How do I advertise on Google Maps?

Today, transitions from mobile devices are navigational a third of the time. And there is a constant tendency to increase their number. To promote a business with a physical address, it is necessary to register the company in the system “Google My Business” and pay attention to the design of the personal page of the company in this system.

There you can add contact information: physical address, phone number, company name. The preview image on Google Maps directly affects the CTR. In addition, positive company reviews and comments also affect the ranking. Properly setting up a company profile in maps may take a lot of time, but it is really important for attracting customers.

In case your organization’s profile is not showing high enough on maps, you can set up ads in Google maps.

What does contextual advertising look like in Google Maps?

You can set up contextual advertising in Google Maps of several types. Below we will consider them in more detail.

In the search results

When a potential customer searches for a certain company or service on a map, nearby locations with the corresponding rating are displayed in the output. If you want your company to show up at the top of the search results, you can connect paid contextual ads.

For example, you own a beauty salon in the city center. With the help of advertising in search you can stand out among competitors and attract more customers. Users will see the ad among the first results and can immediately go to the page with information about the salon, prices, see photos of the interior.

Markings on the map

This type of advertising is shown when a person is making a route to a certain place or simply exploring a particular area of the city in Google Maps. On the interactive map appear special tags that mark the location of restaurants, stores, pharmacies, ATMs and other objects.

If you have your own cafe, thanks to the markings on the map, people can easily find the institution, even if they are just passing by or looking for something else nearby. At the same time, the tags unobtrusively tell about your company, attracting additional attention.

Compared to advertising in search results, map labels are often more effective because they do not require additional actions from the user. They are already integrated directly into the map interface.

The color and style of the labels themselves depend on the business area. For example, restaurant badges look like cutlery, while pharmacy badges are marked with a red cross:

Promotions

Another effective advertising format is the announcement of promotions right in the company profile. Special offers, discounts on specific products or services, happy hours and other promotions aimed at attracting customers can be located there.

For example, if you own a clothing store, you can launch a seasonal sale and talk about it with a promotional post on Google Maps. Users who will search for your store or view information about it, will definitely pay attention to the presence of a favorable discount. The main thing is to design the ad so that it attracts and motivates to buy.

Recommended reviews

Additionally strengthen the effect of advertising will help recommended reviews. In essence, these are short comments from satisfied customers with a high rating, which the company can independently select and place in its profile.

When selecting recommended testimonials, focus on your marketing goals. If you want to emphasize the speed and professionalism of the work – choose appropriate comments. If you emphasize favorable prices – look for reviews where customers praise the value for money.

What are the advantages of contextual advertising on Google maps?

1. Huge audience coverage. Google Maps is one of the most popular mapping services in Ukraine and the world. Millions of people use it every day to find local businesses, build routes, explore new places. By advertising on maps, you gain access to this huge audience of potential customers.
2. Nativeness and unobtrusiveness. Unlike traditional advertising formats, ads in Maps do not irritate or cause rejection in the user. For example, a person can regularly drive by your store using a navigation app. Thanks to a special mark on the map, he will constantly see your logo and remember your location. At the right moment, when there is a need for your services, he will most likely remember about you and come to the store.
3. High conversion rates. Advertising conversion rates here are often higher than other tools. The point is that users who search for companies on the map are usually ready to buy or have a specific need. Offering them a relevant ad at this very moment, you are more likely to get a targeted action – a call, a visit, an order.
4. Working with geolocation. You don’t always need a search query to show ads here. Often, simply having a potential customer near your physical point of sale is enough. This is especially true for restaurants, stores, and other local businesses that rely heavily on walkability in a particular neighborhood.
5. Opportunities for quick interaction. The platform offers users many ways to instantly contact a company right inside the service. For example, you can click a call button, build a route, save a location and share it with friends. These interactive elements increase the likelihood of conversion and encourage users to take a targeted action in the here and now.

How do I set up a Google Maps ad campaign?

Contextual advertising in Google maps shows high conversion rates and seamlessly integrates into the user experience. But how do you set up advertising in Google Maps? What parameters should be taken into account to make the campaign as effective as possible? Let’s go through the whole process step-by-step.

Adding a business to the card

The first thing you need to do is register a business profile. Google My Business used to be used for this, but it has recently been updated and renamed Google Business Profile.

So, to register, go to your business profile in Google itself and click “Get Started”.

Next, you will need to enter your address and zip code. If you work exclusively in a certain city or region, make sure to specify this. This way, potential clients will know exactly where to find you.

Fill in your contact information. The system will ask you to enter a phone number and a link to your website. These data will be displayed on the company card in the search results, so make sure they are up to date.

