Patent Plans Show Google Mulling Classified Service

Patents for a online classified advertising service unearthed by an industry consulting firm have sparked rumours that internet giant Google will soon begin offering a free ad listings service for cars, homes and jobs to supplement its existing paid for search marketing service, Adwords.

The plans, which include screenshots of the service, were uncovered by Classified Intelligence, a consultancy service for the classified advertising industry.

According to the patent documents, the new service run under the name Google Automat, and will operate via http://classifieds.google.com, although content has yet to be posted at the address.

Media speculation this morning suggests that Google’s new service could allow individuals and companies to create searchable classified ads which respond to users searches and appear on websites as part of the Adwords service.

Google was unavailable for comment on the speculation this morning.

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