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DAVID SINGLETON: Hello everyone.
So as Ross said, my name is David Singleton, and I'm
engineering director for ads and commerce engineering.
And I'm actually based here in London.
And in fact, the engineers that I work with every day are
responsible for building key components of everything that
I'm about to show you.
So we really live this stuff every day.
And what I wanted to do was to give you a little bit of
insight into how we, the people who build these Google
products, actually think about local.
So Google started with the web--
and that's on the left of this slide.
And if you think about the web, there's actually a real
treasure trove of local information out there.
I don't know about you, but some of the best tips I've got
about places to go have come from, for instance, foodie
blogs where I discovered places like St. John.
And I'm always going to retailers' websites to look
for their store locator.
Any time I stay in a hotel, I'll go and find all of the
reviews around the web for that hotel.
So when we started to think about local, we realized that
the web is local and local is the web.
And what we need to do is to help users understand all that
great local content that's already out there on the web
in its local context, which actually is
meaningful to them.
And what we also realized is it's personal.
So personal in this sense is about knowing where you are
and where you'd like to go, as well as what
you actually like.
So what makes the best answer for the search tapas in London
different for me than it maybe does for you.
I think we'll hear this over and over again today.
We also think that it's about mobile.
So the power of these devices, which as we saw at the
beginning, we all have in our pockets today, is truly
revolutionary.
So this is a Samsung Nexus S, and this device actually has
more memory and more processing power than the
computer that used to sit under my desk only
about six years ago.
And I think that's pretty amazing when you consider the
size of this thing and that it's not actually
plugged into the wall.
But actually, the power of mobile computing is much more
than that, because these devices are constantly and
ubiquitously connected on Wi-Fi,
cellular network, et cetera.
And also, they all know exactly where they are when
you want them to with a built-in GPS chip.
So mobile is really important to local.
And we think about that in two different ways.
So the first is that your phone really is the bridge
between all of the research that you do online, maybe at
your desk or at home, to the real world where you go and
actually carry out the actions that were
based on that research.
So your phone is a bridge.
But also increasingly, people really want to be able to
connect with information about travel, places to go, and
things to do when they're actually in that local
context, and they're going to do that on
their mobile device.
And then lastly, local really is a business.
So Matt Britain mentioned earlier that 20%-- and we
actually view this between 15% and 30% of searches that we
see on google.com are actually local searches.
They're looking for something in the real world.
And it really is true that all of those users have a genuine
commercial intent to go to a business and actually carry
out a transaction.
So local really is a business.
And we need to bring all of the tools that made business
on the web so measurable and so fast and
easy to the real world.
So that's how we think about local.
I'd like to show you how some of those themes are actually
expressed in some of our products.
So we can switch to my computer.
Let's start with a really simple example.
Last weekend, my wife decided that it would be a good idea
for me to revarnish our garden furniture.
So it was a very fun weekend.
So suddenly I was in the market for some varnish, and I
actually had no idea where the nearest hardware store is.
So I started with a Google search page just like this,
and I search for Home Base.
Sorry to anyone who works with B&Q who might be in the room.
And what you can see right away is that this search
results page is actually maybe a little bit different than a
lot of the pages that you've seen with a set of
blue links and ads.
First of all, we have local context.
So we know that Home Base is a local query, and so we put the
results on a map.
It's pretty obvious, but it's very fundamental.
But let's take an even closer look at this
search results page.
What you can see over here is that Google actually knows,
based on the network address of my computer,
that I am in Islington.
And so I'm getting results for Home Base around here, not
Home Base anywhere in the country.
And if I scroll on down here, I can get even more useful
information about the very nearest Home Base.
So I went off to get my varnish and
spent a great weekend.
And of course, this works for all sorts of local queries.
So it will of course work for B&Q as well.
And again, we're seeing results on a map, and the
location is influencing the results of every
single search I do.
So that's the where and the where am I going part of
context for local.
But I also said that it really needs to be about what I like.
And I don't know about you, but I find myself organizing
nights out with groups of friends pretty frequently.
And that usually starts with dinner at a restaurant.
And when I'm choosing the restaurant, it's actually
extremely important to me that we choose somewhere that
everyone's going to like.
Because if I make a bad choice, that reflects really
badly in my taste with my friends.
So I spend a lot of time doing searches like this.
