It appears Google has plans to attack another vertical. This time it’s Real Estate.
Google Local (Maps) is a great app, and it fits into online real estate marketing perfectly. It’s Google that I don’t think fits. They don’t have content, and, in the case of real estate, it comes only through cooperation from each independent MLS office. Rumors of a similar product in the automotive vertical will put them in a similar struggle with car dealers.
Call me an idealist, but I liked it better when they did one thing and did it well. While Google is out staking their claim to every vertical known to man, a dramatic search (indexing) paradigm seems to be passing them by. Tags.