There have been a few moments over the last week that have felt revelationary. This morning was not one of them. This morning made me sad, and while I now have a much more negative view of Google than I did before it doesn’t change anything to cease my sadness.
The thing is, I like winning. It think most people do. So when I noticed this morning that Google had shifted their search bar to AI it made me a little sad, and then the business part of me kicked in when the words in the search bar changed to make a plan. That is what we want people to do. One of the most searched plans is going to be planning a trip. If I can get in on that and make the pet care a part of the plan that would be huge.
So I did it. I put, “Plan a trip including pet care.” After I hit enter it wasn’t all bad I got a notification that our PMax ad was eligible for that search and our Local Services Ad showed up but then I read Gemini. It did suggest using a local pet sitter, but in that space it suggested something called Nomador. What that is is the rebrand of Trusted House Sitters. Not sure why it rebranded but it is the same service. You hire a traveler to watch your home. Not a local at all. You basically trade vacations with someone.
That being the number 1 suggestion of Google’s AI is weird. How many people out there want their travel plans to revolve around someone else’s travel plans? I am bias in the matter but I do think it is better to hire a local company that can guarantee care through a team approach.
This is a whole new world, and Google feels a lot like Sears during the dot com boom. That is what I have figured out. A lot of large companies are stretching there systems to implement AI as fast as possible. Some are in a race to the top and others are showing cracks in their foundation. My issue with my Google Business Profile showed me a lot of the cracks in the Google foundation. They are over automated and sure of their place in the market, but if they don’t patch those cracks and continue chasing waterfalls they are going to end up in trouble.
There is no reward in being second best. Gemini feels like a tacked on system. Even where it is supposed to excel it feels like it lags. Again no one thought an upstart dot com company selling books was a threat to an American institution like Sears, but eventually Amazon stole their space and if Google isn’t careful AI will do the same to them.
David Huzzard Writes 