Bloomberg broke the news that one of the most respected and visible Google personalities, Marissa Mayer, is switching roles in the company. She will no longer be Google’s vice president of search products, instead she is moving into overseeing location and local services.

The article, as do others, claim how important those areas are in Google’s future. And thus, it is a promotion. In addition, Marissa is joining Google’s operating committee, the company’s senior most management group.

But other’s believe the move was a step down. Claiming Marissa has failed to compete with Bing on the user interface side and to innovate at a faster pass, on the UI side, compared to Bing. Rational? Today is a day full of Bing announcements.

Personally, I am not sure what to believe. I know mobile/local is really an incredibly important part of search. Most of the growth in search over the next years will be via that avenue. But I am a bit surprised to see Marissa not lead up both local and web desktop. I mean, I can see her doing both.

A WebmasterWorld thread has Brett Tabke’s comments, Brett is the founder of WebmasterWorld and PubCon. Brett said:

So he clearly thinks this was a demotion of some sorts.

But I do not agree with the “if it aint broke – don’t fix it” attitude. If you don’t innovate, you will die, in my opinion. Especially in this business.

Anyway, what do you think? Do you think Google demoted Mayer or promoted her?

Was Google’s Marissa Mayer Promoted or Demoted?online survey

Forum discussion at Sphinn and WebmasterWorld.