By: Carrie Hill

Google Maps for Mobile just made it easier than ever to get directions to that business you’re headed for on the fly.

With the server side change, you can get directions to your business destination by entering the name into the start OR end point.  Until the change today – Google Maps for Mobile would look for an address with the word “Starbucks” in it – instead of looking for the business named Starbucks.

I use my phone a lot when I travel to find restaurants – subway stations – coffee shops – things I need but wouldn’t feel comfortable wandering around searching the city for.  I also love to have directions when I give a cabbie an address so I can at least know we’re going in the right general direction.  I’m a mountain girl – I’m directionally challenged without the mountains to the east and the plains to the west.

If you already have Google Maps for Mobile installed on your phone, you’re ready to go – there’s no upgrade or changes that need to be made.

Carrie Hill is the SEO Team leader for Blizzard Internet Marketing where she specializes in optimizing travel, tourism and accommodations websites.

By Carrie Hill

In a somewhat confusing set of events Google has been awarded the use of their country-specific brand, Gu Ge, by Chinese courts.  Bejing GuGe Science & Technology Corp was ordered to pay Google 100,000 yuan or about $14,624 in the suit and to relinquish the brand to Google.

According to a Reuters report from 2007, Bejing GuGe initially filed suit against Google for alleged trademark infringement.  It’s unclear when the turnaround came and Google filed the countersuit against Bejing GuGe. 

Articles I found offered conflicting information. It seems the trademark timeline in question was pretty rocky.  One source indicates Google filed their initial trademark paperwork in January of ‘06 while Bejing GuGe filed for their trademark in March 2006.  Another article indicates Google filed for the trademark in November of 2006. 

Luckily it was up to the Chinese courts (and not me) to sort this all out—awarding Google the right to be Gu Ge in China. 

via Search Engine Land

Carrie Hill is the SEO Team leader for Blizzard Internet Marketing where she specializes in optimizing travel, tourism and accommodations websites.

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By Carrie Hill

A recent JP Morgan poll asked readers what it would take to get those surveyed to switch search engines.  The market share numbers are decidedly in Google’s favor—they were over 72.07% in December ‘08—with the next closest being Yahoo! at 17.79%. 

The question being asked is: “What would make you leave Google for greener pastures?”

The results aren’t all that surprising. 45% said “Better Results” would make them change, while the runner up “Nothing Would Make me Change” got 38%.  TechCrunch reports that the sample size was only 776 respondents and recreated the poll to see if they could achieve better results with a larger sample. 

TechCrunch’s poll had 2,177 respondents—already far surpassing JP Morgan’s. 58% said they’d switch if the other search engine had “Results that better match my search terms,” while for the runner up response, 15% said they were “Happy with their current search engine.”

I think better results will always have a serious draw and right now Google has the corner on that market—so much so that results with the Google brand are perceived as more relevant than identical results with other search engines’ logos.

Carrie Hill is the SEO Team leader for Blizzard Internet Marketing where she specializes in optimizing travel, tourism and accommodations websites.