Google Street View

I was reading that Google have now rolled out its version of "Google Street View". Looking at it now i must say im quite impressed, im also impressed with the "Google Mapplets", it also includes transit info. There is only 5 citys listed at the moment that have Street View but of course there will be every major city listed on there soon enough.

Microsoft are also testing a 360 panoramic street view (Microsoft Street View).

So what does this mean for SEO? well im not sure but i think it will be a great marketing tool, how cool would it be having millions of people from all over the world seeing what your shop looks like?

Something else i'll be keeping my eyes on and see how it can enhance business.

Street view mapping capability?

As we all know Microsoft have been playing with ( street view ) mapping and i must say im incredibly impressed! Yes i know its been out for over a year and that A9 had the *block view* technology before hand but still, it is quite incredible of how far technology has come in the few short years. I think it is safe to say that Google will end up going down that route, offering street view mapping. If you have been paying attention to Googles latest roll out of Universal Search, you will see that images on the maps have been made more prominent so its more relevant to the user when searching.

Mapping is becoming the most competitive market on the internet, all of the major providers of maps are now seeing a huge growth with people using the API's.

Ther eseems to be a race between all the big boys such as Google, Yahoo!, MSN and MapQuest to develop the most media rich interfaces. One of the most under rated search engines ( Ask.com ) have a pretty cool and innovative system too.

Google Universal Search - What's that all about?

Google have made a big change to its search results by introducing the Universal Search system. When a user types in a query, the system encompasses listings from its images, videos, news, book and Google local (maps) as well as normal web sites.

Universal search rolled out 9 days ago and now is active in Google.com and Google.co.uk so people should start seeing various other formats such as videos when typing in queries. I have just been looking for some music videos to download onto my laptop so I can watch on the way home from work, the good thing is I didn’t need to go to YouTube.com or any other video host to find exactly what I was looking for, I just typed in velvet revolver slither (yes I’m an avid rock fan!) and boom! Positioned number 3 and 4 are two videos, exactly what I was looking for.

So what does it mean? It means that users will get more relevant and better quality results and a better experience when using Google. SEO’s will have to change the way they actually do SEO and how they go about doing it. I have done a little research into this and I “think” it is META AND Relevancy based, I will only be able to confirm that when I have done some testing over the weekend but when I can confirm it I will blog about it.
On a personal basis I think its great and Google have been very smart about how it works. I love the way it takes all the information and acts like a funnel