Sam Sethi of TechCrunch UK is reporting that Google have released a new service called Google Click-To-Call.

Basically, the idea is that on selected sponsored links in Google search pages, you can click a call icon, then enter your phone number to have Google essentially call both phones and connect you to the seller.

Apparently, they won’t charge you for the call you make using the service, and they assert that your phone number won’t be used for anything other than connecting you to the call.

It certainly looks interesting in that Google are offering yet more ‘premium’ services to the search result advertisers. We’ve already seen how Google Checkout adds a little shopping cart icon to Google Checkout-enabled sites in the sponsored links, and they are doing a similar thing here with Click-To-Call.

What’s not clear at this stage is whether the businesses who choose to use this service have to foot some of the bills for their customers’ calls, or if they just pay an upfront or periodic fee for the service.
The idea here for Google is obvious. Sponsored links with little icons beside them stand out from the rest, so businesses will want those icons to make them stand out from the rest. Obviously that means more businesses will get Google’s extra services so they have the icons and Google get more money.

But Google could potentially be shooting themselves in the foot with this move. If a large proportion of businesses advertising on the sponsored links sign up for the extra services, like Checkout and Click-To-Call, then a service with the icons will contrast less with the rest.

If it becomes too popular, we may even see the sponsored links without icons stand out and get clicked on more!

This seems like a natural extension of Google’s advertising business and provided the extra services aren’t too popular this should help Google in terms of advertising revenue and further strengthen the Google advertising business.

UPDATE: It seems Click-To-Call isn’t a new service, but has just made it to the UK.