So I'll start here and I'll search for
restaurants in London.
Got a bit of a dodgy keyboard here.
And so right away, we can see again the location context is
brought in.
These are restaurants that are nearby, and there's some
really great ads here as well.
But let's take a closer look at these places' results.
I actually just want to do this.
Let's take a closer look at these places' results.
And what you can see is these are the best places matching
that search.
But take a closer look at this one, Bob Bob Ricard.
I'm actually being recommended this place, and the
recommendation is justified because my friend Joe, whose
taste in food I actually really respect, has rated it
four stars, and he says that it's got a really great
atmosphere.
So that looks like a great place to go.
And I could actually drill into more detail for these
results, and you'll see that a lot of them are actually
justified based on the things that are particular to my
taste rather than anyone else's.
So Baltic is recommended because people similar to me
rated it four stars, which is good.
And Oaxaca, which is a great place if you haven't been
there, has been rated by one of my friends.
So here we can see the power of reviews actually
influencing my search results and everyone else's.
So how did Google get that information?
Well in fact, anywhere that I leave behind a review, either
in Google Maps on my mobile phone, or as we'll see here,
in the desktop experience, those results are influencing
my search results and those of my friends.
And I can go ahead here and say, I'd like to rate some
places to improve my recommendations.
And here I'm going to be taken into a full-screen rating
experience.
And I actually know some of these places.
So Polpo--
which is actually directly across the street
from Bob Bob Ricard--
I've been to, and it's really great.
So I'm going to go ahead and I'm actually going to give
that a best ever.
I've only got 10 of those to give out, and
I've got seven remaining.
So that is one of my best ever.
And I can share a tip here that will then form
my review on Google.
And I can look a little bit further.
So actually Bodeans--
Bodeans is a kind of barbecue joint, and it's a bit samey
samey, so I'm going to say I'm not interested in that place.
And Skylon I've actually been to.
So again, I'm going to rate that one, it's good.
And again, I can leave behind my tip.
So what I'm doing here through my actions with the places is
influencing both my own results
and those of my friends.
So remember I also said that there's a wealth of really
great local information out there on the web.
Let's take a closer look at how we make that available to
users as they're doing this kind of local research online.
So my wife and I have some friends who live in Bristol,
and we're going to visit them in a few weeks.
And the first thing that we need to do is to find a hotel.
So we would like somewhere that's central and kind of
nice, but not too expensive.
So I'll go ahead and search for hotels--
got a bit of a dodgy keyboard here--
hotels in Bristol.
OK, and just as before, we have results on a map.
And this time it's not taking into account my location as
being right here in Islington, but of
course where I'm searching.
And we can actually see here, this is a local ad with this
blue pin, and I can see that in context.
And it looks very central, so that might be a great place.
But let's take an even closer look at these results.
So here I can see that there is one that's recommended to
me because I rated somewhere similar well.
But take a look at what we're actually showing here.
Right here in line with the result are links out to all of
the pages on the web that we think are most relevant to me
making a decision about whether or not I would like to
stay at the Ramada Jarvis in Bristol.
So that's quite powerful.
But even better than that, we actually have
structured data here.
So I said I wanted somewhere that was not too expensive,
but was kind of nice.
So the Novatel rating tells me that this place is probably
kind of nice.
But I probably don't want to stay at The Grand, which is
going to cost 117 pounds.
And in fact, the Ramada Jarvis is looking pretty good.
I can drop this down and see how those prices have been
calculated based on when I'm staying, and how they might
vary between different travel agents.
So that's pretty powerful in aggregating that data from
around the web.
I can go ahead and click through on to what we call the
place page.
We create one of these pages for every place in the world,
and that's the page where we try to aggregate all the data
on the web about any place.
And you can see here that more than what we just saw, there
are links to photos and lots more reviews and so on.
This is also where I could interact with the place and
leave my own review if I wanted to.
But let's keep planning this visit to Bristol.
I'm definitely going to stay here now, so I'm
going to star it.
Star acts like a bookmark, and it's going to appear on my
mobile if I look at the map there as well.
And for the rest of my trip, we're definitely going to need
somewhere to eat.
So I can search nearby, and it's actually recommending I
search for Indian restaurants.
That sounds pretty great.
And right now, I'm seeing results for Indian
restaurants.
There's my hotel right here with the star.
