Google Guides (PDFs)

• • Get Online With Google (2.3 MB)
• • Technology, Economic Growth & Open Government (35 KB)
• • Lessons Learned from the 2008 Campaign Trail (1.4 MB)
• • Online Family Safety Guide (1.0 MB)
• • Interest-Based Advertising: Privacy and User Control (116 KB)
• • Google and Mobile Privacy (85 KB)

Product descriptions

Google's product development reflects our focus rapid and continuous innovation. We frequently release new technologies that we aim to improve with each iteration. Often, we make products available early in their development stages by posting them on Google Labs, at test locations online, or directly on Google.com. If our users find a product useful, we promote it to "beta" status for additional testing. These test periods often last a year or more. Once we are satisfied that a product is of high quality and utility, we remove the beta label. Here is a current summary of Google products; you may also want to visit the "More" list.

SearchReturn to top

Get email automatically when there are new Google results for your search terms. We currently offer three types of alerts: News, Web, and News & Web.

• News Alert: email notification about new articles that appear in the top 10 results of your Google News search.
• Web Alert: email notification for new web pages that appear in the top 20 results for your Google web search.
• News & Web Alert: email notification when new articles related to your search term make it into the top 10 results for a Google News search, or the top 20 results for a Google web search.

Use Alerts to monitor a developing news story, keep current on an industry or a competitor, track medical advances, sports teams, or celebrities. The frequency you select (daily, weekly, or as it happens) for your Alerts determines how often Google checks for new results, not necessarily how often you'll receive alerts. If you select "once a day," we'll check for new results once a day, which means you'll get a maximum of one email per day. If you choose the "as it happens," we'll check for new results continuously and send you an alert whenever we find a new result.

Google Blog Search is the easiest way to search for blog content on the web. Using the same technology that powers Google's web search, Google Blog Search provides fresh, relevant search results from millions of feed-enabled blogs. Users can search for blog posts, blog names, authors, or a specific date range. Google Blog Search also features Google's SafeSearch technology, giving users control over the content of their search results.

Blog Search Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 1.4MB)

Google Book Search is an index of book content that makes it easy to find books that interest you. Like a card catalog, it helps you learn where to get the full book from a bookstore or a library. Use the Google Book Search homepage to get only book results, or Google.com to see book results as part of your regular search results. Google Book Search makes the full text of millions of books (including out of print and public domain books) instantly searchable, and makes those books discoverable. For authors and publishers, it means that millions of booksare instantly discoverable - and able to be purchased. Google Book Search acts as a free marketing program that protects copyright while dramatically expanding the potential audience for, in theory, every book in the world.

Access to the full content of more than 6,600 mail order catalogs, many of which were previously unavailable online.

Built with Google's core search technology, the Custom Search Engine prioritizes or restricts search results based on websites and pages that users specify, and can be tailored to reflect a point of view or area of expertise. Creators of a Custom Search Engine can make it look and feel like their website or blog; generate revenue from their Custom Search Engine by participating in the Google AdSense program; and collaborate with others to include more sites in their search index.

Custom Search Engine Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 2.5MB)

This is a free client application that provides full text search over email, files, music, photos, chats, web pages that you've viewed, and more. By making your computers searchable, Google Desktop puts your information easily within your reach and frees you from having to manually organize your files. Google Desktop for Windows also helps you gather new information from the web with gadgets and sidebar. (Google Gadgets are visually appealing mini-applications that can display anything from your new email to the local weather forecast to personalized news.)

Google Desktop Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 3.6MB)

Google Desktop for the Mac Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 1.8MB)

Google Web Directory enables people to browse and search through websites that have been organized into categories. Our directory combines Google search technology with the categorization developed by the Open Directory Project; it is available in 75 languages.

Google Finance offers quick and easy access to business and financial information about mutual funds and public and private companies. Features include interactive charts with corresponding news stories; company search by name or ticker symbol; stories from Google News grouped by topic; blog posts from across the web via Google Blog Search; on-topic discussion groups; and easy-to-use portfolios to track your financial information.

