A few weeks ago I talked about how Google was starting to rollout Home Service Professionals Ads in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). In that time, I have seen my own local customers benefit from this rollout. Those who have rocked out their Google Plus profiles seem to be benefiting the most.
Now, Google is starting to test a complementary feature that lets a surfer in the SERPS book an appointment right from the listing that appears on the right side of the page (see picture above). For this particular Redlands, CA dentist, Brenna Hamrick-Stotts, DDS in the example above, if you click on the “Book an appointment / I am making an appointment for” pull-down window it says “General Appointment.”
When I ran the same test for Jeremy Velasco, DDS in San Francisco, the pull-down menu gave the choices of Emergency, Check-up and Cleaning or Other.
Once you click on the “Continue Booking” link below the pull-down you are taken to a page to fill out contact information and appointment details (including a calendar). There is also a comments box with a maximum of 250 characters so you can leave a little more info about what services you would like. Your last task it to click the blue Submit button and the info you’ve filled out will be sent.
The Google Book Appointment feature lets a surfer quickly contact a top rated provider without having to go to their website. This is one more way that the Mountain View search giant is helping local people shop locally online.
