Google Betas Click-To-Call Ad Service
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[February 27, 2006]

Google Betas Click-To-Call Ad Service

By MAE KOWALKE
TMCnet Associate Editor for Channels
 
In one of it its latest moves to capture more of the online advertising market, Google is giving an old-fashioned idea a new twist: connecting customers with ad sponsors over the phone, using a special clickable link.


 
Google’s click-to-call ad service, which helps customers find the products and services they want without having to riffle through the yellow pages, is still in beta


 
Here’s how it works. Some sponsored links that show up in Google search results include a small telephone icon. When a user clicks on the icon, he or she is prompted to enter their phone number; Google then connects the user with the advertiser.
 
According to a New York Times article, the service works with both broadband and dial-up Internet connections, although in the latter case the user would need to go offline before receiving the requested call from the ad sponsor.
 
On a FAQ page, Google describes the new service as “a free and fast way to speak directly to the advertiser you found on a Google search results page – over the phone.”
 
Google foots the bill for all calls, local and long-distance—the exception being calls connected to mobile phones. “[Y]ou may incur airtime fees depending on the mobile phone plan,” Google warns users in the FAQ.
 
For those concerned about giving out their phone number, Google offers this reassurance: “When you're connected with the advertiser, your number is blocked. The advertiser can't see your phone number. In addition, we retain your information (including your phone number, date, time, and call length) only temporarily. It will be deleted from our servers after a period reasonably necessary to operate, audit, and evaluate the service.”
 
According to a ClickZ News article, a patent application for the click-to-call service was filed June 30, 2004, by Shumeet Baljua, a senior research scientist at Google. The patent application was published Jan. 5, 2006, on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.
 
-----
 
Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles, please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.

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