Google’s local search and “Click to Call” launched in India
Google India is silently playing with the it’s local search engine and also the “click to call” service. Have a look at the image below.
This is the result I got for “Airtel Bangalore” keyword – and all of these are directed to local.google.co.in , which is business listing + review service.
Secondly, if you pay attention to the SERP ads, you will see the “call” icon on the right – click that and you need to enter your number.
Once you click on “connect for free”, you will get a call (no number displayed) from Google and that will connect you the ad/listing provider.
What’s really cool about “click to call” is that it will also boost Google’s AdWords program in India.
Google’s local search is pretty neatly done and I am sure will threaten the startups in local search market space. Google had earlier launched SMS search in India.
What do you think?
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Related posts:
- Google to withdraw “Click to Call” feature from India?
- askLaila testing click to call service (Google failed to implement in India)
- Google Introduces Toll-Free Local Search
- New Launches: MocoLife’s Voice Greeting (web to phone), MagicBrick’s Click-to-call Service
- Google Expands Local Search (Voice) to Delhi
I wonder what will be the future of local search engines like “guruji” that were relying on local search to differentiate from google.
Shailender
Guruji has to seriously rethink its strategy.
Localization obviously is a great advantage. Google is expanding itself to every possible corner. Being backed by other services and already established brand name , they are ready to serve as soon as they launch a new service. While their their competitor fail either to understand basic user behaviour ( I don’t like Guruji Website Layout , Interface – I hope they change it make sure they have their share {web 2.0 is about enhanced user interaction , cleanliness etc) or the underlying technology( Which obviously gives google an edge)
Localized search will do wonders in near future. Infact I think they will further integrate this localized search with other features. Or may be a altogether new websites( Providing localized online + offline retailing etc). Click to call was one step further in that direction. I don’t know how much they are charging from advertisers for this “Click to Call” but thats of immense use for people in general.
This will prove fatal for other players targeting localized online operations. Whether I need a Cellphone or I need information about VC in my city , google will be providing me with that information soon.
Google focuses primarily on
-> Superior Technolgoy
-> Simplicity
-> Generic Web Applications
@Kamal,
“( I don’t like Guruji Website Layout , Interface – I hope they change it make sure they have their share {web 2.0 is about enhanced user interaction , cleanliness etc)”
I have sent 6 mails about Suggestions to Guruji on GUI and some other technical stuffs. But they didnt responded, at least autoresponse i was expecting but none came. This is bad, one should encourage for feed backers.
Players like Guruji will face the heat now..I am not too sure how well funded players like asklaila will survive. They dont have any differentiator..same with dwaaar
Lots of praises for Google and they deserve it.But not this time.Click-to-call feature given by Google looks very attractive on surface but when it comes to execution, they have failed and disappointed miserably.I tried setting up the same for my own website and let me share how terribly i was disappointed by their execution -
1. I created an ad campaign and activated it.I could see that the status is being shown as active.But it didn’t appear with related keywords even if i gave highest bid for the keyword.I waited for 10 days but nothing happened.And after that, when i contacted the support people, they said that ad needs to be approved before it becomes active.So why have they shown the status as ‘Active’ then? Why to create unnecessary confusions? It didn’t end there.They said, it will be reviewed immediately and will be activated in 15 minutes.But it has been more than 15 days and I’m still waiting for those 15 minutes.And when i contacted them again recently, I got a flat answer that they are going to withdraw the click-to-call feature from Indian market because of business reasons and that’s why it could not be activated.Considering all this, why do you think advertisers should rely on Google for their promotions. I missed the dipawali promotions because of it.My only fault was – I relied on Google.
2. Click-to-call claims that there won’t be any charge to advertiser if the phone gets disconnected within 10 seconds.And I bet, you won’t be able to hear anything unless you hold your phone for 20 seconds.So why are they flaunting their generosity un-necessarily. Why can’t they say that it takes 20 seconds to connect and advertiser has to pay the money whether he listens anything or not.
3. I have received multiple calls using this click-to-call feature for another campaign that i was running. But out of 10, in only 1 call , I could hear anything. For rest 9 , i had to pay just for accepting the call and listening a blank message.
[...] talked about Google extending it’s click-to-call feature to Indian advertisers and though it looked pretty well in theory, I guess there are some basic issues Google is facing [...]
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