Google's upcoming identity crisis

In plotting its future, is Google following its rivals too closely?

The last several months have been marked by the addition of several new features as the search-engine leader attempts to realise its widening ambitions. The latest, introduced last Thursday, is a feature that lets people set up personalised home pages — a direct answer to Yahoo's My Yahoo portal. But in doing so, Google's online face to the world increasingly resembles those of its Web portal rivals.

Google executives downplay rivals' influence on its direction, but industry observers agree that the company's identity is morphing. In the battle for the online ad dollar, the distinctions between Google and its Web portal competitors are fading.

"No matter what [Google] says, it is their foray into becoming a Web portal," said Gartner analyst Allen Weiner. "They're taking dead aim at Yahoo."

Yahoo is the biggest of the Web portals, with nearly 115 million unique visitors to the site in April, according to ComScore Media Metrix. It's followed by Microsoft's MSN and America Online. Google comes in fourth with 78 million unique visitors last month, but leads in search queries and ad click-throughs.

Yahoo responded to Google's move on Thursday with a reminder of its stature in the portal space.

"My Yahoo is the number one personalised Web page in the world," a Yahoo representative said in a statement. "We launched My Yahoo nine years ago and last year redefined personalisation again by providing access to millions of content sources from across the Web."

Google has some catching up to do in the "personalisation" front, analysts said. The company's home page tool, which is in beta release, lacks many of the richer features of My Yahoo and other portals, analysts said. For instance, it doesn't offer as many news feeds or the same level of detail on the stock market as rivals do.

Google executives dismiss the comparisons. In fact, Google vice-president Marissa Mayer, who worked closely with the team that developed the home page, said she hasn't visited My Yahoo in years. She also denies that Google is building a portal.

"We don't want this to be a walled garden — just a good way to start your entry to the Web," she said.

Creating a paradise for advertisers is certainly part of the equation too, analysts said.

Google isn't advertising on its home pages yet, but those pages are likely to become prime online advertising space. The beauty, of course, is that advertisers may be able to target their pitches based on the type of content and preferences people select.