If you’re a brick-and-mortar advertiser, it’s more important than ever to claim and advertise your business on Google Maps.
However, figuring out the code for how to serve and control Google Maps ads can feel like a moving target in recent months. With changes to top performance goals, Google Business Profile (GBP) guidelines, and the way people search for places, a lot is happening in Maps.
However, you can successfully get your business Maps presence by optimizing your GBP listing, leveraging location assets and using Performance Max for store or travel targets.
Do businesses really need to specifically target Maps?
Yes. The way users search for businesses, combined with Google’s shift to highlight Maps locations in search results, makes it imperative to have a separate Google Maps strategy.
Having sitelinks to your “Store Locator” page and bidding on “near me” keywords is no longer enough to get you in front of your customers during their search.
The future of the search engine results page (SERP), especially as Performance Max continues to dominate Google’s engineering resources, will continue to change as the shift to an AI-powered search results page progresses throughout speed
This year’s upcoming Google Marketing Live is expected to announce more AI changes, which may include the prevalence of Maps in the user journey.
In the latest version of Google, Maps results are displayed above any ads in the Search Generative Experience (SGE) view. As we know, it is expected to remain standard as the SERP evolves.
Businesses need to claim their storefronts within the Google Business Profile to get in front of users in the most organic formats and promote them in Google Ads for real success.
Creating and optimizing your company profile and data sources
Creating and optimizing your business profile is the first step to establishing a footprint on Google Maps.
Keeping store hours, phone numbers, and important business information up to date are massive variables in a customer’s decision-making process.
Company contact information, a website link, and getting/responding to reviews are also key to capturing your customers’ attention (and conversions).
For hotels, restaurants, or any business with multiple locations, make sure your Data feed is up to date Add accurate images, menus, or other helpful visuals where appropriate.
What types of campaigns should be published?
Once your store information is ready to advertise, it’s time to determine what type of campaign is best for your business. This will be a combination of search and top performing campaigns (with store or travel goals as the optimization type).
Campaigns should be structured by KPIs, like all other campaign types, and not split by location unless there are different targets per store/city or there needs to be location groups at the campaign level if need
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Campaign settings and location targeting
As you set up your campaigns, make sure your location targeting is set to capture where your customers are or might be searching.
Location exclusions will be an important part of your setup if there are countries/cities where you don’t have a presence or don’t want to prioritize.
If you don’t include or exclude any locations during initial build, be sure to check your location reports (Reports > New Report > more specific location) to identify areas to focus on by increasing your budget or possibly excluding – him of the campaign.
Location and business assets
Configure your location resources properly before moving on to anything else. They are eligible to appear on Google Search, search partners, the Display Network, and YouTube.
Creating location resources will depend on whether or not you own the locations directly, and you can find more information on how to set them up at Google support pages.
Verifying your phone number and enabling call reporting are critical to the success of your location assets so you can measure performance.
Location assets must be added at the campaign level as an ad extension in your Google Ads account if there are regional KPIs to meet. otherwise, they can be added at the account level to ensure they apply to all campaigns.
In addition to location assets, make sure your business name and logo are up-to-date and applied at the account level. This will help you increase your Quality Score and build brand recognition with your customer base.
Maximize the visibility of your local business on Google Maps
Claiming and promoting your business on Google Maps significantly increases local visibility and will attract more customers to your storefronts. By following the steps above, you can quickly and effectively leverage Google Maps to grow your business.
As Google continues to embrace AI, expect more Maps results first in the SERP and additional features in Google Ads to make it faster and easier for advertisers to run ads on Maps.
The views expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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