Google Finance Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 4.2MB)

An open source browser extension that enables developers to build web applications that run offline. With its local database, local server and multi-threading features, it can also improve application performance, especially with slow or unreliable Internet connections. Google Gears works across all major browsers and platforms and is currently available for beta testing and developer feedback.

Our searchable index of billions of images found across the web. Includes advanced features such as search by image size, format and coloration and restricting searches to specific web sites or domains.

Search for web content in any of more than 40 languages, or by country domain (157 at last count). You can also translate text to and from several languages or translate a web page by submitting a URL. We also provide links to Google.com in more than 100 languages and links to all of the current country domains we offer.

Personalized Search ranks Google search results based on what's most relevant to an individual user. The Web History feature of Personalized Search enables users to view and manage all of their web activity. Over time, this information personalizes future searches by bringing results closer to the top when it's clear they are the most relevant to a searcher.

Personalized Search Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 1MB)

Our shopping search engine uses the power of Google search technology to help shoppers find the items you want, both online and in nearby stores. Product Search users can sort results by price or store location, see product and merchant reviews, specify a desired price range, and view photos. Product Search accepts data feeds directly from merchants to ensure that product information is accurate and up to date. Because we do not charge merchants for inclusion in Product Search, shoppers can browse categories or conduct searches with confidence that the results we provide are relevant and unbiased. As with many Google products, Product Search displays relevant advertising separately from search results.

Fnd scholarly literature (peer-reviewed papers, theses, preprints, abstracts, technical reports) from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities and across the web. As with Google Web Search, Google Scholar presents search results in order of relevance to your query, so the most useful references should appear at the top of the page. This relevance ranking takes into account the full text of each article as well as the article's author, the publication in which the article appeared and how often it has been cited in scholarly literature. Google Scholar also automatically analyzes and extracts citations and presents them as separate results, even if the documents they refer to are not online, so search results may include citations of older works and seminal articles that appear only in books or other offline publications.

Combining the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today's digital media, Google SketchUp provides a powerful yet easy-to-learn tool for creating and modifying 3D models. By inserting their models into Google Earth, design professionals and hobbyists alike can share their creations with the world.

The Google Toolbar is a free download that adds a Google search box to your web browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer). The Toolbar also includes innovative features that make browsing more efficient, such as a web form filler, spellchecker, word translator, and pop-up blocker (for IE).

With the Google Toolbar, you can make your Toolbar as unique as you are. You can add buttons and bookmarks, get instant search suggestions, and share web pages with friends via email, blog, or SMS.

Google Toolbar Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 670KB)

Google Web Accelerator uses the power of Google's global computer network to make web pages load faster.

In addition to providing easy access to billions of web pages, we have integrated special features into Google web search to help people find exactly what they are looking for on the web. The Google search experience also includes these features (you’ll find the full list here).

• Advanced search functionality - construct more complex queries, for example by using Boolean logic or restricting results to languages, countries or web sites.
• Spell checker - suggests alternate search terms when a search appears to contain misspellings or typing errors.
• Web page translation - automatically translates web pages published in French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish into English, or vice versa.
• Stock quotes - provides links to stock and mutual fund information.
• Street maps - provides links to street maps and directions.
• Calculator - solves math problems involving basic arithmetic, complicated math or physical constants and converts between units of measure.
• Definitions - provides definitions for words or phrases based on content we have indexed.
• Phone book - provides U.S. street addresses and phone numbers for U.S. businesses and residences.
• Search by number - conduct quick searches by entering FedEx, UPS and USPS package tracking numbers, vehicle ID numbers, product codes, telephone area codes, patent numbers, FAA airplane registration numbers and FCC equipment ID numbers.
• Travel information - check the status of U.S. airline flights and see delays and weather conditions at U.S. airports.
• Cached links - snapshots of web pages taken when the pages were indexed, enabling you to view pages that are no longer available.

Google.com interfaces are available in more than 100 languages and more than 150 country domains. You may also chose to receive search results in only your native language as Google.com now supports localized searches in more than 40 languages.

