Not too long ago, Google announced its new click-to-call program, and it has already decided to extend the program to all advertisers.

What is the major change to come from this? There will be no need for a physical address in an ad. (Advertisers were previously required to include phone numbers associated with physical locations in ads.) Google will still charge for clicks only, which means advertisers will still be able to drive consumers to call their businesses for, essentially, the cost of a click.

Why the change already, you ask? According to Surojit Chatterjee at Google, “There was a tremendous response from large insurance companies, travel and rental car companies and healthcare, among others.” The new-and-improved click-to-call program will make it easier for national advertisers to utilize the program (i.e. call centers) and, therefore, see results.

As noted by Greg Sterling, Google is also hoping that its savvy advertisers will recognize the value of this program early on and start bidding up the price of the keywords/ads that contain phone numbers.

The extension of Google’s click-to-call program is exactly what Gregg Stewart was referring to in his November 2009 Search Engine Watch article, “The Year of Mobile: Closer Than We Think?” In it, he predicted the future for mobile is now. We’re just one step closer to grasping the benefits that businesses will reap from testing these new mobile channels.