And I'm able to understand in this Google Maps interface how
those places relate to my hotel.
So that's my trip to Bristol, pretty sorted.
But local intent is about much more than just helping users
find specific places.
There are actually a lot of things that I do where I need
to do something at some place, but I don't really care which
particular place as long as I can do what I'm
looking to do there.
Maybe sounds a little bit cryptic, but let me give you a
couple of examples.
So our washing machine is actually on its last legs.
It really is on its last legs, a big bit of rust
fell off it last week.
So we are in the market for a new washing machine.
And I can go ahead and search for washing machines.
OK, I've got some really great product results here.
You can see I could get myself a cheap washing machine.
I probably don't want to do that, that's how I ended up
with the current rust bucket.
And therefore, since I don't want a cheap one, I'm probably
going to need to do some comparison shopping.
So I'm going to move into what we call product search.
Google has been doing product search for a long time.
We started out really trying to connect users with the
products that were available from online retailers.
But there's some purchases where either I can't wait for
delivery, or I really want to see how this particular thing
looks, and maybe touch it and feel it to make sure is going
to work in my house.
And the washing machine is just like that.
I need something that's going to fit with the decor of my
living room.
Not my living room.
[LAUGHS]
Yes, if I had a washing machine in my living room,
that would be fun.
My kitchen.
So I can look down here.
And in actual fact, I have a silver fridge.
So this Hotpoint silver washing machine is looking
pretty nice.
And of course I can go ahead and find out
more information there.
But I do want to go and see it.
So what we can do is we can actually help connect users to
the places where they can buy products.
So I'm going to click on shops nearby.
And what you'll see is a list of places that are close to my
current location where I can buy this particular Hotpoint
washing machine.
But more importantly, we actually know that it is in
stock right now.
And the way that this works behind the scenes is that all
of these retailers are uploading live inventory
information into Google Merchant Center, which we can
then expose through all of these products.
So I can see here that the Comet on Old Kent Road has
this washing machine.
And that's actually quite close to my house, so I might
go there later.
Let me show you another example.
Last week I wanted to go and see a film called Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy.
This is going to be a good one to type.
Oh look, complete is working pretty nicely there.
So I actually think this is a really exciting results page.
So until about a month ago, the best internet search
results for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy would be about the
book, which is maybe 20 years old, and the old TV series.
But we know that this is a film that is currently showing
in cinemas.
So of course the best results for any user are going to be
showing them where it's showing in theaters nearby.
And of course, that's what we see.
So what is it?
It's 11:47.
So it looks like the next time that we can catch Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy is probably at the Curzon Renoir.
I have no idea where that is.
I guess it's in Brunswick Square, but I don't really
know where that is, so I'm going to look at it on a map.
I'm still none the wiser.
I maybe don't know where Coram's Field is.
So let's get some directions to the Curzon Renoir.
And in fact, based on my Wi-Fi location, it knows exactly
where I am, and we can see that it's going to take about
five minutes to drive there.
Well, I didn't come in my car, so let's get some transit
directions.
And it looks like we can jump on the Piccadilly Line for one
stop, and we'd be there in 15 minutes, which
sounds pretty good.
So we can catch the film at 12:10.
So now I'm going to have to leave the stage, because I
have to get to my show, and I don't really know exactly how
to get there.
So I guess I could try and print these directions out.
But it would be much better if I could just take them with me
on my phone.
And in actual fact, everything that I've just shown you, you
can do on an Android or an iPhone today using the Google
Maps application and Google Shopper.
In this case, let's just take a quick look at Maps.
And I'm going to show you something that we've done to
make moving from the research you did at your desk to your
phone even easier.
So I'm using Google Chrome here, and I have an extension
installed that we actually built in London called Chrome
To Phone, and it's added this button to my browser.
Now if we could switch to the Wolf Vision here, you can take
a look at my phone.
Let's see if you can see this.
Yeah, excellent.
I'm actually logged into my phone with the same account
that I'm logged into the computer.
So I'm going to go ahead and click that button.
And watch the screen of my phone very carefully.
So I haven't clicked it yet.
I've clicked it now, and it says sent to phone.
And right away, my phone has those same directions results
that I was looking at on my screen, and we can go ahead
and follow them, and we'll take The Tube.
And we can look back on the map.