AdsReturn to top

The Google AdSense program enables websites in the Google Network of content sites to automatically serve text and image ads that are precisely targeted to site content - so well-matched, in fact, that readers actually find them useful. Targeting can be based on search results or on web content. We share most of the revenue generated from these ads with our partner publishers.

Most of the websites that make up the Google Network sign up online, and we also sell direct to sites with significant traffic, under agreements that vary in duration. For our network members, we offer:

• AdSense for search. This enables websites of any size to generate additional revenue by serving relevant AdWords ads targeted to search results. Because we also offer to license our web search technology along with Google AdSense for search, companies without their own search service can offer Google Web Search to improve their sites' usefulness while increasing their revenue.
• AdSense for content. This program enables website publishers to generate revenue from advertising by serving relevant AdWords ads targeted to web content. Our automated technology analyzes the meaning of web content and serves relevant advertising. AdSense for content can help websites offset publishing costs or even become a primary revenue stream. There is no charge for websites to participate in this program. Using our automated sign-up process, web sites can quickly display AdWords ads on their sites. We share the majority of the revenues generated from clickthroughs on these ads with Google Network members that display the ads. For websites with more than 20 million page views per month, we offer customized services.

Google AdWords is our global advertising program that enables advertisers to reach the people who are interested in their products or services. Advertisers use our automated tools, often with little or no assistance from us, to create ads, place bids to serve their ads, select the types of sites where they'd like their ads to appear, and set daily spending budgets. AdWords features an automated, low-cost online signup process that enables advertisers to implement campaigns that can go live in 15 minutes or less.

AdWords ranks ads for display in one of two ways: either by CPM (cost per thousand) or a by combination of the maximum cost per click (CPC), which is set by the advertiser, together with clickthrough rates and other factors used to determine the relevance of the ads. This process favors the ads that are most relevant to users, improving the experience for both the person looking for information and the advertiser looking for interested customers. AdWords has many features that make it easy to set up and manage ad campaigns for maximum efficiency and effectiveness:

• Campaign management. Advertisers can target multiple ads to a given keyword or content site and easily track the performance of individual ads to see which ones are the most effective. The campaign management tools built into AdWords enable advertisers to quickly shift their budgets to ads that deliver the best results.
• Geographic and language targeting. Advertisers can target their ads by country, region or by a radius around an area they choose. Ads can also be targeted to the language of the prospective customer.
• Keyword targeting. Advertisers can deliver targeted ads based on specific search terms (keywords) entered by users or found in the content on a web page. We also offer tools to help advertisers consider synonyms and useful phrases to use as keywords or ad text. By choosing relevant keywords advertisers can improve ad clickthrough rates and the likelihood that a user will become a customer.
• Site targeting. Advertisers can specify which content sites they would like their ads to run on. As with keyword targeting, we offer tools that enable advertisers to target their ads to the right audience based on information related to a specific topic or theme.
• Traffic Estimator. This tool estimates the number of searches and potential costs related to advertising on a particular keyword or set of keywords. And in turn these estimates can help advertisers optimize their keyword-targeted campaigns.
• Budgeted delivery. Advertisers can set daily budgets for their campaigns and control the timing for delivery of their ads.
• Performance reports. We provide timely and continuous reporting on the effectiveness of each ad campaign
• Multiple payment options. We accept credit and debit cards and, for selected advertisers, we offer several options for credit terms and monthly invoicing. Advertisers can make payments in 48 currencies.
• AdWords Discounter. This feature gives advertisers the freedom to increase their maximum bids (CPM or CPC) because it automatically adjusts pricing so that they never pay more than one cent over the next highest bid.
• Conversion tracking. Advertisers can assess the effectiveness of their AdWords campaigns using this tool, which tracks conversion (to a sale, registration or other action) by identifying which ads and keywords are performing best. Advertisers can then make smarter online advertising decisions and better measure their overall return on investment (ROI) for their AdWords campaign.
• Budget Optimizer. This tool enables AdWords advertisers to manage their campaigns simply by setting a monthly budget and a list of keywords. The tool then works to maximize the number of clicks for a specific campaign.
• AdWords API. Developers use Google's AdWords API service to create computer applications that interact directly with the AdWords server. Advertisers and third parties can manage large AdWords accounts and campaigns more efficiently and creatively with these applications.

