Google-Zagat, Perfect Match????

After getting into a scrap with Yelp earlier this year for allegedly importing its user reviews without providing links to it, Google, on Thursday, acquired Zagat, the restaurant rating service. The search engine giant procured the content company to bolster its products like local and Google Places Page.

Marissa Mayer, Google VP, Local, Maps and Locations Services said in a blog post, that Zagat will “be a cornerstone of our local offering.”

It is expected that Zagat, which is best known for its original review and rating service will help Google expand its local coverage and have reviews in more than a 100 cities. Moreover, Google will own content rather than merely compiling it. Mayer said that the Zagat pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and snippeting sentiment were 'mobile' even before the electronics ' mobile' came into the picture. She said that Google was excited to be able to collaborate with the rating service and to extend the power of Google search and Google Maps to their products and to bring Zagat's innovation, trusted reputation and wealth of experience to users.

Local has not been a cakewalk for Google. In 2005, the Mountain View company acquired early location-based social networking service Dodgeball but had to shut it down and founder Dennis Crowley began a new venture – Foursquare. More recently, in an attempt to bolster its Local services, Google acquired Latitude and Hotpot, a recommendation engine that is integrated into Google Places. And yet, this latest acquisition seems to be the one that will do the trick for Google.

Zagat, founded by Tom and Nina Zagat, has been around for 32 years and started as a printed guide to restaurants, soon 'Zagat ratings' had become industry standard. Recently, Zagat has reinvented itself on the Internet and has mobile apps, making it a strong competitor to services like Foursquare and Yelp.

You can view the extent of Zagat's innovation in the video below, wherein Nina Zagat is interviewed by blogger Robert Scoble:

The Zagats says that they will continue to be active in the company as co-chairs and expressed their satisfaction on the collaboration. “The merger of our resources, expertise and platforms with those of Google will give us an opportunity to greatly expand. We have spent enough time with Google senior management to know that they fully share our belief in user-generated content, and our commitment to accuracy and fairness in providing consumers with the information necessary to make smart decisions about where to eat, travel and shop. We could not be happier to see our baby placed into such good hands and are looking forward to being Googlers in the years ahead.”

Both Google and Zagat did not reveal the acquisition price. Back in 2008, the New York Times had reported that Zagat's value was estimated to be around $ 200 million when it had put itself on the market.

It would be interesting to see how Google and Zagat integrate their services, though seeing the scores that Zagat has given Google it seems they have started on a perfect note.

Mayer seems to have been in a poetic mood when she posted the news on Google+ : “Delightful deal done; Zagat and Google now one; foodies have more fun!” Let us hope Google and Zagat will be on a song soon.