I’m going to stick my neck out and make a prediction. I was thinking around the subject of Google Analytics just now, considering the increased information that Google now have. It’s a short leap of faith to guess that Google will use the data that Google Analytics provides in order to improve or reinforce their PageRank algorithm, and I’m sure most people have twigged that by now. To suggest that would be to make the mistake of thinking Google is still a search company.

What I predict Google will do next is vastly more interesting, because it’s all about money, and competition, and seeing into your customers minds, and your competitors pockets.

I predict that Google will sell anonymised marketing data that describes entire customer trends, from the initial search, through the discovery process, right along to the purchase, and beyond to store loyalty.

Say you’re a t-shirt shop and you want to sell witty sloganeering clothes. You realise (from Google Analytics) that people are coming to your site having performed a tee-shirt related search, but 99.99% leave without making a purchase.

When the customer exists your site, they reach the boundary of what you can track – but critically – Google can track them further. Google know the other stores your visitor has clicked on, and if those stores use Analytics, then Google also know whether your potential customer gets to your competitor’s checkout.

Why didn’t they buy from you? Who did they buy from instead? What was the differentiator? Was it the cost; P&P; the site layout; the size of the pictures; the type of information given; the download time; the usability, the special offers? etc.

This kind of tracking has been going on in high streets for years – watching general customer flow, or tracking specific customers as they leave stores to see where else they shop – but until now it’s been unfeasible to do it on the net.

In marketing terms, it’s an absolute goldmine, and it’s my prediction of what Google will squeeze the cash out of next.