For larger advertisers, we offer additional services that help to maximize returns on their Internet marketing investments and improve their ability to run large, dynamic campaigns. These include:

• Creative optimization. Our AdWords specialists help advertisers select relevant keywords and create more effective ads. This can improve advertisers' ability to target customers and to increase the click-through rates and conversion rates for their ads.
• Vertical market experts. Specialists with experience in particular industries offer guidance on how to most effectively target potential customers.
• AdWords Editor. This account management application assists advertisers and agencies in launching, managing and making changes to large ad campaigns with hundreds or even thousands of ads and keywords.
• Dedicated client service representatives. These staff members continuously look for ways to better structure their clients' campaigns and to address the challenges large advertisers face.

Free to all advertisers, publishers, and site owners, Google Analytics helps you identify the keywords, ads, referrals, and campaigns that contribute the most to your bottom line. Recently redesigned, the program can reveal even more about where visitors come from and how they interact with your site. Using Google Analytics can lead to better ads, strengthened marketing initiatives, and websites that convert more effectively.

ApplicationsReturn to top

Blogger makes it simple to instantly publish to the web. As the world's largest blogging platform, Blogger enables millions of people across the globe to communicate with and engage their audience. With Blogger, you control who can read and write to your blog, whether you limit it to a few friends or let the entire world see what you have to say.

This is a free web-based calendar service that makes it easier to keep all the calendar information important to you in one place, including calendars shared by friends and groups. Adding your own events is easy, and you can also import them from other applications you use. Handy event reminders, including text messages sent to your phone, help you keep track of everything that's on your agenda. Google Calendar also lets you share your calendar information with others, whether you want to send party invitations to friends, or publicize events from your website. Add holiday calendars, sports team schedules, and birthdays for people in your address book to your Google Calendar with just a few clicks. And Google Calendar uses open standards like iCal and XML, so it plays nicely with many other calendar formats.

Google Checkout makes shopping online faster and more secure by enabling buyers to make purchases from stores all across the web with just a single Google sign-in. It also helps make our search and ads products more effective for online merchants. By having the Google Checkout badge on AdWords ads and Product Search results, buyers can purchase more quickly, and merchants can drive more leads and increase conversions.

Google's website for the developer community offers news, downloads, tutorials, demos and documentation on Google's APIs and developer products, plus extensive resources for anyone who wants to integrate Google services or build next-generation web applications. Google Code also serves as home base for Google's open source initiatives, including our free open source Project Hosting service and Google Summer of Code, our program for involving university students in open source software development.

Google Apps is a suite of applications that includes Gmail (webmail services), Google Calendar (shared calendaring), Google Docs (collaborative documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), Google Talk (instant messaging and voice over IP), Google Groups (group mailing lists and discussion forums) and a Start Page for creating a customizable homepage on a specific domain. Google Apps offers editions tailored to specific customer needs, including a Standard Edition (ideal for family domains), Education Edition (K-12 schools, colleges and universities), Premier Edition (businesses of all sizes) and Partner Edition (Internet Service Providers and portals).

Google Docs is a free web-based word processing and spreadsheet program that lets you create and edit documents from anywhere and collaborate with multiple people at the same time. You can take advantage of Google Docs to coordinate your student group's homework assignments, access your family to-do list from work or home, or work with remote colleagues on a new business plan. Import existing documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or create new ones from scratch. To invite people to view or edit a document, simply add their email addresses to the list of viewers or collaborators. Take a peek at how a document is shaping up, or contribute your thoughts to a draft in progress. Keep track of multiple versions in one place -- with an easy drop-down menu that shows who changed what, and when. If you would like to keep a copy on your hard drive, you can export to a number of popular formats (DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, HTML, PDF, etc.). Or, easily publish your work to a web page or blog for the world to see.

