Google to shake up online classified market?

As Internetnews.com reported on Tuesday, analysts said that Google plans to add classified ads to its index. The article cites a report from research firm Classified Intelligence, which says that Google has asked classified advertising sites, including CareerBuilder and Adicio, for a direct feed of listings, that would facilitate the listing of classified ads for the search engine.

Jim Townsed, editorial director at Classified Intelligence, said on Internetnews.com that "making classified ads available through an organic Google search would definitely change the game." He stated that there are two schools of thought, the one thinking that search could provide additional distribution of the ad, the other thinking that such a search possibility will destroy the pricing model employed by online and print classified publishers. "Just as Craigslist had a lot to do with killing the paid real estate listings, the more you give away for free, the harder it is to place a high value on it", he said (see also our previous postingon Craigslist). PaidContent cites John Zappe from Classified Intelligence, "Commercial classifieds sites such as CareerBuilder, Cars.com and others have to weigh the additional audience Google could deliver against the potential loss of revenue. Analysts, including us, predict that advertisers will move to free sites if they become convinced that they will reach an audience as large - or larger - on a search engine than on a paid advertising site."

Townsend suggests "that the online classifieds industry will move from a pay-for-listing model to a pay-for-performance one", whereby search engines could become their friends, writes Internetnews.com.

Source: Internetnews.com, PaidContent, see also News.com