Oh, I don't actually want to navigate there.
We can look back on the map, and of course this will help
me get to the cinema on time.
So I think that's pretty neat.
What we've looked at, all of this you can
do on Google today.
But I also wanted to give you a little sneak peek at some of
the things that my teams are working on, and we're actually
testing in the US right now that hopefully will start to
make the connection between research that you do online to
transactions in the real world even easier.
And the first thing I'd like to show you is Google Offers.
We'll just stay on the phone for a second.
So you can discover offers in all sorts of places, in the
same places we saw search results and ads.
But also in the Google Shopper application, you can discover
offers that are nearby.
And in fact, here are offers for places close to here,
there's this great place on Brick Lane which I
might try out later.
But if we switch back to the PC, we've also introduced a
new desktop offers site, where I can discover offers-- can we
switch back to the PC, please?
Great, thank you--
where we can discover offers that have been specially
sourced from businesses.
So this is a really great way to, as a user, discover new
businesses and to help businesses
actually meet new customers.
But one of the things that I'm really excited about is how
deeply we've been able to integrate our related Google
products into this Offers experience.
So this is that the current offer that we're running in
downtown New York City.
Maybe not something I would be particularly interested in,
but I think my wife would probably enjoy it.
It is a one-hour wardrobe consultation at
the Apartstyle showroom.
So this is great, and I can see a lot of detail here.
But we've actually been able to integrate our street view
technology to make it possible for me to look inside this
store before I decide whether or not I want to
shell out my $150.
What we can see here is the interior of that store, and I
can in a really true sense try before I buy here.
So we think that Offers is really going to help bridge
that gap between online and offline.
But in concert with one other product, which I want to show
you, we think that we can actually make this experience
much more measurable, and that product is
called Google Wallet.
So this phone, the Nexus S, actually has an NFC antenna.
NFC stands for Near Field Communication, and it's the
same technology that you have in your Oyster card.
And what that means is that it can securely transfer data
over short distances when it gets touched to readers.
And we're testing a product in the US, which is called
Wallet, and it allows you to take all of the stuff that you
might fit in your physical wallet, like credit cards and
receipts and loyalty cards, and even those little coupons
that give you special offers, and put them in your phone.
So you can throw away that old wallet, and all you need is
your phone.
If we go back to the Wolf Vision here, what I have here
is a VivoTech reader.
So this is an NFC reader.
You might have seen these, because it's completely
standard and you can use them in McDonald's and in Pret A
Manger in the UK right now.
And what you'll see is that I actually have the wallet on my
phone here.
So it's secure, it's locked with a PIN.
I'm just going to unlock it.
Yeah, I'm not showing you my PIN.
And what I have here are payment cards.
I've got a Google prepaid MasterCard here, which is
enabled for payment.
And I also have loyalty cards and some other stuff.
But if I go into the store and I kind of collect all the
stuff I want to buy, all I need to do to pay is to walk
up to the point of sale and touch my phone in the reader.
And you can see it has sent my payment details, and it
actually says here it's sent my credit card, and it
actually sent my loyalty card as well.
But where this gets even more interesting is where we can
use an offer to bridge the online to the offline
experience.
So let's go back to the PC here.
Let me show you that on my account, I've actually already
saved an offer from American Eagle Outfitters, which will
give me 15% off my next purchase.
I could have discovered this offer at any point during that
whole online research process, either when I was looking at
an ad, or maybe on the merchant's own website.
And it's now saved into my Wallet.
So if we switch back to the Wolf Vision here, I'm going to
show you-- not my PIN.
I'm going to show you that offer in the Wallet.
So I'll have a look in my offers, and I have it here.
I'm going to enable it for payment, for use, which would
have been automatic, but I disabled it for the first part
of this demo.
And what you will hopefully see right now is that when I
touch my phone to the reader, not only will the payment
details be transferred, but also that offer.
There we go.
The offer was transferred.
So this is great.
One, I got a 15% discount as a user.
That's fantastic.
But two, I gave the merchant the insight about where I as a
user came from.
So that's all I've got to show you for now, I'm just about
out of time.
But I hope that's given you some insight into how we think
about local, about using the user's context, about how it
needs to be personal, and about how
it is a real business.
And I hope that I've also given you a little bit of
insight into what's to come.
Thanks a lot.
[APPLAUSE]