Google Reader makes it easy to discover, keep up with and share anything you're interested in online, while staying current with the ever-increasing amount of information on the web. Google Reader features an easy-to-use interface that makes it possible to quickly read and organize blogs, videos or any other web content you find interesting, all in one place. It's simple to share your favorite stuff with integrated email and social features, see what your friends have shared and discover new things Reader thinks you might like.

Google Voice is a free service that helps you manage your phones and voice mail and gives you more control over or phone and voice-based communications. With Google Voice, you can unify all of your telephones with a single number and easily access voicemail and customize your calling from anywhere -- by phone, email or the web. Screen phone calls as they come in, listen in while someone is leaving you a voicemail, receive automated voice-to-text transcriptions of all your voicemail messages via email or SMS text message, create personalized voice mail greetings based on who is calling, and more. Save money on international phone calls from any of your phones by placing them through Google Voice.

Gmail is a free webmail service that keeps your inbox organized, displays messages in context as conversations, and helps you find any message quickly and easily with built-in Google search. It keeps spam out of your inbox and allows you text, voice or video chat right there. You can access Gmail from anywhere -- in your browser, on mobile devices, or via free POP and IMAP access. Gmail Labs, a testing ground for new features, allows you to try out experiments like undo send, SMS chat, or automatic message translation. Anyone can sign up for an account, which includes more than 7,000 megabytes (increasing every day) of free storage. Gmail is currently available in more than 50 languages.

Gmail Chat Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 2.6MB)

Gmail Mobile Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 333KB)

An easy way to create and join public or private discussion groups. Users can choose whether they want to read and post messages online, or use their email accounts to read and respond. A simple page creator makes it easy to create web pages right inside groups, which is ideal for shared documents or anything you want to publish online. Each Google Group has its own Google-fast search, making it easy to locate discussions in the archive. Google Groups is also home to the entire Usenet archive (dating back to 1981), so users can search, read and browse 845 million posted messages on virtually any topic. You can bookmark topics you're interested in, and have new replies to that topic delivered to your inbox.

Google Labs is a playground for our engineers and for adventurous Google users. Here we release new product prototypes and solicit feedback on how the technology could be used or improved. Google Labs projects include:

• Experimental Search - Try out new approaches to search, including timeline and map views, lefthand results, and more.
• Google Voice Local Search - Search for a local business by name or category; get connected for free; get the details via SMS on a mobile phone.

Google News gathers information from nearly 10,000 news sources worldwide and presents news stories in a searchable format within minutes of their online publication. The leading stories are presented as headlines on the Google News home page. These headlines are selected for display entirely by a computer algorithm, without regard to viewpoint or ideology. Google News uses an automated process to pull together related headlines, which enables readers to see many different viewpoints on the same story. Topics are updated continuously throughout the day and you can view new stories by checking the Google News website, subscribing to Google News Alerts via email, or activating a newsfeed. Currently, the Google News service is tailored to 22 international editions.

News for mobile devices Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 786KB)

This online community makes it fun and easy to find people who share your interests, reconnect with old friends, look for romantic connections, or establish new business contacts. Share scrapbook messages, photos, videos, blogs, and create and join a wide variety of online groups to discuss topics of interest, such as current events, the environment, or favorite recipes. Connecting and communicating on orkut is a great way to socialize.

This is a free collection of essential software to help users browse the web faster, remove spyware and viruses, organize photos, and more with useful programs from Google and other companies like Adobe and Symantec. You can download and install the entire Google Pack in just a few clicks, and the included Google Updater helps you discover new programs and keep your current software up to date.

Picasa is Google's free downloadable photo-editing software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC or Mac. Each time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had). You can drag and drop photos to arrange your albums, add geo tags to record where photos were taken, or do advanced editing with easy to use one-click fixes and powerful effects. Picasa also identifies faces in your pictures and groups similar faces together, allowing you to add name tags to dozens of faces at once and easily create face collages. It's easy to share your pictures from Picasa -- you can print photos, email them, or upload pictures to Picasa Web Albums with just a click.

