Google's Next Step: Google Landing Pages?

Could landing pages be the next frontier for Google paid advertising?

With every new feature that Google comes out with as a part of their search experience, we learn one thing: Google wants to consolidate the user experience as much as possible to drive action. To do this, they know they must own the entire conversion process.

In the past year or so, Google has effectively collapsed key action steps and information with Ad Extensions:

1. Providing superficial site navigation links with Ad Sitelinks
2. Giving a contact phone number within ads (and tracking it) with phone number extensions
3. Offering up location information within paid search ads with location extensions
4. Even extracting product information and checkout outside of the website itself with product extensions.

Now, word is that Google plans to launch a user information form from within paid search ads themselves, i.e., instead of clicking through to a website to fill out a conversion form, the form will expand from the paid search ad and be submitted through Google.

Each new development has one thing in common: the removal of power from landing pages and desitation websites, and the transferral of that power to Google features from within search engine results.

The Case for Google Landing Pages

It is clear that Google's aim is to own the online user experience in some way. We've learned that, although they are not in the business of content creation, they continue to inch into the realm of content alignment and development. Take, for example, the Google's Display Ad Builder, which gives advertisers the ability to take display ad elements and build banner ads from within Google.

Also, consider Google's role in a typical user conversion process. In many cases, it could look something like this:

The Conversion Process, as advertisers see it

In the example above, Google essentially owns the entire conversion process up until the point of user click through, where they lose the user to the external landing page. I might even submit that the landing page visit is being skipped in many cases, when considering the new Google extensions and especially with the Google form that is being introduced.

The landing page remains as the step within the process that Google does not control; but why not?

Google has already shown that they can give users the tools to build their own content with the Display Ad Builder, they are already conveying interest in controlling the conversion itself, and they have a stated interest in collecting information from landing pages/websites with Google Analytics.

What is Google's next step?

Could they create a "Google Landing Page Builder", similar to the Display Ad Builder, where the advertiser can easily build landing pages from within Google Adwords?

Are they going to continue to consolidate minor conversion steps within SERPs, similar to the lead capture forms and phone number extensions?

As is normally the case, only Google knows what the next move will be.

Do you have any thoughts on what Google might do next? Please share and discuss in the comments section.