Google Goes After Classifieds, Big-Time

Newspapers and online classified ad sites should start trembling, because Google has made it clear it's painted a bull's eye on the classified market. A new Google job posting for a director of classified ads has made it clear that the company is going after classifieds, big-time. Google's recent launch of Google Base is only the beginning. That's a free service, and so there would be no need to hire a head of classifieds if that's all Google had up its sleeve.

The help wanted ad makes clear that Google is going to be hiring a entire classified sales staff, including specialists, associates, and regional sales managers.

Combine this big, new staff with Google's enormous reach, and pent-up demand for classifieds, and you get tremendous potential revenue possibilities.

As for what this means for newspapers...print is hurting bad enough, right now, and this could put many over the edge. Many newspapers, especially local ones, are kept afloat by classified ads. This could spell their death knell.