Google TV

Google has recently announced Google TV. Here is a video that explains Google TV.
Google TV will become available in the US in fall 2010 in television sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes through partnerships

Google TV brings the search browser to the television. Consumers searching the Web on Google TV will see the same results and ads that are visible on their computers.

Impact on SEO


The fact that your website will be viewable from TV with the use of Google TV opens up a whole new type of audience. Hence the number of searches and the number of visitors SEO can bring to your site will increase.

Since user can toggle between search and TV, they would want to do the search quickly and will most likely not go beyond the first page of results. SEO is going to be needed more than ever to bring your website to the top of search results and make it findable.

Content will still be the king, and some changes and design elements will be needed to make the TV viewing experience better.

Changes in Design Elements

To get the website to display properly on TV’s, websites must be simple, easy to navigate, designed for big screens.

• Text must be readable from a distance.


• Sound is now a viable interface element.

Group your content, controls, and interactions by priority.
Make other onscreen actions few and prominent. Don't hide key features in a menu.

• Always display an easy way for users to return to their previous location. Don't rely on the back button.


• Limit vertical scrolling


• Avoid highly saturated and very bright colors.

Google provides more guidelines for the web developers here.


Conclusion

Success of Google TV will lie in consumer satisfaction. Others such as Apple and Microsoft have tried connecting consumers to the Internet through the TV, servers and set-top boxes and have failed. How Google TV will fare in the wild, we might only be able to tell when we test the real thing.