And not to be outdone, Google Maps makes yet another “minor” announcement — the inclusion of click-to-call in the Google Maps business listing interface.

We’re providing the ‘call’ link as a free service to all businesses. These aren’t ads and don’t influence the ranking of businesses in the search results. We foot the bill for calls (local and long distance), but airtime fees or other mobile fees will still apply if you use a mobile phone number. Currently, the calling feature works if you live in the U.S. and are looking for a business located in the U.S.

I would love to see some adoption stats on this in about 3 months, as I generally don’t believe the “average Internet user” will pick this up. It may seem simple to the tech-savvy, but I have a feeling the typical user will think, “Call? From my web browser? I’m not clicking that.” We’ll see……

[tags]google, google maps, click to call, local search[/tags]