Mirmetrix eye tracking device

SEOMoz was given a chance to test a Mirmetrix eye tracking device. The used the opportunity to analyze the impact of Universal results generated by Blended results, the 7-pack, shopping and videos inserted in the SERPS. I was of course most interested in the Local results. Their conclusion?

These results also suggest that the in-page Local/Places results are having a strong impact, even if they fall in the middle of the page. In these limited cases, they seemed to pull attention away from the top organic spots.

Mount Everest: The panorama from the top

Back in 1989, Australian climber Roderick Mackenzie become the 271st person to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. While up there, he captured a 360 degree panorama of the view from the top, which appears to be the only panorama ever captured up there.

Steven Ho stumbled upon that panorama recently and thought it would be great to compare the panorama to the always-improving terrain of Google Earth. With that in mind, he created an excellent page that uses the Google Earth Plug-in to change your view as you browse around the panorama. It works great!

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To learn more about what he’s done and to try it for yourself, visit Steven’s blog. Click the panorama image at the top of the text to enter the panorama/plug-in page. Once you’re inside of it, simply drag the top image around to view any particular area, and the bottom image will stay in sync automatically.

Some amazing rides in Street View

A few days ago, Google Sightseeing posted a few of their “most breathtaking rides” in Street View and they certainly found some great areas.

As you know, Google Earth 6 greatly enhanced the way that Street View works inside of Google Earth, allowing you to “drive” the routes much better than you can in Google Maps.

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Even better, Google Sightseeing has put all of the locations they highlighted (plus a few extra) in a KML file for you to download. The only problem is that each location is a simple placemark, and doesn’t fly you directly into the Street View imagery.

Fortunately in Google Earth 6 it’s a simple fix! Just drag “peg man” from the top right corner of your screen onto the road they’ve highlighted, and you’ll instantly be taken into Street View mode, as shown below:

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Google Earth has an abundance of amazing sights to see, and this is another great example of that. Thanks to the Google Sightseeing guys for putting together the list of breathtaking rides!