• by Jim Meskauskas , November 3, 2004

A couple of weeks ago I downloaded the beta version of Google's new tool. Have you guys seen it? It's called the Google Desktop Search, and it basically indexes the content of your desktop the same way Google indexes the Web.

If you haven't tried this out, you might not understand quite how comprehensive this tool is. I mean, it indexes EVERYTHING. There are things found I never knew were there. Or, at least, that I never knew were being saved.

And if you have it installed, but use the Web-based Google to do a search, the top results will be links to objects on your desktop first. The paranoid conspirator in me thinks this is an insidious, intrusive evil that only the reincarnated spirit of J. Edgar Hoover could have dreamed of.

The disorganized Internet advertising guy who has a zillion things on his desktop in a million different places thinks it is the greatest thing since the alphabet was put in the order it is 'cause of that song we all learned as youths.

But what is Google going to do with this tool? It does, after all, live on an IP address, so the results of a search on your desktop can be "seen," so to speak, at headquarters. Other than providing something for the altruistic good of the jumbled computer user, what does Google want to achieve with this tool?

Well, certainly it is going to be to extend the reach of the AdWords and AdSense program, first and foremost.

We've all read the recent spate of predictions regarding search engine marketing. JupiterResearch predicted that spending for paid search will grow to $5.5 billion in 2009. The average click price is going to go from $0.29 last year to $0.47 in 2009, according to the same seers at JupiterResearch.

Untold volumes of potential click inventory suddenly become available to Google by having a desktop presence. Not to mention it gives them a head start on any search tools Microsoft might be developing.

This all had me thinking; just what kinds of advertisers might buy CPC keyword inventory for desktop AdSense? Well, the only way to find out is to do some searches I might usually do and see what comes up.

"Research" - There are 1,534 e-mails, 44 files, 1 chat, and 222 Web history listings for this term on my desktop... 1,534 e-mails? Holy smokes! Almost all of the e-mails are unread, undeleted newsletters. Perhaps a good advertiser would be another newsletter; a research newsletter, even. Of course, a research firm might be a good idea too.

"Therapy" - There are 77 e-mails, 17 files, 1 chat, and 15 Web history listings. Really? I don't know where these could be coming from. But sure enough, most of the files pertain to my pharmaceutical clients. The one chat makes me nervous, though. I don't save my instant messenger dialogues, typically. But sure enough, there it is. A chat with a friend talking about a therapy appointment. Possible advertisers? Pharmas, physical therapists, and - especially well-targeted here in New York - psychologists.

"Family Photos" (searched with quotation marks) - 2 e-mails - 0 files - 0 chats - 0 Web history. One is an e-mail from my mom that has a bunch of information about my genealogy on her side of the family. The other is an e-mail from "Broadway Across America" advertising a Billy Crystal show. I wonder. If Google's desktop search tool can find these files, can it also see the content? Ancestry.com or Ticketmaster.com might both have been good advertisers for this.

There is no doubt that search's move to my computer, your computer, and computers across America and around the world may turn out to be as significant a move to information management as Howard Stern's move to satellite radio may be to ad-supported media.

If you don't have the tool now, try it out. But be careful. It might make you even more disorganized!