troogle, then it couldn’t merely be a passive feed-taker, whether it were for advertising or organic feeds — although feed-taking could be part of its special
Troogleness — but it would have to establish metasearch relationships with intermediaries and suppliers in a powerful way. Otherwise, wouldn’t Google become just another, albeit very talented, screen-scraper?

By: Kevin May

Kevin May — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:09:47 +0000

Brian + Steve:

Thanks for the comments and the link.

Perhaps one thing that might put Google off implementing for travel is the product feed reliability and accuracy.

Travel has so many complexities, as opposed to mortgage provision, so perhaps it might simply be too much of a headache?

By: Kevin May

Kevin May — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:00:30 +0000

Dennis:

The reason why Google cannot metasearch organic results is because organic includes content other than products, such as reviews, photos, news, etc.

Comparison Ads works as a metasearch because it is (in theory!) product feeds.

By: Brian Hayashi

Brian Hayashi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:05:40 +0000

Google is shifting away from spidering/AdSense and trying to balance that by providing incentives to businesses and individuals to “feed” up-to-date information into the maw of Google. SideWiki is another signal to Google’s intent, and while widely judged as clumsy, Google has been iterating designs very quickly. Here’s a link to Google Squared – you can see how its DNA has made its way to the mortgage prototype.

http://www.google.com/squared/search?q=hotels

By: Dennis Schaal

Dennis Schaal — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:56:40 +0000

Kevin: The thing that I think tinges this thing is the fact that Google will be doing metasearch of ads, right? What happened to delivering true value and relevancy in search. Yes, relevancy in ads, but not metasearch of organic results, right? Makes you wonder sometimes.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:04:22 +0000

Brian has a good point there. If this expanded to travel and if (say) travel providers could upload their product feeds to Google Base/Adwords and run comparison ads like this, it’s actually just serving as a way for consumers to bypass some OTA’s completely.

Google aren’t silly. There is definitely an opportunity for them to serve price lead travel deals to the consumer and make Adwords even more competitive in the process.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:48:36 +0000

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By: Brian Hayashi

Brian Hayashi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:36:03 +0000

This is an iteration of Google’s aspiration to make all information available. Most travel companies have little to fear from this (other than GOOG’s relentless drive to destroy margins). OTAs that add little to the search experience are the ones that should be frightened. By removing cities from its search corpus, Expedia is practically inviting GOOG to come in and eliminate politics from the booking equation.