It's no secret that companies generally want as many customers as possible.  It's no secret that benefits, new services, and updated products serve to not only expand a company's customer base, but also act as a retainer for existing customers.

So should we be at all surprised that Google has been consistently rolling out new features, new products, and new benefits for customers in an attempt to secure their dominance of the search industry?  No.  Of course not.  And those of us who know how things really work in search are probably in a better position to make informed decisions about these new benefits than others.

And that's why I enjoyed reading Michael Gray's "Google Personalized Search - Don't Become a Google Traffic Addict".  In the article Gray looks at the ways Google Personalized Search might be deciding when and where to throw up personalized search results as well as the ways that "smart" website owners and marketers will likely try to take advantage of the system.  That part, in and of itself, makes for a good read.

But in closing, Gray has this to say about Google:

The kick in the ass though is what you’re really doing is helping Google establish a more dominant position. Changing search engines is easy. Changing feed readers is a PIA but still do-able. Changing from Google bookmarks to another service like del.icio.us is still do-able but more problematic. Changing email services is usually just this side of nightmarishly gruesome. Changing search engines, feed readers, bookmarking services, and email all at one time is borderline masochistic.

In case you missed it Google is using you. Using you to help them promote their services, hoping you’ll take the bite, for a little bit of personalized traffic. Hoping you’ll make other people so Dependant on Google’s array of services, the “price” for switching is so unpleasant almost no one will do it … ever.

He's completely right.  But then if we stopped to think about it… and I mean really think about it, we could probably all come to the same conclusion.  And it's a double-edged sword:  on one hand Google is pushing itself down user's throats to secure a business… and on the other hand a lot of the things Google uses to secure that business are actually beneficial to customers.

So how do you decide how to deal with the situation personally?

The way I see it, there are three possible courses of response:

1. Shun Google and it's services
2. Accept Google's dominance and run with it
3. Diversify yourself across a wider group of services

It'd be silly to shun Google completely.  I mean… they have some pretty decent stuff.  And for certain types of searches, you can't beat Google.  On the same token, I think it's a bad idea to wrap yourself entirely in a Google world.  As Gray pointed out, switching services in the future isn't always easy.  And while Google does a fair job of making it easy to leave, it could be better.

Besides… it's rarely, if ever, wise to put all of your eggs in one basket.  John Chow, for example, has shown that an advertising system based off of multiple revenue streams can work better than a Google-only AdSense approach.  The idea of Google's information-gathering techniques becoming too powerful have been raised on numerous occasions.  And I personally don't like the idea of one company having too much information about me.  If you live in a Google-only world that could easily become a reality.

That's why I've decided to go the diversification route as of late.  I switched my RSS subscription service to Bloglines (away from Google Reader).  I have Google set as my homepage, but I have Yahoo! set as the default search engine within my web browsers.  Over a year ago I moved away from Blogger and took up WordPress.  I use del.icio.us for bookmarking.  I use Live.com for image search and I'm slowly starting to use Live.com's mapping service more and more.  I have Google personalized search disabled.  I don't use a personalized homepage.  I have Google search history turned off.  And I delete all of my browser cookies once a week, every week, on the same day.

Some of my friends say I'm paranoid.  Maybe I am.  I don't mind companies collecting a little data on me here and there.  Google and Yahoo can share my search information.  Microsoft can have my image search and mapping information.  IAC can have my RSS subscription information.  But I don't want any one company collecting all of that information.  And this isn't an "anti-Google" thing.  As I've said on numerous occasions in numerous forums, I'm a fan of Google.  I like a lot of their services - even the ones that I don't use.  It's because I like Google that I scrutinize them as much as I do. 

As Gray points out in his article, the benefits and ease of use that Google works into all of its products serve to only strengthen the grip they have over the Internet's information.  Google isn't alone, of course.  Just about any other company out there would most likely do the exact same thing.  And since we know that (or at least we should know it) we need to be responsible consumers and make educated decisions about the services we use, the information we share, and our attachment to any one company.

Afterall… you know what "they" say:  variety is the spice of life.