According to Google Inc., local searches account for 20 percent of all queries on Google.
Now Google is showing what Near Field Communication capabilities will do in the near future with a new marketing campaign in Portland for Google Places’ HotPot, a local recommendation engine powered by users and friends rumored to be replacing the existing review interface in Google Places within the next year.
To encourage more reviews in Hotpot, Google is holding contest with dinner prizes at local restaurants. Google chose Portland as its first city to promote Google Places and Hotpot because of its thriving local business community.
Beginning in the first week of December 2010, a Google marketing team will began working with around 250 Portland-area businesses to provide tools for using Hotpot, an extension of Google Places, a free service that allows businesses to enter data to have a presence on Google.
HotPot allows users to rate and review establishments based upon a six-star system. Once a rating is made, Google provides the user with recommendations of other places he or she may like. The more ratings users make, the more the engine gets to know their tastes and can provide better recommendations.
Users can also share their recommendations with friends and family and personalize their searches to focus on places their friends recommended.
The marketing push involves distributing window decals enabled with near-field communication technology that will allow people with NFC-enabled phones to instantly get information about the business.
Google’s Portland-only contest, the Hotpot Jackpot, ends Jan. 20 and the winner will receive dinner with up to 10 people at any Portland restaurant, paid for by Google.