Google Search Now Lets Users Check For Local Events

Google recently rolled out a new update to its app and mobile web search, which now allows users in the United States to easily look for interesting activities (music concerts, film festivals, sports games, art shows, seminars, conventions, etc) nearby, either later in the day or in the days or weeks to come. Google explains that every day, it sees millions of searches being done by users regarding local events and happenings. With Google being Google, it actually did something about it.

But let it be said that when it comes to looking for information regarding nearby activities, people now often look to social media platforms, especially the biggest of them all, Facebook. As of fall of last year, a hundred million people have used the social media giant’s upcoming events feature on a daily basis, with a total of 650 million users using the feature across Facebook. The upcoming events feature does have an advantage because people can subscribe to it, either by clicking if they are going, refusing, or maybe. Apart from Facebook and other social media brands, people also often resort to ticket sellers when hunting for concerts, festivals, games, or conventions to attend. 

So it is pretty understandable how Google could be left out of the loop for some people. But Google is quite confident that it can still make itself useful, especially if it does it right. The company has always been good with information -- retrieving it, sorting it, and presenting it for users wherever they may be. 

For good measure, Google has also decided to work with a number of events-centric websites so that their content would become eligible to be shown in Google Search. The events will be displayed whenever people input a related query, e.g. “art shows this week” or “film festivals in Los Angeles.” So far, Google is already retrieving information from Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, SeatGeek, Meetup, Vividseats, Jambase, LiveNation, Burbio, Allevents.in, Bookmyshow.com, StubHub, Bandsintown, Yext and Eventful. Of course, Google expects this roster to include more websites in the near future. 

Because of the enhanced Google search experience, users will now see the details of an event at a glance, e.g. event name, schedule, date, time, and location. Users can also click “more events” in order to directed to a screen that displays an expanded outline of recommendations. The updated feature is made available in American on mobile web and on the Google app for both Android and iOS mobile operating systems.