Google has launched a new feature in Gmail labs that allows you to play Google Voice voicemails right from Gmail. Before, when Google Voice users received email notifications from Google Voice, they had to click a link in the message to open a new page.
Add Video Reviews to Google Product Pages
Google has announced that they are now including relevant and "high quality" YouTube video reviews on product pages in Google Product Search.
"Video product reviews are getting a lot of buzz right now, as shoppers increasingly turn to the web to help them figure out what to buy," says Google Product Search Business Product Manager Paul Lee.
Note Your Google Website Optimizer Experiments
Google has released a new feature for its Website Optimizer tool, called Experiment Notes. The feature is designed to help users include documentation as part of their testing. For any experiments, users can now add their own annotations.
If you are unfamiliar with Website Optimizer, it’s a free tool from Google that webmasters can use to increase conversions by making adjustments to design and text elements to see what works.
Google Outlines Plans To Monetize Online Content
Google has plans to introduce a micro payment system aimed at helping online publishers earn additional revenue.
In a document submitted to the Newspaper Association of America in a response to a request made by the NAA to a number of companies, Google outlined its proposed payment plan.
Using Google Maps for a Giant Game of Monopoly
Update: The day came for the big game, but apparnetly too much interest had been generated because the game’s site has been down most of the day.
Original Article: Tomorrow (September 9), a giant worldwide game of Monopoly will commence, using the real world. That is, the real world on Google Maps. Hasbro, the creators of the classic board game, are launching the game called, "Monopoly City Streets," in which players will fight for the largest empire in the world.
Google Voice Merges Text Messages, Email
Google Voice, with its "one number for all your calls and SMS" tagline and almost endless list of benefits, aims to make users’ lives easier. A new feature introduced today represents another step in that direction.
Suppose you’re sitting at a desk with a full-sized keyboard at your fingertips and a 20" monitor in front of your eyes. Most services would still ask you to fish out your little cell phone in order to read and reply to a text message. In the past, even Google Voice would require you to keep open an extra, dedicated tab.
How Google Looks at Spam Complaints
Google’s Matt Cutts answered a user question about how the company handles spam complaints in the most recent video upload to the Google Webmaster Central YouTube Channel. More specifically, the question was:
Is there a minimum number of spam complaints about a domain and/or SERP before Google reviews the complaint? Presumably you get thousands of spam complaints daily, are these sorted into any order to be reviewed? The most popular first?
Kai-Fu Lee Talks About Quitting Google
A few questions surrounding the departure of Kai-Fu Lee from Google China have now been answered. Lee isn’t leaving due to any perceived failure – indeed, he thinks Google China is doing rather well – and it turns out that he’s landed a position as the head of a venture capital firm.
Google News SEO Tips – Ranking in News Search
I thought that one of the more interesting topics addressed at Search Engine Strategies San Jose a while back was that of SEO and the publishing industry. This is an industry seemingly at war with entities like Google (at least partially), even though there are clearly measures publishers could take, which would make Google and Google News in particular work to their advantage.
Google Releases Instant Messaging API
Google has announced the release of a new API for building Talk bots on top of Google App Engine, Google’s product that lets developers create and host web apps on the Google infrastructure.