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But remember, Google has been under significant pressure from investors not to become “just another portal” or to over-emphasize itself as a media or advertising company – the impression of a “technology company” solely devoted (or 70% of the time, anyway) to search – was very important back in the IPO days – and has played a big role in Google’s stock performance. Judging by Schmidt’s remarks at the press day earlier this month, you can see that this still guides his PR strategy.

However, I’m more inclined to agree with you, that many of these concerns are much less valid today than they were back in 2004, and will become less and less important as the company continues to grow. Despite some predictions to the contrary, the search portal seems to be one mainstay of Web 1.0 that’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and if Yahoo can teach us anything, it’s that people love a one-stop-shop, often times even if they can find better stand-alone services elsewhere.

Google needs to adapt to this – yes, they need to redesign the homepage – yes, they need to act (more) like a portal – at least on the surface – or you’re right, they will never see gains in any of their portal-esque products – even other search types.

That said, I personally believe much of this is already in the works, it’s just a matter of timing – I’m going to try my hand at some predictions in my next post…

Case in point: Google Video Search.

Google (the page) keeps most of it’s interesting content in a virtual “creepy back room” accessible only by clicking on the “more” link. Froogle is not number one, Video Search is not number one, etc all because their “perpetual beta” mindset won’t let them put the new good stuff on the front page.

I hate Google in almost every way, but here’s a hand out guys: Take a page from Yahoo and Microsoft’s playbook. Advertise every piece of crap you make, regardless. Microsoft Live is a steaming pile that was probably put together by an intern in the Atlas office; BUT IT WAS ON THE MSN MAIN PAGE…FRONT AND CENTER…FOR A MONTH! Look at Yahoo, their main page looks like a shut-in’s living room.

STOP HIDING YOUR PRODUCTS YOU GEEKY, SENSITIVE, INTROVERTED WIERDOS. SOMEONE ELSE WROTE A BOOK ABOUT YOUR VISION! IT TAKES BLOGGERS TO SPREAD WORD OF MOUTH ABOUT YOUR SERVICES! FUCK!!!

Rant aside: Video AdSense is just a logical next step for them to take. We may even see contextual “blank” the “blank” banner ads before the month is out. With one piece of resuable, billable code, google will be able to determine if you most wish to “Punch” the “Politician” or “Shoot” the “Monkey/Penguin/Deer”. Each banner ad that surfers encounter will be more enticing than the next until your ever waking second is consumed by the need to “blank” the thing you hate most with the possiblity of winning that elusive new Xbox 360 as an added bonus.

I’m not going to consider any AdSense product truly new any more. These variants are just natural evolutions. The only AdSense news I’m keeping my eyes open for is the emergence of a serious competitor that actual specializes in Marketing. AdSense is just a Brin dropping that happened to be profitable…with a real marketing visionary (self promoting and all) at the helm of a distributed ad network we might see minority report style cool/invasivness before we die of old age.