In the next step, describe what products or services you offer. This will help to attract the target audience.

To get into the top 3 local listings, you need to have at least 5 reviews with a rating of 3 stars or more. As soon as you have the required number of reviews, users will be able to see extended information about your company.

If you have several branches in different parts of the city, don’t forget to add them to the map separately. And in the “Labels” section, enter the code of each branch in the “Extended information” field. In this way you will be able to systematize data and simplify the collection of analytics. By the way, you can assign up to 10 labels to one point.

Don’t forget to indicate the current working hours. Users need to know when they can come to you for a service or visit your store.

We also recommend that you enable notifications in your business profile. This way you can quickly receive messages about incoming feedback, questions and comments from customers. This will help you react faster to the audience’s activity and maintain communication with them.

And don’t forget about photos. High-quality pictures of your interior, facade, products, and team will make your profile more visible and attractive. Customers will be able to better understand the specifics of your business and see what you offer.

When adding a photo, keep these requirements in mind:

• The format must be JPG or PNG;
• The file should weigh from 10KB to 5MB;
• The minimum allowed resolution is 720x720px;
• Photos are clear, bright, without excessive processing;
• Photos should be real, not downloaded from the internet.

Finally, look in the “Attributes” section and note additional amenities – availability of parking, accessibility for people with disabilities, etc. These details also influence the choice of users.

At the same time, if you do not have your own site – no problem. A properly designed company account in Maps can be a great alternative. You do not need to pay for its registration, while it gives you the opportunity to place all the key information for potential customers.

Choose the method of confirmation

When the company profile is completed, it is necessary to confirm it. There are now three options for this:

1. By phone (call or text);
2. By email;
3. Via video call.

Google automatically determines which method will be available in your case. The easiest and fastest way to verify your account is by phone, but this option is not always available. So, if you are lucky and the system offers phone verification, accept it without hesitation.

If there is no telephone verification, try other options. Here you will have to act on the situation. But in any case, do not delay with verification – without it, your company will not be displayed in the search engine.

Creating an advertising campaign

There are two ways to start showing ads in cards. Next, let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

Search Network

You’ll need to set up a standard search campaign in Google Ads. When creating it, be sure to activate displays in the “Search Network” so that the ads are displayed on Maps.

Specify the exact address of your organization and choose a radius of 2-3 km. This will allow you to reach potential customers who are nearby and interested in your services. This approach increases the likelihood of conversion. This can be done in the “Location” section of the settings. Next, activate the “Advanced Search”.

It is also important to activate the “Address” extension in your Google Ads account settings. To do this, go to the “Ads and Extensions” section. Click on the blue “+” button at the top of the page and select the desired Google Business Profile account.

After that, your ads will be shown in priority order above the Google Maps results. This will attract the attention of users and increase the number of clicks on the link to the website or calls to the company number.

Performance Max

Another way to run ads in Google maps is to set up a Performance Max campaign. In this case, this option runs ads simultaneously in all Google services:

• Contextual Media Network (CMN);
• YouTube;
• Gmail.

Please note that if you choose this option, you will have to pay for ad clicks on all connected platforms. The cost of advertising specifically on Maps will depend on the cost per click and the number of clicks on your ads.

The budget of a campaign with maximum effectiveness can be dozens or even hundreds of times higher than the cost of a standard text advertisement run exclusively in Maps. Take this into account when planning your advertising budget.

How do I evaluate the effectiveness of promotion in Google maps?

To measure the effectiveness of your Google Maps ad campaign, you need to track the three main types of user interactions with your ad:

1. Clicks on location details. These show how many times potential customers opened an ad to get detailed information.
2. Travel route requests. This indicator reflects how many times people have inquired how to get to your establishment or office.
3. Clicks on the “Call” button in the mobile version of the ad. The number of such calls demonstrates the interest of users in direct contact with you.

If you see low activity on your ad, the first thing you should do is check your geotargeting settings. It’s possible that the selected radius is too small and doesn’t cover enough potential customers. Try expanding the display area, taking into account the mobility of your audience. Also, don’t forget to test upward bid adjustments for prioritized locations.

In Google Analytics, traffic from Maps will be shown as direct leads. To get detailed statistics on ads, you can use Google Ads. Add the “Click location” column to the report and analyze the effectiveness of each ad element: views, clicks, CTR and cost.

Study in which neighborhoods your card is shown more often, where more users come to you from, how often they build routes and go to the site. This data will help you create accurate portraits of your target audience, understand their intentions and optimize campaigns to increase CTR and conversions.

Analyze statistics regularly, experiment with settings and improve your ads. Gradual optimization based on the obtained data is the key to successful promotion in Google maps and attracting real customers to your business.