Knowledge is the Foundation To Success  

Do I need to Create a Local Business Ad to advertise on Google Maps?

Google has begun, more than ever, pulling regular search ads into the Google maps display – especially if there are limited competitors running local business ads.  They have also started to default the maps display to the small map with many more local listings and sponsored listings displayed on the screen.  This has created a need for more ads to run in this space – typically there are only three that run when a full map is displayed.

Despite that, a Local business Ad is much more powerful because of the actions the user can take to interact with your ad and find your business.

When you run a Local Business Ad:

1. An icon that you design is displayed on the map.  If done correctly, this can cause your location to stand out from the crowd.
2. Your address is displayed in the ad.
3. Your ad has a link that says “Show on Map”.  As I discussed in my last post about Google Local Business Ads, if your audience is particularly sensitive to location, seeing your location on the map can be a great selling point.
4. Once they have select the option to show your information listing on the map, the user can get directions, show the street view, save to their saved map locations or send the listing to an email address or even a GPS system!
5. Also on the information listing, you can display your phone number and an image.

How do I run Local Business Ads?

First, you must have a Google Local Business Listing  – this is something you should have regardless of whether you run ads.  It is free and when you have a local business listing, properly optimized, your listing can show up on the first page of Google maps for your targeted key phrases.

Second, once you have created a local business listing, you can add a local business ad to any ad group from within the Adwords Editor interface.   Simply select the Ads tab, the Local Business Ads tab and Add Local Business Ad.  You can add the business location, the ad copy, an image to be displayed on the Information listing and a small little icon to be used as a Map Marker on the map.

For more information on creating and managing local business ads, contact the PPC Management Professionals at JumpFly.

What are Google Local Business Ads?

Google Local Business Ads – or Maps Ads – are similar to search ads but they appear on the Google Maps platform.  This platform has been growing in traffic since its inception and is now available on many other devices beyond the desktop/laptop including the popular iPhone.

The significance of local business ads is that they satisfy the intent of the search when it comes to local business.  Most local businesses thrive on location – in other words – if someone is looking for a new dentist and you can show the visitor that you are minutes from their home or work, they are more likely to click through or give you a call than if they discover you are an hour or more away.  Therefore, showing your ad in the context of your location on a map gives the visitor that much more incentive to contact you.

Should I be running Local Business Ads?

Perform a search on one of your top keyword phrases from the regular Google Search screen – for example, “find a dentist”.  You will notice that one of the first natural listings, if not the first, is a large group of local business listings next to a map.  There is a large link at the top that says “Local Business Results for <search term> near <your location> and another smaller link at the bottom that says “More results near <your location>”.  When the visitor clicks on either of these links, Google Maps is displayed along with the first several local business ads. 

Because of the location within the natural search results, these links are much more likely to be clicked than any of the sponsored search results.  Creating local business ads to be shown on Google maps can greatly increase your exposure. Contact a professional PPC Management Agency with any additional questions.

More in my next post on How to run Local Business Ads.

Google recently made a significant change in how they treat using trademarked terms in Google AdWords pay-per-click (PPC) advertising ad copy. Prior to this change, unless you had direct written approval from a trademark holder, you were pretty much out of luck when it came to using a trademarked term in your PPC ad copy. Even if you were an authorized reseller of a specific brand, you still could not use the brand name in your Google AdWords ad copy unless Google had express written permission from the trademark holder on file.

That has all changed. And that is great news for many e-commerce sites that sell branded items. If you are a reseller of goods that have a trademarked brand and if your landing pages give significant focus to the trademarked term, then most Google AdWords ads within the United States will now be approved to run on Google. Also, make sure the trademarked term is used in a text format on your website, as opposed to only flash, so Google can recognize the use of the trademarked term on your page.

The approval process for ads the contain trademarked terms is a separate process at Google AdWords. The ads are first approved to run for all other Google policies, and then they are checked so the use of the trademark and the landing page are in alignment with Google’s new trademark policy guidelines. This approval process may take a bit longer than the normal time you may have seen in the past for non-trademarked ads, so you will need to give Google AdWords ads containing trademarks a bit more time to show up on Google.

Also, you might notice that these trademark ads may show a status of “approved-limited.” This means that Google recognizes that the ad contains a trademarked term and that the advertiser was not given direct permission from the owner of the trademark to actually use it in Google pay per click ad copy. This does NOT mean that the ad will only show for a limited time or in limited regions, but it does mean that Google will check this ad continually to make sure it aligns with the new trademark policy. The content of your landing page will be constantly assessed by Google to make sure the trademark is still featured prominently, so be careful of any changes you make to your landing pages, especially after your trademark ads have been approved and are receiving click traffic.

This change is a real plus for anyone doing PPC management because we all know that if someone is searching for branded items, it certainly is nice to have that trademarked brand name in your ad. If I’m looking for Lexmark ink, I’m certainly more inclined to click an ad that has the Lexmark trademarked term in the ad, than on a generic ad that does not.

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