What to expect from the Google office in the Philippines

When Google announced their local office in the Philippines yesterday, there was a lot of buzz that followed as the search giant sets its eyes on the country. But what does it really mean to have a local Google Philippines office?

Just like several other multi-national companies, Google Philippines will primarily be a sales-driven team. This is the same case with Intel PH, Microsoft PH, Apple PH and even Yahoo! PH (although Yahoo! PH also has huge editorial team for localized content).

That means focus on Google Adwords, their advertising platform, will be a primary concern and the Google PH team will mostly be servicing companies and small to medium businesses (SMBs) in this front.

The composition of their current team indicates a strong sales background (even during the event, special mention was accorded to the sales team).

So what can we expect from Google Philippines:

• Concentrated attention to the Google Adwords program with SMEs, SMBs and advertising agencies and media buyers. Better support and more face-to-face trainings on the field.
• More localized services. Expect more Google sites and services to be available in Tagalog.
• Bigger presence in the local scene like trade shows, conferences, summits and the like.
• Probably, there will also be local support for AdSense Publishers and DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP).

On a side note, this is very timely since election is just months away so expect a lot of political ads on your search results soon!

What we should not expect but still hope for are:

• Don’t expect job openings in tech (programming, DB, network, etc). These jobs are mostly ran out of regional offices like Mountain View or Ireland. Most of the openings in the PH office will mostly be sales and support (advertising side).
• Don’t expect product support for the Nexus line. Remember that Google has been present in at least 4 other SEA countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand and those countries still don’t have local support for the Nexus line in the last 5 years.
• Don’t expect much about Google Play opening up other sections like music, movies and products. This will mostly be decided by regional which is SG. Again, forget about a cheaper subsidized Nexus phone.
• No Google Fiber, no city-wide free Google WiFi. Slight possibility of Google Street View since I saw this already being served in Thailand.

To those asking for the office address of Google PH, sorry it’s top secret (I heard it is somewhere here in the Fort, the Net Lima Building).