October 24, 2008 by Matt Thomas
Google has activated yet another revenue stream, this time it’s Google Maps that’s getting the full commercial treatment from the search engine superpower. Specific searches, like those for swimming pools, taxis, pubs will now bring up a local text ad related to the search along the bottom of the Google Maps page.
This being Google Maps, it’s a golden opportunity to target ads more specifically by locality. The ads you get vary depending on what you see on the map, for example if you have the map centred on Portsmouth and you type hotels, it may present you with an advert for the Portsmouth Holiday Inn. For this reason it stands to be a real money-spinner for Google, since the more specifically targeted an ad is, the more effective and therefore expensive can be.
Google have also begun to sell ‘pushpin links’ that come up on the surface of a map when you focus on a particular area.
We’re not sure quite how much advertisers are paying per click but Google would appear to have stumbled upon a brilliant way to market locally using a global medium. For this reason, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the price of advertising space on Google Maps goes up and up.
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