Albums right from your web browser, or can use Google's Picasa software to upload entire albums at once. Instead of attaching photos to email messages, you can send a link to your uploaded photos, albums, or even your entire online gallery, all right from Picasa Web Albums. You can add name tags to the faces identified in your photos, geotag photos to record where they were taken, or order prints of your favorites from Picasa print partners. Each account comes with 1GB of free storage -- enough to post and share around 4,000 standard resolution photos. And you can upload original resolution photos, so you and your friends can download your photos at their original high quality to print and share.

Google's instant communications service offers different ways to integrate real-time communications into your online experience. The downloadable Google Talk client provides a free and easy way to make voice calls and send instant messages. All you need is an Internet connection, a microphone and a speaker (built in to many laptops today). After a quick download, sign in with your Gmail account and talk for free. You can also chat with your Google Talk friends inside Gmail using Gmail Chat, and Gmail archives all of your Google Talk chats and makes them searchable. And the free Google Talk Gadget lets you see who's online and send instant messages from your own webpage or personalized iGoogle page without installing any software. Using the Google Talk Gadget you can also preview YouTube videos and Picasa Web Albums inside your chat window, or initiate a Group Chat for talking with several friends simultaneously.

Google Translate enables users to automatically translate text and web pages from one language to another and search for content across languages using machine translation software. Currently, 12 language pairs are supported: English to/from Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese; German to and from French; and Chinese (Simplifeid) to/from Chinese (Traditional).

Search and browse all kinds of videos, regardless of where they are hosted. Aside from finding videos from Google and YouTube, Google Video now offers videos crawled across the web, including those from sites such as MySpace, GoFish, Vimeo, MySpace, Biku, and Yahoo Video. This is in keeping with our overall goal to give you the highest quality and most comprehensive search results possible.

Our free webmaster tools help to make websites more Google-friendly. Easy-to-use tools enable webmasters to see how their site performs, diagnose problems, and share information with us in order to improve their visibility in Google search results. Within this suite of tools, we offer Sitemaps to help site owners submit a list of URLs for us to crawl, and useful forms to report spam in our index, report paid links, or submit a re-inclusion request.

Founded in February 2005, YouTube is the leader in online video entertainment, and the premier Internet destination for watching and sharing original videos worldwide. YouTube enables people to easily upload and share video clips on www.youtube.com or one of our localized sites, or elsewhere online through websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.

EnterpriseReturn to top

Google Earth Enterprise and Google Earth Pro enable businesses and organizations to harness the power of the Google Earth platform to integrate, organize and publish their organization's location data, and/or support strategic decision-making based on locational datasets. Google Earth provides a powerful, intuitive platform for supporting government agencies and empowering citizens in sharing and accessing geographic information for critical needs such as disaster relief and emergency assistance.

Google Maps API Premier offers the power and functionality of Google's web-based mapping technologies to internal websites and critical applications. Organizations of all types can integrate data and seamlessly create a high performance web-based mapping experience. Ideal for applications such as workforce management, operations/logistics and CRM, these applications provide enterprise-grade support and service. Users benefit from ease of use that people love about the consumer Google Maps offering.

This integrated hardware and software product is designed to give businesses the productivity-enhancing power of Google search within the enterprise. Through a simple, intuitive interface, the Google Search Appliance offers employees instant, real-time, secure access to all the information and knowledge across their enterprise, including web servers, file servers, content management systems, relational databases and business applications in more than 220 different file formats, and more than 109 languages. The security features ensure that users can only access the information that they have permission to view. The Search Appliance comes in several versions, with search capacity ranging from 500,000 documents to over a billion.

The Google Mini offers the simplicity and power of Google enterprise search technology to small and medium-sized businesses, so that employees can access relevant and secure search across intranets, file servers, and business applications. Capable of working with over 220 different file formats, the Google Mini also offers integration with existing security systems ensuring that employees can only access information they are supposed to view. The Mini comes in multiple versions. The most affordable Mini searches up to 50,000 documents, including all hardware, software and a year of support. Additional versions search up to 100,000, 200,000 or 300,000 documents. Since upgrading is easy, the Mini is great for growing organizations.

