As with most SEOs, I’m always looking for the next sign of things to come. In the search engine space, I consider it part of my job to keep up on what companies like Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter and others are doing, and lately there has been some interesting developments related to Google. Google is one of those companies that is always innovating. Lately there has been a lot of news regarding Google related projects. Perhaps you have heard that Google is working on Google TV, a new hardware product that will bring the internet to your TV. Another interesting story that has recently been spreading on the web is the news that Google is testing a self driving car. As interesting as these projects are, one particular Google story has caught my attention more than the rest. That is Google’s decision to move Marissa Mayer out of her position as VP of search and instead move her to head Google Local. Given that Google is moving one of their brightest minds out of search and into local search indicates to me a major move as well as an indication as to where Google is setting its targets in 2011. Some have speculated that this move is attributed to the huge adoption of Smartphone uses and the growing amount of location based apps and services. I know personally I use a handful of applications to find everything from movie show times to directions as well as information on local restaurants and services. There have been many occasions where mid-travel I need to find a particular service quickly and almost 100% of the time I rely on Google maps via my iPhone. Chances are I’m not alone and I’m sure this is the kind of behavior that Google and other locally minded services, such as Foursquare and Facebook Local, are counting on with this push towards dominating geographic markets.
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