Zappos.com is a recognized leader in the sales of shoes over the web.
Their innovative use of technology reinforces their leadership position.
The following map shows how Zappos.com display orders as they are shipped on Google Maps.
Zappos.com Real Time Orders
After what seems like years of waiting, a photo and video I add to my Google Local Business Center account have finally been added to my Google Maps listing.
Google Local Results
From the outset, my listing has displayed the data I initially provided to Google including my Website, Hours, Payment Accepted, Description and Email.
Google Maps
However, the images I added shortly after the Local Business Center began accepting photos and videos didn’t appear in my business listing until recently.
My Local Business Listing now includes both the video and image I provided.
Local Business Center Photos Videos
In addition to my Local Business Center listing displaying photos and videos, my account now provides monthly account impressions and views statistics.
Local Business Center Traffic Statistics
Business owners who have active Google Local Business Center listings will be happy to find this new local traffic data available in their accounts.
Several months ago Google began placing sponsored links (ads) on Google Maps for individual business listings.
Google ads can now be found on most every business listing both on the left rail under the business contact details as well as below its location placement on Google Maps.
Google Maps Sponsored Links
Today after drilling down into a business listing for more information I noticed the right rail of the five sub-categories of Google Maps information – Overview, Details, Reviews, User Content and Web Pages – are now also accompanied by sponsored links.
Ads on Google Maps Overview
I don’t recall seeing Google ads at these information levels before.
Placing Sponsored Links at the business Overview, Details, Review, User Content and Web Pages has increased the number of ad units Google can distribute on this particular business listing by at least 20.
Provided these pages get increasingly larger levels of visits, this additional level of ad distribution should help both Google and its advertisers alike.
Could it be Public Storage has a monopoly on the self storage market in Oklahoma City or do they just appear to have one because of their dominance in Google’s search results?
Oklahoma City Storage Google Maps
Not sure whether these results are Public Storage’s handiwork or Google’s lack therof.
In either case, I am pretty sure Google prefers to deliver more varied business results for generic search terms like Oklahoma City Storage.
A quick check for “storage” in other cities doesn’t show the same degree of repetition of a single listing’s data.
Are these results spam or a Google anomaly?
David Pogue with The New York Times recently created a list of innovations Google has produced or bought in its relatively short corporate history.
His list consists of Google products most any consumer who has been online in the last year would recognize including Google Earth, Gmail, YouTube and Blogger.
Some of the lesser known Google products and tools mentioned in Pogue’s New York Times article are: Google Docs, Picassa, iGoogle, Google Reader, Google Trends, Google Maps, Street View, Translator, 1-800-Goog411, Google SMS, Google Alerts and Google Sets.
Although the article begins by mentioning Google’s search box, Pogue doesn’t mention the greatest commercial result to come from Google’s search box by name: Google Adwords – arguably without which – none of Google’s other products would exist.
Maybe therein lies the keys to Google’s success.
Mel Bass with WhereImAt.com saw my post yesterday on IHOP store locations and decided to show how incorporating IHOP data would look in his site which uses Google Maps.
WhereImAt.com
Drilling down into WhereImAt.com’s store locator data within Google Maps gives searchers viewing options they are probably already familiar with – the Map, Satellite, Hybrid or Terrain views.
WhereImAt.com Map View
What I think is unique about WhereImAt is the ability for searchers looking for a particular store to zoom in and see their target location in Google state of the art Maps.
WhereImAt.com Satellite View
Whether viewing by traditional map or satellite view, WhereImAt.com’s corporate store locator Google Maps application lets franchisors and their customers get more more dynamic store location image data than the mapping alternatives offer.
Where Im At Map View
WhereImAt.com Map View
Store Locator Satellite View
Store Location Satellite View
The Google LatLong blog announced Google Maps has increased search results from 10 to 1000.
1000 Google Maps Results
From Google Maps:
…we’ve added a search layer for local search results that activates when there are more relevant results than we can show on one page. Instead of just plotting the first page of business results on our map, we plot more of them as small circles. You can click on the circles to get more information about the businesses they represent. The top ten results will still appear in the left-hand pane and as pins on the map.
According to Greg Sterling and comScore, Google Maps recently surpassed MapQuest with 42.3 unique visitors compared to MapQuests 41.5 million unique visitors in January 2009 to become the most visited maps site on the web.
Surely this new addition of data to Google Maps will continue to increase its traffic, sessions and page views to further solidify its lead over MapQuest .
The Google Earth and Maps team has posted a video tutorial on YouTube for business owners looking to verify or append their business listing data in Google Maps.
From the Google Lat Long Blog:
Local Business Center allows business owners to edit the content of their existing listing, or to add a brand new listing to Google’s local database. By ensuring that basic information is up-to-date and providing additional details, like photos, hours, and coupons, business owners can stand out on the map to attract more customers.
Update your Google Maps listing in Google’s Local Business Center.
Google Local Business Center
The Smoking Gun has published a Google Maps Street View image of a man carrying a gun he had apparently just purchased.
The Smoking Gun doesn’t link directly to Google’s street image but does provide some clues as to where the image can be found.
Google Maps Street View Man with Gun
It took me about three minutes to find this picture.
How long will it take for you to find the same public Google Maps Street View image of the man walking with a gun?
Today I noticed referrals to my WordPress blog from TwitterVision.com.
Its an interesting concept: mashing Twitter Tweets up with Google Maps.
I am not sure how often it grabs Tweets or how regularly specific areas within Google Maps are refreshed but TwitterVision does provide a new view into the world of Twitter.
I tested Twittervision’s ability to place and map Tweets originating from the San Francisco area.
After several minutes Twittervision reported a Tweet from one of Twitter’s most prolific Tweeters – Robert Scoble @ Half Moon Bay, CA.
TwitterVision.com
Search Marketing Communications 
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