Google Offers Ads In Local Mapping Service | March 31, 2006

location based services

The ads appear on a Google Local map whenever a searcher enters a query that matches advertisers' chosen keywords and business information.

By Antone Gonsalves
TechWeb.com

Mar 31, 2006 06:32 PM

Google Inc. on Friday starting offering businesses advertising on its local mapping service.

The ads are available for business locations in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, and appear on a Google Local map whenever a searcher enters a query that matches advertisers' chosen keywords and business information.

The text ads appear as a highlighted listing in the search results column, and through a map marketer that expands to show additional details when a person clicks on the ad title or the marker itself. The expanded marker can include the business's phone number and an image.

A text-only version of each local business ad automatically runs on Google.com and other sites in the search engine's advertising network. The ad is ranked and priced like any other running on Google.

To use the service, businesses must sign up for a Google AdWords account.