Google is now tapping on another search-associated ad revenue source, this time on Google Maps.
With Google’s stock considerably declining in the past two weeks, Google is taking a shotgun approach to the economic downturn — Earlier this week, they announce “Click-to-Buy” links on YouTube videos, and then “AdSense for Flash Games,” and now text ads are appearing at the bottom of Google Maps.
The new ads, which recently emerged as text links related to localized search results, are not very responsive. When they are visible, the links take users out of Google Maps…
to the advertiser websites. But when relevant, it looks like the ads do have icons within the actual map, which has the potential to be a very useful feature.
Search for “San Jose pizza,” and you get a similar result.
Some searches, such as those for taxi, restaurant, or hotel, show a blue-background text ad along the bottom of the Google Maps page. Considering that anyone at the site is using a map, this is an opportunity for Google to employ a strong geographic influence in its ad targeting algorithm, and in general, the better targeted an ad is; the more effective and costly it is.
The one-line text ads do not appear to be linked in to the main map with an icon. What appears to be missing is a push-pin or logo to locate the business to which the ad refers. It would be nice if Google could add pushpins of a different shade or color on the map to highlight the Holiday Inns, for example. Instead the text link refers the user to the business website, opening it in a separate window.
Also, the results differ according to what the user sees on the map; for example, searching for “notary Kansas City” shows no ad, but centering the map on Kansas City then searching for “notary” does. Similarly, “shoe store San Francisco” shows results but “shoe store” while looking at San Francisco does not. Presumably this behavior will change according to what keywords advertisers bid on.
Bloggers across the globe have noticed the same thing, including Amit Agarwal in India and David Shaw in the UK. The ads are local business ads, but seem to be triggered by the search terms.
But this is more about Google turning on a burgeoning well of ad inventory that it was ignoring before than about creating an elegant map-based advertising experience. According to comScore, 131 million unique visitors worldwide checked out Google Maps in August. They generated 1.3 billion pageviews. That is a lot of untapped ad inventory.
Google makes the vast majority of its revenue from text ads that appear next to search results. Searches are a great way to discern exactly what people are interested in, which improves targeting.
In all likelihood the Google Maps ads also require payment only when users click on the ads, a more measurable method of paying than exists for most graphical “display” ads.
Where will we see AdSense show up next?