SketchUp Pro is a powerful 3D modeling tool with a robust feature set that empowers users to create, view and modify 3D ideas. With SketchUp Pro, you can explore and communicate complex concepts, import and export a host of file formats, and place your models in Google Earth. LayOut, a feature of SketchUp Pro, lets you place, arrange, title and annotate SketchUp models, photos and other design elements to create compelling interactive presentations and print high-resolution documents. Combining the elegance and spontaneity of pencil sketching with the speed and flexibility of today's digital media, Google SketchUp provides a powerful yet easy-to-learn tool for creating and modifying 3D models. By inserting their models into Google Earth, design professionals and hobbyists alike can share their creations with the world. Architects, interior designers, landscape architects, art directors, game developers, city planners, and other creative professionals rely on SketchUp to help make their design ideas come to life.

GeoReturn to top

Building Maker is a tool that allows you to create geo-located 3D models of buildings for Google Earth, designed to make it possible for anyone with a web browser to make high-quality, photo-textured 3D models. In many ways, Building Maker is like a very large and very smart collection of building blocks, combined with high-resolution aerial imagery.

Google Earth combines the power of Google search with satellite imagery, 3D mapping technology, and search to make geographic information easily accessible, understandable, and useful. You can climb Mt. Everest, explore the ocean and travel back in time, all from the comfort of your computer.

Creating layers on Google Earth is free and requires no advanced technical skills, and these KML files created can be viewed in Google Earth or Google Maps and retrieved via KML search. Through these layers, you can share information, videos and photos on the map. User-created layers can be viewed in Google Earth or Google Maps and retrieved through geosearch.

Intuitive to use, Google Earth enables anyone to manipulate a rich map of the earth composed of imagery and feature information.

Google Maps offers powerful, user-friendly mapping technology and local business information, high-quality imagery, and a rich collection of user-generated maps and content. Type in an address, place name or point of interest to see any part of it as easily as you do with a standard street map, or easily search for local businesses, whether by name or category. Google Maps provides directions and routing for driving, walking and -- in hundreds of cities around the world -- public transit. At the top right corner of the Google Maps page, a 'Satellite' option is available for seeing satellite and aerial images of your location. In this view you can also zoom in, out, or pan in any direction with no long reload times when you drag images. Click 'Traffic' to see live or predicted traffic information, or check out Street View to virtually explore more than a dozen countries by navigating through 360-degree street-level imagery. Click the My Maps tab to create a custom map for personal use or sharing, or add a business review to anything you find in Google Maps search.

The Google Local Business Center is a tool for business owners, giving them the most control over the way their business listing appears in Google's local search, shown on Google.com and on Google Maps, as well as on mobile devices. Business owners can ensure that their business is included in our listings, and that it is accurate and up-to-date. They also can add richer information for customers, such as hours, photographs, videos, and coupons. The Local Business Center also features the Dashboard, which provides rich data about how frequently your listing appears, they ways in which your customers interact with your listing, where your customers come from, and how they find you.

MobileReturn to top

Google mobile products are built specifically for mobile devices, placing the information you need in the palm of your hand. Find what you need at any time, and from anywhere, using these Google mobile products:

• Search: Get exactly the information you need, with an absolute minimum of effort and distraction.
• Maps: Get draggable maps, directions, local listings, satellite imagery, and live traffic info, all on your mobile device. Available on hundreds of devices, in a wide variety of countries. Google Maps for mobile Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 2.1MB)
• Gmail: The fastest way to access Gmail when you're on the go. Or just access Gmail through your mobile phone's browser.
• SMS: Use text messaging to get quick info from Google, including local listings, sports scores, weather conditions, real-time flight info, and much more.
  Google SMS Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 361KB)
• YouTube: Watch, upload, and share favorite videos — YouTube is available on your mobile device wherever you are.
• Calendar: Check your Google Calendar from anywhere on your mobile device.
• News: Stay informed of global and local events at all times by accessing top headlines and searching for articles.
  Google News for mobile devices Reviewer's Guide (PDF - 786KB)
• Blogger: Snap a picture, write a message, and post to your blog, all from your mobile device.
• Picasa Web Albums: View your photo albums on your mobile device.
• Checkout: Shop quickly and securely on mobile-friendly merchant sites.