The deal will bolster the profile of the nine-year-old The Infatuation. But it also raises questions about whether Zagat, once the 800-pound gorilla of restaurant recommendations, can remain relevant when a slew of younger digital competitors have emerged and thrived.

Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat as a survey of their friends’ opinions on New York City eateries, Zagat and its quotation-mark-laden reviews — appearing in the company’s distinctive burgundy-colored guidebooks — once made the publisher synonymous with searches for restaurants.

Then Google bought the company — under the direction of Marissa Mayer, who went on to become Yahoo’s chief executive — to integrate it into its mapping service. Life under Google has sometimes been rocky for the business, including a de-emphasizing of Zagat content in favor of Google’s own collected recommendations.

In 2016 Google unveiled a new look for Zagat’s website and an app that provided suggestions based on users’ locations and the time of day.

“Zagat has helped us provide useful and relevant dining results for users across our various products,” Jen Fitzpatrick, a vice president of product and engineering at Google, said in a statement. “The Infatuation is an innovative company that will be a terrific home for the Zagat brand.”