When it comes to the marketing and advertising of small businesses, one of the currently most advantageous tools is definitely Google Maps. Advertising on this platform has already grown into a branch of marketing unto itself. Google is constantly devoting funds and manpower towards optimizing and updating the platform for the best possible user experience.
In 2020, if your business is not on Google Maps — it might as well not exist. People find all kinds of products and services using Google. And the days of asking around and searching for an address on business websites is long gone. In fact, business owners are using Google Maps to directly advertise to their customers and potential prospects via Google’s search engine.
A proper Google Maps advertising effort will ensure a hefty increase in traffic — both in your office and on your virtual website. Considering that, you need to do everything you can to make sure that you’re in line with the newest Google Maps updates and features.
Keeping that in mind, we’re going to show you the main advantages of advertising on Google Maps on some key examples!
Promoted Pins
One of the features that Google implemented in Maps a few years back are pinned maps — an essential feature for local advertisement. These are ads that depend on the location of your pin and are meant to increase the traffic of your business. In the previous half-decade, local searches have grown by more than 50% — which is a bigger increase than any other kind of search on mobile devices. Of course, the success of your local promotion on Google Maps will also depend on whether the map implementation to your site is done properly — many people visit business websites instead of relying on the Maps app, so integrating the two is crucial.
Going back to promoted pins, however — they are designated by a purple pin on the map instead of a red one, and they take up the primary spot when it comes to organic traffic generation in Maps. Of course, there may be a case where multiple businesses compete for the premier spot. Google allows only two businesses to simultaneously rank for the top spot when it comes to local searches — so this is a highly coveted position that garners a lot of attention from users.
There are a few crucial criteria that you have to pass in order to be able to use promoted pins for local advertisement. First of all, you need to make sure location extensions are enabled in your AdWords. Also, make sure that your GMB listing — Google My Business — is fully updated with the newest info.
Once that’s done, you need to target your location and start optimizing for keywords that are related to that locale — think about what people look for when it comes to your business niche. As for the payments for the promotion — they function the same as they would with AdWords PPC — you pay for each interaction.
Easily Come Up With a Proper Business Page
Those who use promoted pins can create a dedicated business page on Google — one that provides ample information to potential customers of your business. For instance, these business pages on Google Maps can contain all information from store inventory to restaurant specials. If there is anything you want your consumers to know when they land on your page, this will make that happen.
Naturally, these pages also have all of the standard information — such as the address, phone number, and email address of your business. The fact that Google Maps allows you to easily showcase everything there is to know about your business right in the app itself is immensely useful in terms of advertising.
Seeing as this is Google’s heyday, your business page on Maps is basically your landing page. When used correctly and optimized properly, it can generate more traffic than even a dedicated website.
Of course, this business page has its own SEO requirements — if you’ve got your own website, make sure you link to it. Like we’ve said above — many people use business websites, and you want the website and the Google Maps advertising to work hand in hand.
Local Search Ads
Right now, AdWords users can utilize local extensions in order to more accurately target geo-specific audiences. In other words, local search ads for Google Maps are immensely useful. After all, if you’re a mechanic from Boston, you want people there to find your business on Google Maps — not someone from Tulsa. If you take a look at Google Maps from a local advertising standpoint, it’s actually the world’s biggest platform for such purposes. The app has been downloaded over a million times.
This gives you unprecedented access to any kind of target audience, as long as it’s in your area. You don’t have to spend enormous funds on targeting the right people in your locale — the beauty of Google Maps advertising is that instead of dabbling in lead generation, the leads find their way to you. And every lead generated through Google Maps is an easy prospect, seeing as they already need the services that you’re offering.
Our Takeaway
Google’s local searches and Google Maps advertising have gone from being a novelty to being the norm in the past five years. If Google doesn’t have your business on its radar with complete and up to date information, it will become increasingly difficult to generate revenue; from pharmacies to nearby clubs, everyone is looking for their services and products using Google Maps.
Edward Lott, Ph.D., M.B.A.
President and Managing Partner
ForLawFirmsOnly Marketing, Inc.
Ed can be reached at (or visit his website)
edl@forlawfirmsonly.com
855-943-8736 ext. 101
www.ForLawFirmsOnly.com
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