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I'd speculate that, just as with the Zagat purchase, they were singularly interested in a brand with recognition in those 40 years and older. (Maybe since they are seeing the Google brand erode in quality and value to those under 40...)
I'd speculate that, just as with the Zagat purchase, they were singularly interested in a brand with recognition in those 40 years and older. (Maybe since they are seeing the Google brand erode in quality and value to those under 40...)
Do the Frommer's and Zagat brands mean anything to those under 40? My instinct is that they probably don't.
I haven't looked at any in a very long time, but I recall Frommer's guidebooks as having the feel of McDonald's, relative to say Lonely Planet. I'm eager for the Wikimedia Travel project to get underway https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide
What about http://wikitravel.org ?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do the Frommer's and Zagat brands mean anything to those under 40? My instinct is that they probably don't.
I'm in my late twenties and I know both brands though I had almost zero interaction with Zagat in any purposeful sort of way. I never sought out a list of Zagat rated restaurants. I did use Frommer's for trip planning though often it was browsing in the bookstore or library rather than purchasing.
Did you seek them out or did you discover them incidentally while in the respective "Travel" sections?
I run KangaCruise.com, we considered syndicating Frommer's guides for destinations, and actually still haven't written it off.
1) Small business relationships - well established relationships with long-established small businesses that may never have tried advertising online. Every listing is a potential new Adwords customer. I know someone who worked with Zagat and the 1st thing they did was swap out the ad network, so I'd say this is reason #1. These guys have very trusting and loyal ad partners
2) Brand recognition and perception of quality control in consumer listings.
3) Databases - its really hard to get a complete database of small business info from foreign countries. Googlebot is just never going to as good of a job cleaning up this content as a decent editorial staff. These guys have been intricately compiling and updating DBs of eateries and attractions for decades.
4) The guidebooks - I doubt the revenue from selling paper guidebooks means much to Google, but it might be a lesson in selling digital content, who knows
5) They acquired them both for a steal. A bunch of editors working for peanuts, content and new adwords customers scooped up at a fire sale.
I haven't looked at any in a very long time, but I recall Frommer's guidebooks as having the feel of McDonald's, relative to say Lonely Planet. I'm eager for the Wikimedia Travel project to get underway https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide
I haven't looked at any in a very long time, but I recall Frommer's guidebooks as having the feel of McDonald's, relative to say Lonely Planet. I'm eager for the Wikimedia Travel project to get underway https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide
What about http://wikitravel.org ?
Wikitravel is pretty good, but uneven depth of coverage. I usually read at least the main Wikipedia article and Wikitravel article about places I'm going to, and web search and sites like Yelp for details. Together this is a huge improvement over guidebooks. With more attention that a Wikimedia travel site would get, I'd expect even more/better for the types of things I look at Wikitravel for now, probably meaning I'd need to search/yelp/etc just a bit less.
(Of course most people would get to Wikimedia Travel via Google, and they could use WT content, so it'd be a win for Google just like Wikipedia, even if it made their purchase of Frommer's worth less.)
I'd speculate that, just as with the Zagat purchase, they were singularly interested in a brand with recognition in those 40 years and older. (Maybe since they are seeing the Google brand erode in quality and value to those under 40...)
Do the Frommer's and Zagat brands mean anything to those under 40? My instinct is that they probably don't.
I haven't looked at any in a very long time, but I recall Frommer's guidebooks as having the feel of McDonald's, relative to say Lonely Planet. I'm eager for the Wikimedia Travel project to get underway https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Travel_Guide
I find the Lonely Planet guidebooks are targeted at a very specific sort of traveler (one that is younger and cooler). I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for my parents.