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Google Adds Local Search Filtering

March 1, 2010February 28, 2010 by bharath

Google has finally launched the Local search results, which the search engine giant had already launched the similar local search feature as “Near me now” for high-end Smartphones sometime back.

The options is available in the “Search Options panel” that you can find by clicking (see the pic below)

The results will be shown based on your “default location”, that Google decides most of the time based on your internet IP address.

But you can also choose custom location to enter particular City, state name etc.

Also, to get familiar with this feature, try these examples quoted in Google official blog:

>>[things to do on st. patrick’s day] – In the Minneapolis region
>>[food blogs] – Near you
>>[farmers market] – Near the city of Ithaca
>>[dmv] – In the same state as Tucson

Note: As of now, it’s working with Google.com domain only, I tested with Google.co.in where I didn’t notice this feature.

New Launch: Click-To-Call Phone Numbers In Google Mobile Ads

February 6, 2010January 29, 2010 by bharath

Google Mobile Blog has announced the launch of new feature in Google mobile ads (ads under Google mobile search results).

Phone numbers that come in the web search results under the mobile version of Google search are now made clickable.This means that you can directly contact the local business people that you are interested via a phone call directly from Google search results.

This feature now makes sense because Google search results are now “Location based” .What it means is that suppose if you are interested in contacting a restaurant that has several branches, you will only see the phone number of the branch that is most nearer to you from the data based on your location (Otherwise,what’s the point in calling the restaurant branch that is in another city ?).

This I would say definitely a nice implementation from the ‘G’ engineers.

If you are an Adwords advertiser for mobile ads and want to include clickable phone number of your business in Google mobile ads, read this post from Adwords blog.

P.S:This feature is cuurently available only in smart phones like iPohone, Andriod etc..

[Read about my post on Google IME which was released yesterday.]

“Near me now” On Google Mobile Homepage

January 8, 2010 by bharath

Google has just added a new feature called “Near me now” that lets mobile users find the business or services that are nearer to your current location.This uses your current location via phone’s GPS for search results that will be confined to area in and around you.

Mobile users can find this “Near me now” link just below the Google mobile homepage, when you click on the link, it’ll show a list of categories like restaurants, bars, ATMs etc. which are nearer to you.You can also find more details like how the service and menu would be in a restaurant for instance even before you enter the restaurant.This is possible via "Explore right here" option available.

Clicking on “Browse more categories” gives you access to the various business categories listings under Google’s local search.

This new feature is currently available in US only for iPhone or Android-powered mobile devices.You must have enabled my location feature of your phone.