Google Maps Local Search Ads – Facts You Should Know

If you are a PPC marketer, it is going to be an amazing year for you as you are about to witness a bagful of changes made by Google. The next generation of local search ads is one of the most notable entrants. The aim of it is to generate more traffic to the local stores by converting the foot traffic.

With the recently announced Maps ads, the local store owners will be more visible at the moments when consumers are searching for relevant services or products. Also, there will be various new Maps ad formats and features like promoted pins, brand logos, in-store promotions, customizable business pages and local inventory search to attract the attention of the searchers. 

Where Will You Find the New Ads?

As declared, the new local search ads will be visible within Google Maps app and can be viewed from desktops, laptops, mobiles and tablets. You will even find them on the Google.com expanded Maps results. It will produce effective results no matter if a mobile or a desktop is used to search a local store. Within Google Maps app, a single ad with a purple label will be visible on top of the organic result. And if you are searching within Google maps, you will find maximum two ads with a purple label. While searching within Google’s expanded maps results, you will find a Google Maps ad on top with a yellow ad label on clicking ‘more places’.

Reasons behind the Changes

The primary aim behind the changes is to bridge the gap between the mobile world and the physical world. The statistics compiled below, reveal how necessary the changes are.

• Nearly 90% sales all over the world happen after physical visits.

• One-third of mobile searches are related to location.

• Searches based on locations are increasing 50% faster than mobile searches.

• Google Maps is used by more than a billion users.

• By using google.com and maps, 1.5 billion destinations are reached every year.

• 84% visitors prefer location-specific search results.

• 75% people visit a store after searching from Google.

Introducing Promoted Pins

As per the declaration of Google, promoted pins will be introduced soon. They are meant for making your business visible to the people who are nearby. The simple-looking promoted pins are highlighted in purple. This makes them stand out. The users are also allowed to tap the pins for more information on the business thereby delivering a better user experience. For instance, if you are searching for a restaurant, you can tap the purple pins and check out the menu. 

Image Credit: http://searchengineland.com/saying-third-mobile-searches-local-google-brings-new-ads-maps-250278

Other Changes with Google Maps

The location specific pages are designed for generating more foot traffic to your store. The page that opens after tapping on a local ad can be optimized by the advertisers. The pages will contain the details like phone number, address and driving directions. Businesses will also be able to highlight offers that are popular or unique in a particular location. Apart from this, the local inventory of the business will be shown if there is any relevance to the business. 

How Will a Local Inventory Be Displayed?

A research by Google showed that one-fourth people abstain from visiting a store as they are not sure whether they would get their desired product. This is why displaying the information about your inventory is going to be beneficial for you. To enjoy the benefits of the feature, all you need to do is to give your inventory information to Google. To get more details, check out Google’s local product inventory feed specification here:                                                                       

What Should You Do as a Location-Based Business?

There are many tasks for you as a location based business. The very first thing you have to do is to enable location extensions as the ads that have location extensions enabled will only be visible. These extensions have a great impact on your performance.

Google Maps also allows you to advertise. Before you do so, check whether the information provided in Google My Business is complete and up to date. Quite obviously, wrong information will not bring your customers to you.

At present, the new local ads are in Beta. The time when the Local Search Ads will be available has not been declared by Google, but it is expected to be rolled out soon to new advertisers.