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Google Maps, Local Leave Beta
The two projects have left the testing stage hand in hand, as Google has merged the two under the name Google Local.
Many of Google's services still hold a 'beta' designation. That signifies a project is still in the testing phase, requiring a certain level of quality assurance and tweaking before it is ready for full operations. As a public company, Google would also be sheltering projects under the beta tag.
They, like any other company, can do this while deciding how a project will affect the company's financial outlook; once a project becomes a product, it's going to be a contributing part of the business, and shareholders will want to know how it affects the bottom line.
It's been contended that local search will be the area Google and its search competitors will hit the hardest in the coming months. It offers the most significant opportunity for growth among search properties. With Local and Maps being merged under Google Local, that signals they are ready to start making money with the technology.
Search Engine Watch posted that the newly merged service will be available in the US, Canada, the U.K., and Japan. Brett Taylor, product manager of Google Local, told SEW: "Google maps has always integrated local listings, and I think this takes it to the level we always have seen it from the engineering level."
Google has done very well with its engineering. Some of its products (Gmail) are more exciting than others (Talk), but they all arrive as well-made, functional offerings. Now that the beta label has been peeled away, it's likely Google will soon show pay-per-call ads with local search results.
Users who haven't signed up for Gmail so they can use Google Talk will be prodded to so when PP-Call happens. Google has experimented with phone numbers in print ads for a couple of months and has had time to measure their effectiveness. Plus, Verizon and other phone companies have been working hard to get PP-Call in place.
Google has drawn from white page and yellow page data to build local search results, and in listings for local businesses provides a link to Verizon's SuperPages for more information about a business. That's likely to change in the future, unless Google is keen on sharing money with a Verizon or another yellow pages company via a partnership.
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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.
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David Utter
