Google: Going Beyond the Result
It is no question that Google is the only search engine that people choose to use. Let’s face it, those that use Bing use it because their Dell Inspiron shipped with Internet Explorer defaults. At the same time, Google have been quietly expanding upon the search result itself. In the Desktop days, you searched, you got a result, you clicked the result. But as the trend for mobile usage continues to eclipse desktop, and the purpose of search itself is tailored to why you would be searching on a mobile in the first place, Google has extended the standard search link to something much more.
For a long time we have had Google maps as its own application. For some time now, when you search a business, you would see a map in the search result. If the search result was tagged up as a physical location, there has been tighter integration with the phone itself (ability to launch the Maps app, or dial a phone number) and more detailed metadata such as opening hours, photos of the premises, user review averages and distance from your present location.
Last week in the US, Google added on an extra but incredibly useful feature – “Place an Order”.
For restaurants that (presumably) are marked up correctly, Google provide a quick gateway from the search result to the ordering website – in the case of the US it has a relationship with providers Delivery.com, Grubhub, Eat24 and more. Presumably the US is the first testing ground and we would likely see “Place an Order” buttons in Australian results launching Menulog and DeliveryHero sometime in the not too distance future.
This is such a simple yet powerful addition and leads us one step closer to Google taking over the destination website entirely. With this new funnel, you never need to visit the restaurants’ actual website. As reducing the user barriers by removing extra clicks will most likely earn the recipient business extra sales, I would see it doubtful that any business that benefits from “Place an Order” would care too much about users missing out on the full website experience.
