〜みたい
Seems like…; looks like… (spoken form of ようだ)machine translation
FormationPlain form + みたい (nouns and な-adjectives attach as-is, no だ)
〜みたい is the spoken counterpart of 〜ようだ, used in both senses: inference from observation (誰もいないみたい — it seems no one's here) and simile (犬みたい — like a dog). In everyday conversation, Japanese speakers use みたい far more than ようだ.
The convenient thing about みたい is its simple attachment: nouns and な-adjectives connect directly, with no の or な — compare 学生のようだ with 学生みたい, 元気なようだ with 元気みたい. みたい conjugates like a な-adjective: みたいだ, みたいです, and when modifying, use みたいな + noun, みたいに + verb / adjective (in place of のような・のように).
As for nuance: みたい is casual and suits conversation; ようだ is formal, suited to writing and polite situations. 〜らしい differs from both — it's based on information you've heard, not something you observed directly.
Examples
誰もいないみたいですね。
It seems like no one's here, doesn't it?
あの雲、犬みたいだね。
That cloud looks like a dog, doesn't it?
彼は今日は忙しいみたいです。
It seems he's busy today.