Google`s Zagat Acquisition Supports Future Growth: 10 Reasons Why

For those unfamiliar with Zagat, the company publishes a highly respected restaurant guide that includes ratings of restaurants around the world. Zagat has become an authoritative online resource for diners and travelers. This also makes it one of the premier content creators on the Web.It’s that last element that makes this move most surprising. Over the years, Google has been a place for folks to find content from other sources. Now, Google has set about acquiring content such as Zagat’s rather than concentrating on cataloguing the world’s Web content with its search engine or building online services such as Google Maps or Google Apps in-house.That shift is just one of the many things that Google’s acquisition of Zagat says about...

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Google purchases Zagat, will integrate ratings into Google products

Google has announced that it has acquired Zagat, the restaurant rating company. It intends to integrate Zagat ratings into a number of existing Google services. Google did not reveal how much it paid for Zagat in its announcement. Zagat currently has guides in over 100 cities across the world, and covers 13 different categories with its ratings books. The company compiles ratings and surveys from real restaurant visitors to provide guides and scores for each restaurant. Google says that it will integrate these ratings into its current local services, including Google Maps, Places, and Search. Zagat currently offers mobile apps for the iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, and Windows Phone platforms that cost $9.99 each. [Google]...

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