Google Maps is Web 2.0 with Community Maps
Do you use Google Maps?
You better believe we do at our house. Whenever we are going to visit a friend or whenever we are looking to find a restaurant or any other directions to a place that we haven't been to before. Google maps is always my friend when I am traveling and when I am at home.
I'm sure that many of you have noticed that Google maps is often included in the search results. I asked Matt Cutts about that briefly when I spoke with him at PubCon in Vegas. If you haven't watched the video with Matt Cutts he's got some great things to say.
His comment regarding the search results and maps was that Google places the map in the search results whenever they determine based on your search query if you are looking for a location. "Restuarants in Vancouver" might cause the map to show while Thai Restaurants may not bring the map into the search results.
So we've all noticed the Maps showing in the search results but have you noticed the New Community Maps showing on the maps page? Don't we fooled by the word new, the community maps have actually been showing since early Oct but apparently that is still new...
What are the community maps and how can you use them?
Community maps consist of maps created by Google Map users. So if you created a map called Vancouver Resturants, it may show in the community maps results. Learn how to make a Google map.
Secondly community map listings often consists of events listed on Web 2.0 Social Media sites. For example, I did several searches and for some of the searches all the listings on the community map came from an free events listing website called upcoming.org.
What should you do with this info?
1. Create some Google Maps, but create maps around a specific topic.
2. Fill out all the information on your Google Profile -- Why? Because if someone clicks on your map, they maybe curious about who made it and they will click on your name. It would be ideal if you are a real estate agent especailly to have your picture there and any other information you want to provide.
3. Use the Web 2.0 Social Media Site, like Upcoming.org to list any of your events. Upcoming.org, gets indexed quickly by Google and could be added to the community maps on Google maps
Who knows, someday soon maybe the community maps will show right on the Search Engine results page!
Happy Mapping :)