Google Briefs: Interior Views of Businesses Formally Launch & Indexing of Facebook Comments Now Available

1. Google eBooks opens a new chapter for Canadian readers (via Google Canada Blog)

We’re excited to announce partnerships with both major international and Canadian publishers, including Random House, McClelland & Stewart, Douglas & McIntyre, House of Anansi and Dundurn. What’s more, we’ve also partnered with your favorite retailers, like Campus eBookstore and McNally Robinson, allowing you to purchase our Google eBooks from them as well.

• Google eBookstore Opens in Canada (via paidContent)

• Direct to Google eBookstore, Canada

2. “A New Way to Get Information About Real-World Places (via Google’s Inside Search Blog)
Note: Indoor views of some businesses was first spotted and reported last week. Today, Google formally announced this new feature.
Be On the Lookout For:

• A new panel to the right of the results — where previously only a map appeared

• 360-degree interior views of the location, click for a larger image

• The new panel also contains hours of operation, director info, and reviews (when available)

•  Instant Previews + Local Info: In some situations a search result  might contain a “>>”. To access detailed info without having to click and load a new  page, hover over the “>>” and you’ll be able to utilize Google’s Instant Preview option and see Google Local info. Here’s an example.

3. “Facebook Comments Now Being Indexed By Google” 
by Greg Finn, Search Engine Land

Add-on commenting systems like Facebook Comments enhance the user experience, but can make it harder for search engines to index content.  Most third party commenting systems leverage javascript to display information and add bells and whistles.  However, Labnol.org reported that now Facebook Comments are being crawled (and ranking) in Google’s SERPs effectively breaking the mold for third party commenting systems and rankings.
Facebook Comments can be displayed in a few different formats, XFBML (Xtended FaceBook Markup Language) and HTML5.  While the report references that Google is crawling comments embedded in an iframe, that specific functionality is not supported for Facebook comments.

Read the Complete Search Engine Land Post
4. An In-Depth Look at the Gmail’s New Design (via Gmail Blog)

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), News