Are Google's Analytics, Gmail, Blogger and other programs really free? Several clients have asked me, what's the catch? People are right to be skeptical, Google isn't just giving away free tools; they are using them to gather extremely detailed information on consumers. Think about all of the amazing information you get from Analytics; now imagine the information Google has at their fingertips.

This isn't meant to imply that Google is guilty of any impropriety. Google is a for-profit company and the majority of their revenue comes from advertising. Having detailed information on consumers is the cornerstone of good marketing, and Google is locked into the mother load of all consumer data sources. While their large cache of user information concerns privacy watchers it doesn't seem to concern many Google users.

If you are concerned I suggest reading Google's privacy policy. There are many free or paid alternatives to Google's products. If you don't mind giving up a little privacy you can have some great tools fro Google, but don't think for a minute these services are free.