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Within the past 24 hours, Google has implemented significant changes to its Street View service which ties in to the now mature Google Maps. Street View will now cover over 95% of Britain’s roads; a huge increase on the coverage available when Street View went live back in March 2009.
Originally covering 25 cities, and around 40,000 roads in the UK, this amazing system now shows interactive images of almost 250,000 UK streets and roads. Google Street View now provides an unprecedented level of imaging and mapping of the UK and these services are also available around much of the globe.
The hype surrounding these advancements has been overshadowed in recent months by calls for it to be shutdown. Some people regard it as an invasion of privacy, intruding in people’s personal lives and some even think it could be exploited by criminals.
However, Google has responded positively saying that it will help businesses; people can embed these services onto their web pages for free, helping prospective customers to find them more easily. With automatic face and number plate blurring, Google has gone a long way to protect the privacy of the public.
Using the latest technology, Google are able to capture thousands of separate images using Google Cars (and where needed, Google Tricycles!). With sets of cameras capturing groups of images at different points down roads, they create panoramic views. Combined with sophisticated software, they achieve the illusion of being able to walk down the streets and roads of the UK, right in your web browser.
A question does however spring to mind – why have they chosen to release the newly mapped areas all at once, rather than incrementally? To give us all Google fever – their viral approach to marketing features and services (pun intended!). So go ahead and take a look, see if you can find your road on Google Street View!
Tags: google, google cars, google street view, google tricycles, street view
Posted in Google and Search Engine Optimisation on March 11th, 2010 by Charlie | No Comments »
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Your site’s inbound links will have a big impact on your pages’ rankings. SEO companies are constantly on the lookout for new strategies to build their clients’ link profiles. Sometimes, the building of links isn’t the problem. What people often forget is that links need to be periodically checked on to maintain their function.
A good linking strategy will involve a combination of maintenance and link building. While your SEO consultant might be a great help with forging good links, it’s important for every site owner to know how to look after their own link profile. If you’re interested in links and search engine optimisation, talk to us at SEO Consult.
Here are four ways to help build and maintain your link profile:
1. Pursue your existing links for new ones. If someone has already linked to you, you have a relationship with them. Use it to see if you can get some more links, either from their site or help you get links from others. One way to ease into this is if someone has linked to your main page, then ask for a link to a specific page that will suit their site’s users better. This benefits them as well as you.
It’s important not to be too pushy when you’re talking to people who have already linked to you. Like any relationship, link relationships can get strained when someone asks too much.
2. Modify your anchor text where possible. Most site owners will either place your link within their own choice of anchor text or anchor it using your site address. A simple request can change the situation so that the link anchors use your keywords, boosting your page’s relevancy to your main keywords.
Again, use your discretion and diplomacy to handle this situation. If you demand up front that they place your link within text of your choosing it’s possible your request will be refused. A polite request once the relationship is established will have a better effect. It’s also a good idea to present it as something that will improve their site, for example pointing out that ‘click for [keyword] information’ will give their readers a better idea of where they’re going.
3. Check on old links. Other people’s sites undergo changes, too, and you need to keep up with them. Keep in contact with your existing links to ensure that changes won’t affect your link profile, and try to fix errors whenever you find them.
4. Optimise existing links. Inbound links are only good if they’re to the right pages. If one of your pages is taken off the index, its links will no longer be of that much value to your SEO campaign. One fix for this is to redirect links to a new, indexed page. Another option is to contact the people providing those links and let them know that there is a better page for them to link to. Of course, the best option of all is to ensure that your pages remain on the index.
Tags: existing links, Link Building, page rankings, SEO campaign, SEO Companies
Posted in SEO Strategy on March 11th, 2010 by Peter | No Comments »
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However, Google has responded positively saying that it will help businesses; people can embed these services onto their web pages for free, helping prospective customers to find them more easily. With automatic face and number plate blurring, Google has gone a long way to protect the privacy of the public.
