The old URL which was at google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url/ now returns a page not found (404) error. The issue with that is, Google should really use a 301 redirect because it ranks in the top position for [google webmaster tools] and [google submit URL]:

The truth is, the add URL page is actually at google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url, that is without the backslash at the end of the URL. It must be a bug on Google’s side, either they should redirect google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url/ to google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url or make both work.

In any event, now the new place to submit content is at google.com/submityourcontent. The page isn’t new, but it has recently been redesigned. The page launched back in September 2008 with a single page to find out how to submit content to Google’s various portals. It now looks like this:

Prior, it looked like this:

It is now broken down into four categories to submit content:

(1) For Website Owners

(2) For Business Owners

(3) For Publishing and Media

(4) For Public Agency

When you go to each of those landing pages, some of the content submission URLs differ, while some overlap between the four. One example is that all four have the submit URL to Google web search option.

Related Stories:

• Google’s “Submit Your Content” Page Changes Into Content Central, One Stop Shopping For Publisher Advice

The fans, boosters and generally positive takes:

TechCrunch, BetaNews, Computerworld, Mashable, BuzzMachine, Ars Technica, Bloomberg, ArsTechnica, Google Watch, MediaMemo, Linux-Watch.com, Google Operating System, The Register, TheNextWeb.com, Black Web 2.0, BloggingStocks, Gadget Lab, Computerworld Blogs, ContentBlogger, Lockergnome Blog Network, About Mobility . . .

The critics and skeptics:

PC World, CNET News, Search Engine Watch,  AllThingsD, ZDNet, InformationWeek, Techdirt, Traffick, SlashGear, MacDailyNews, SmoothSpan Blog . . .

The “wait and see” or “he said/she said” pieces:

BBC, TheStreet.com, eWeek,  GigaOM, Venture Capital Dispatch, The Microsoft Blog, IntoMobile, Between the Lines, Mercury News, Seattle Times, ReadWriteWeb, TG Daily, Googling Google, New York Times . . .

And now for some verbatims:

This is Google dropping the mother of bombs on its chief rival, Microsoft. It even says as much in the first paragraph of its post, “However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web.” Yeah, who do you think they mean by that? And it’s a genius play.

–TechCrunch

If Google wants to succeed in its boldest product launch to date, the Chrome OS, the company needs to focus on its success with the same intensity it once dedicated to search.  If it doesn’t, Chrome OS will end up just like Chrome: yet another irrelevant skunkworks project used by a handful of digerati and Microsoft-haters and ignored by everyone else.

–Silicon Alley Insider

The privacy implications are, of course, horrendous. And while Google will inevitably dismiss such concerns as paranoid and argue that any data the company might collect at the OS level will be used only to improve its services and benefit users, it should still give us all pause. Because when it is finally launched, Chrome OS will be yet one more deep well of consumer data to which Google will have access

– Digital Daily

[T]his time the networks are more reliable and users are happier than ever to use networked storage and backup systems, so perhaps Chrome OS has come at just the right time. If so, then Microsoft should be worried. The network computer has been a long time coming, but with Google’s backing it could yet be the platform that finally challenges Redmond.

–The Register

It appears the top three hardware vendors have little or no relationship with the search and online advertising giant. But if Google plans to make inroads into Netbooks and eventually notebooks, that will have to change very soon. Every consumer desktop and notebook, and most Netbooks today (excluding computers from Apple) is designed to run Windows. Microsoft has deep hooks in the manufacturers’ design and engineering processes, and the hardware companies’ marketing and product launch cycles always take Microsoft’s plans into account.

–CNET

Microsoft has a number of projects in the works that I’d say are more likely to be competitors to Chrome OS than is Windows 7. The Gazelle OS-in-a-browser project from Microsoft Research is still just a research project and not in incubation or test-release form. But if Microsoft decides it has legs, they could put it on a fast track.

–All About Microsoft

If you want to read Danny’s initial take, here it is.

Postscript: Google has identified some of the companies that it’s working with on the Chrome OS initiative:

The Google Chrome OS team is currently working with a number of technology companies to design and build devices that deliver an extraordinary end user experience. Among others, these companies include: Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments.

(emphasis added)

The before:

And the after:

As you can see, four major areas of entry into Google are highlighted:

• Web
• Local
• Media
• Items For Sale

Within each area, there are links to appropriate Google submission aids, such as Webmaster Tools for those dealing with web content, to YouTube’s contact page for potential media partners, to a page designed for book search partners.

Lower on the page, there are also links to more information depending on industry. You can also see them all listed here. Go into an particular industry, such as travel, and suggestions on getting into Google from having a web site to 3D models are listed.

The Content Types page is also a helpful way to see all the types of content that Google accepts and lists. Also check out the Tools page for the many ways to be listed or listing tools that are provided by Google.

Over on the new Content Central Blog,

the first post talks more about the changes to the page.