Google provide new enterprise solutions for small-medium businesses
While surfing (has the term surfing disappeared from web terminology?) around the internet I've seen some interesting new developments as regards Google and small to medium businesses.
The first new feature that I've came across is the Google search appliance. This is not to be confused with the usual Google search bar seen on sites; this is a search tool powered by Google but dedicated to a particular site.
For example, if we look at a site such as "the best of" (http://www.thebestof.co.uk ) we can see the new search appliance being used. If you click on the "what this means" link on this site you'll get a description of the new technology. This search appliance has basically indexed all of the pages on "the best of" site and uses Google technology to serve up results from that site when someone types a query into the search bar on the homepage (or any page that has the search bar on it).
If we compare this to this to the normal Google search on a different site we'll see an obvious difference. Let's take this SEO Help ( http://www.seohelp-uk.co.uk ) site as example. This less developed site uses the normal Google search bar, and is a great example to show the benefits of using the new search appliance as opposed to the normal search bar: If you type "SEO" into the search bar on this site and click the radio button to search that site you will not get a great result: it actually doesn't return any pages in that site for the term that is rich throughout the site. The reasons for this may be that the site's pages are not cached, or that Google doesn't rate those pages very well for that key term; but whatever the reason it is clear to see that this search tool is not very effective.
The second new feature that I noticed, I also saw on "the best of" website. The feature is the incorporation of Google maps on medium business website. If we look at "the best of" "Solihull" (http://www.thebestof.co.uk/Solihull/1094/1/1/the_best_of.aspx ) page for example, we'll see that there is a "Map" button that will give you a Google map of the location of this small business in "the best of" directory.
This Map function is a powerful tool for any business, and a website like this in particular: this tool will be very appealing to the client of this business directory, as well as the users of the website. This feature makes this site look a lot more professional, as well as making it a far more powerful tool for finding information on the internet.
These new features are excellent new tools at the disposal of small to medium businesses. These tools give more access to users, as well as big benefits to businesses. The only downside that I could think that I might hear is the usual "this will make Google more powerful and give them even more control of the internet". My response would be to say that with tools like these added to the magnificent features Google already offers (such as Google Earth and Google video) as well as arguably the best search engine available Google deserves all the acclaim and power that they have received.
But I am a big Google fan and we all have our own opinions, and can all make up our own minds about Google and the internet. Any comments would be welcomingly received (use my email address below).
Authour
Michael Hanna
Email: samqam@googlemail.com