Post by Admin on Jan 19, 2015 8:04:49 GMT -9
Google lets you buy concert tickets directly from search results
Google is adding the option to buy tickets directly from its search results page
Photo: Alamy
By Sophie Curtis3:30PM GMT 19 Jan 2015 CommentsComment
Google is adding a new feature to its search engine that will allow users to buy tickets for live events directly from the results page.
This means that when a user searches for a specific venue or artist, they will be presented with an "expanded answer card" showing a list of upcoming events together with a link to the organiser's preferred ticketing site.
By clicking on the link, the user will bypass the main website altogether and be taken directly to the ticketing site, where they can make their purchase.
This feature will be automatically added to search results for venues and artists that sell tickets through AXS, Ticketfly, Ticketmaster and other well-known ticketing sites.
Indie event organisers that do not use any of the supported ticketing sites can add the feature manually by writing the event markup directly into their website’s HTML, the company explained on its developer blog.
This is the latest attempt by Google to keep users of its search engine on its results pages for longer, so that it can deliver more advertisements to them.
Over the past few years, Google has added a whole range of 'rich snippets' to its search results, including answers to questions, results of equations, cinema viewing times, Wikipedia extracts and more.
Searching for musical artists on Google already brings up wide range of information including images, discography and biography details, as well as links to various online profiles and digital music sites.
The new feature could also benefit events organisers and artists by making the process of buying tickets more seamless. Ticketfly claims that up to 40 per cent of live event tickets currently go unsold.
The news comes after the latest data from web analytics firm StatCounter revealed that Google’s share of the US search market dropped to 75.2 per cent in December – its lowest share since 2008.
Google was also recently replaced by Yahoo as the default search engine for the Mozilla Firefox web browser on mobile and desktop in the US. Yahoo's December market share was 10.4 per cent – the highest it has achieved since 2009.
Google is adding the option to buy tickets directly from its search results page
Photo: Alamy
By Sophie Curtis3:30PM GMT 19 Jan 2015 CommentsComment
Google is adding a new feature to its search engine that will allow users to buy tickets for live events directly from the results page.
This means that when a user searches for a specific venue or artist, they will be presented with an "expanded answer card" showing a list of upcoming events together with a link to the organiser's preferred ticketing site.
By clicking on the link, the user will bypass the main website altogether and be taken directly to the ticketing site, where they can make their purchase.
This feature will be automatically added to search results for venues and artists that sell tickets through AXS, Ticketfly, Ticketmaster and other well-known ticketing sites.
Indie event organisers that do not use any of the supported ticketing sites can add the feature manually by writing the event markup directly into their website’s HTML, the company explained on its developer blog.
This is the latest attempt by Google to keep users of its search engine on its results pages for longer, so that it can deliver more advertisements to them.
Over the past few years, Google has added a whole range of 'rich snippets' to its search results, including answers to questions, results of equations, cinema viewing times, Wikipedia extracts and more.
Searching for musical artists on Google already brings up wide range of information including images, discography and biography details, as well as links to various online profiles and digital music sites.
The new feature could also benefit events organisers and artists by making the process of buying tickets more seamless. Ticketfly claims that up to 40 per cent of live event tickets currently go unsold.
The news comes after the latest data from web analytics firm StatCounter revealed that Google’s share of the US search market dropped to 75.2 per cent in December – its lowest share since 2008.
Google was also recently replaced by Yahoo as the default search engine for the Mozilla Firefox web browser on mobile and desktop in the US. Yahoo's December market share was 10.4 per cent – the highest it has achieved since 2009.