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Google as Publisher: Is Google Poised for a New Push into the Information Industry?

Image of Leigh Watson Healy

Author: Leigh Watson Healy, Chief Analyst

Google has assembled the ingredients that could enable it to launch itself as a publisher and target the information industry as part of its goal to become a $100 billion company. This report from Outsell's new stand-alone service - Market Intelligence Service: Search - looks at how Google’s technical infrastructure, patents, and agile development processes could enable the company to become a publisher, whether accidentally or intentionally. The report combines technical analysis from Stephen E. Arnold, industry expert and technologist, with the business and market analysis of Outsell. It analyzes:

- Google’s content creation engine and how the company dynamically generates content from data stored on its servers;
- The cost and automation advantages of Google’s “intelligent” publishing system over a traditional publisher’s operation;
- Google’s patents and the clues they provide to the company’s capabilities;
- Essential actions for publishers and information providers that want to remain competitive should Google evolve as publisher.


Pub Date: May 25, 2007
Type: Company AnalyAsis
Segment: SAS
Keywords: Company Profile, Search
Pages: 22
Format: PDF Application_pdf

We provide a link to download a PDF at the end of the purchase process.

Table of Contents

  • Why This Topic?
    1. A Note on Methodology
  • The Path to $100 Billion: The Once-Lucrative Publishing Sector May Be Vulnerable
  • Google’s Content Creation Engine: Index on Steroids
  • Google’s Publishing Advantages: Cost and Automation
    1. Live Example: Google as Directory Publisher
  • Google Patents Provide Important Clues about Google Publishing
    1. Personalization of Placed Content Ordering
    2. Plug-In Modules
  • The Google Advantage: Low-Cost Innovation and No Baggage
    1. Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop
    2. Google as Accidental Publisher
  • Essential Actions

    • Tables & Figures

  • Figure 1. Google Competition Constellations
  • Figure 2. Google Search Results
  • Figure 3. Google Maps
  • Figure 4. Content Inputs to the Googleplex
  • Table 1. Googleplex Publishing Compared to a Traditional Publisher’s Operation
  • Figure 5. Google Catalogs
  • Figure 6. Google Publishing “Input” Systems
  • Table 2. Representative Google Patent Applications and Patents Related to Publishing