Google Maps Ads - What does it mean for us?

[deanPlumberseo]

Just read this article about Google Maps Ads, does this now make all the pain and suffering of getting a local business on the map a waste of time and effort?

Any thoughts

Google Maps ads are a big opportunity for local businesses | PCWorld

Dean

 

[Phil Rozek]

Nah. I, for one, am not worried in the least. The local search results have always coexisted with the PPC results.

What's more, users adapt to the paid results. They quickly realize which are the results that are served up because someone's paying for them, and they realize which are the results that Google is serving up because Google thinks they're relevant (i.e. the Places/Plus results).

Users also quickly realize that most PPC advertisers aren't very good at running ad campaigns (e.g. the ones who go crazy with dynamic keyword insertion), and that the unpaid results often are where the relevant results are.

Of course, I'm guessing most people don't start off their local searches with the Maps app, so I really don't think this even affects the distribution of "eyeball share" much in the first place.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for sharing that news story and posting the question Dean.

I'm with Phil. I don't really think it changes much. There were ads before in map search, this is just a little different display. Plus I don't think many consumers search directly on maps, most search on Google search. And PPC ads have always been there.

 

[deanPlumberseo]

Thanks for your input.

Dean