{"id":9659,"date":"2011-04-08T08:42:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T12:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=9659"},"modified":"2011-04-08T15:44:36","modified_gmt":"2011-04-08T19:44:36","slug":"where-does-local-fit-into-the-newly-organized-google-under-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2011\/04\/08\/where-does-local-fit-into-the-newly-organized-google-under-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Does Local Fit into the Newly Organized Google Under Page?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated 3:38<\/strong>: Thanks to reader, Matt, for pointing<\/a> out this BusinessInsider article<\/a> titled: Marissa Mayer Bypassed As Google Appoints New Head Of Local And Commerce. Apparently Jeff Huber was handed the job and his title has been upgraded to SVP, Local and Commerce and is on par with the four mentioned below. It clarifies that local is a key initiative with visibility at the highest levels of Google. Not sure what is says about Marissa. <\/p>\n

Read more: http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/one-more-google-winner-jeff-huber-controls-commerce-and-local-2011-4#ixzz1Ixj2T8qZ<\/p>\n

Larry Page took over<\/a> as CEO of Google at the beginning of the week. Immediately thereafter, Google’s product head Jonathan Rosenberg resigned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Late Yesterday it was reported<\/a> in an LA Time’s exclusive that Page has completed a major reorganization at Google that put key executives in charge of their individual business units and reporting directly to him.<\/p>\n

From the article (bolds mine):<\/p>\n

Those promotions include Andy Rubin who is now senior vice president of mobile<\/strong>; Vic Gundotra who is now senior vice president of social<\/strong>; Sundar Pichai who is now senior vice president of Chrome<\/strong>; Salar Kamangar who is now senior vice president of YouTube and video<\/strong>; Alan Eustace, who is now senior vice president of search<\/strong>; and Susan Wojcicki, who is now senior vice president of ads<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The executives will be able to act more autonomously and won’t have to turn to Google’s powerful operating committee on every decision.<\/p>\n

The structure certainly begs the question: Where’s Local in all of this?<\/p>\n

In mid October it was reported<\/a> that Marissa Meyer had taken on a new role in charge of geo and local. More importantly it seemed, in being promoted to the operating committee it was noted that her voice and focus on local would be more widely heard. Now we learn that the operating committee will take on less of a product role and \u00a0that Local, Geo and Maps are not in their own product category.<\/p>\n

One presumes that Geo- Local \u00a0will once again fall under the broad aegis of search and that Mayer will report to Alan Eustace. Although much of local is also social (Hotpot, Latitude). At least on the surface, it appears that Local (and perhaps Meyer) has been demoted. At best, it implies confused lines of authority.<\/p>\n

Whether it will affect the investments necessary to take local to the next level is unclear. Whether decisions critical to local will be made quickly is also unclear.<\/p>\n

Let’s hope not.<\/p>\n

I would love to hear your thoughts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated 3:38: Thanks to reader, Matt, for pointing out this BusinessInsider article titled: Marissa Mayer Bypassed As Google Appoints New Head Of Local And Commerce. Apparently Jeff Huber was handed the job and his title has been upgraded to SVP, Local and Commerce and is on par with the four mentioned below. It clarifies that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-maps-google-local"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t