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Ambergreen Internet Marketing
Clarence House
135 George Street
Edinburgh
EH2 4JS
Telephone: 0131 225 0720
Fax: 0131 225 0730
Email: info@ambergreen.co.uk
On May 27th Google revealed a new set of widgets that it is launching collectively as a Web Elements package. The tools in the package are widgets that allow users to quickly integrate some of Google's most popular products including the calendar, Search and maps functionalities. This can now be done with minimal effort and directly to individual sites. While some of this functionality already existed under the Google API's most bloggers did not know how to make use of them before now. The new product- Google Elements, makes this process far more intuitive and easier. All that one needs to do is to copy and paste an embedded code into their site and that is it!
Under this new product, Google is launching the 'Conversation' element which lets site visitors post comments and videos. While this is not a new concept and has been previously used through the FriendFeed widget, this new application is easy to use and can be embedded by anyone on any site. Site owners can control and monitor conversations through Google Friend Connect, which allows them to act as moderators to the ongoing thread of conversation.
Other widgets include 'Spreadsheets' which allow you to embed spreadsheets from Google Docs spreadsheets and 'Presentations' which allows you to do the same with presentations from Google Docs. This allows Google to now compete with sites like Scribd, SlideShare and DocStock which offer similar functionality and are usually a bit more complex and less user friendly.
Other elements and widgets include the calendar which lets you point out important dates for you and for visitors, Maps which let you flag up and pinpoint locations and News which provides a feed of the latest stories from Google News
As a whole, the new search elements make adding Google to your site extremely easy and allow Google to automatically index it, helping the proliferation of Google throughout the web and creating a functioning, voluntarily embedded presence for Google on as many sites as possible.
Microsoft announced this week that it will be re-launching its search engine in an attempt to create a more efficient, simpler competitor to Yahoo! and Google who currently hold 64% and 20% of the US market, respectively. Microsoft, which holds a little over 8% of the US market, will be re-naming the tool as Bing.com and launch first in the US in Beta and then expand into other markets such as Asia and Europe.
Ian Duncan, Head of Search at Ambergreen, shares his thoughts about the new Adwords Interface with Google..............
