In the USA it’s been confirmed that Google are rolling out Ad listings at the top of Google maps when the user clicks onto ‘more places’.
As yet, there has been no evidence of this update being rolled out in the UK, but its a safe assumption to expect the change to be seen soon.
Brian Barwig broke the news last week having noticed the search above. The advert is only shown when someone clicks to see ‘more places’, meaning that the original three pack for a search with local intent will still be composed of listings that are ranking naturally as opposed to a paid advert.
This is how the advert looks in the Map listing. It looks as though more than one ad can show.
Google has also announced changes to how ads display in Google Maps. Soon, Google will only show ads that include location extensions in Maps; regular text ads will not be featured. The other big change is that Google Maps is no longer considered part of Search Partners. Google has alerted advertisers, and Maps has been removed from the list of Google sites included in Search Partners in the AdWords help pages.
We’ll be keeping an eye on the change and ensure that we advise on the best course of action for remaining competitive on Google’s local listing.