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Google search results get shortcut for calling businesses via Hangouts

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If you want a better way to get in touch with those few restaurants you call regularly for take-out, you may be interested to know that the Mountain View company just launched a new feature in search (via TheNextWeb), allowing you to quickly call those businesses (and many others) via Hangouts.

The news comes by way of Google employee Mayur Kamat on Google+:

Looking for information and want to get in touch fast? The next time you’re searching for a business or place (on desktop), look for the linked phone number that appears as a quick answer. When you click, you’ll place the call right via Hangouts. Calls to US and Canada are free and calls to other countries are just a few cents away.

To activate the feature, simply type the name of business you’re looking for followed by the keyword “phone.” From there, you’ll be able to click the phone number and, if it’s in the US, Hangouts will start dialing it up completely free.

This isn’t exactly a drastic change, but it’s definitely worth noting as everyday Google users (which is basically all of us, right?) now have yet another handy shortcut to make our days easier. If you’re dialing outside the US, check out Google’s rundown of prices.

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Avatar for Stephen Hall Stephen Hall

Stephen is Growth Director at 9to5. If you want to get in touch, follow me on Twitter. Or, email at stephen (at) 9to5mac (dot) com, or an encrypted email at hallstephenj (at) protonmail (dot) com.