Bringing new meaning to local search, Google
Not long ago, sites like Yahoo!
We live in a media-hungry world, and sites have to stand out to get noticed. Microsoft's
But even if we limit Google's new feature to Web-based mapping sites, it's not entirely new. Amazon's
It's a welcome feature. Even with perfect directions, it's refreshing to be familiar with what nearby buildings look like when you're heading out to somewhere new. Living in Miami, I found myself checking out many of the area landmarks on Google Maps this morning. I was impressed.
Google's drive to enhance its user experience isn't entirely selfless. Yes, the sites are free, but every search engine is fighting to be your source for local information. That makes it all the easier to eventually serve ads from local merchants. Users will then click, buy, or be enlightened.
In short, it's a picture that sells a thousand verbs.
To map out more Foolish articles:
Yahoo!, Garmin, and Amazon.com are Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter picks. Microsoft is an Inside Value recommendation. Try sampling any or all of the newsletters with a free 30-day trial subscription. No roadmap required.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a huge fan of Google, and it would be his homepage if it weren't for Fool.com taking up that piece of real estate. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.