Google is showing off multiple new advertising opportunities for local businesses to advertise on Google Maps. Everything from promoted pins on the map to in-store promotions on the brand’s local result in Maps.
These new changes also reflect the recent reclassification of map ads into Google’s core search rather than search partners.
Google added the purple ads tag and pin for ads on map results, so these changes seem related to that change we saw roll out last month.
Here is how it looks in the pack style results in Maps.
I asked a spokesperson if this change would also be rolled out to local 3-pack in the organic search results, but Google confirmed they will not, something that should relieve the local SEOs, at least for now. Some were concerned that the new wider local 3-pack was foreshadowing to ads in the local 3-pack in the regular search results. But this only impacts Maps.
First, here is how it appears in the local map results. This shows ads at the top, something Google began testing recently.
Here is how the promoted pins would look:
And here is how the in-store promotions appear:
The promoted pins actually remind me of Waze pins, the crowd sourced traffic app which Google bought. Google envisions the ability for users to see things like Starbucks, McDonald’s and gas stations as promoted map pins.
They also said they are working on the balance between promoted pins that are useful to the user, while not allowing them to become to annoying or obtrusive at the same time.
Jennifer Slegg
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