Google finally makes a push into geo-targeted advertising with new location-aware maps.
Announced on their Google Mobile Ads blog this morning, Google (GOOG) now lets advertisers geo-target their advertising and link to maps. On top of all of this, Google’s one-click calling features have been integrated.
Here’s how it works. You are a company that wants to target mobile users. Someone sees your paid ad link in an app or on a webpage and clicks on it. In Android (and other platforms like iPhone), that link leads to a map overlay (right) which shows you the location of the business. You can then either click a button to get directions in your mapping program or click another button to call that business directly from your phone.
If the vendor has many locations, the ad will find the location nearest the user using GPS.
Since ads can be served based on the user’s location, a potential customer will see the phone number and map of the store location that’s nearest to them. By providing mobile consumers more options to connect with your business you can drive more traffic to your store, visits to your website or calls to your business.
This sounds like a boon to advertisers who are looking to attract mobile users. Advertisers in the pay-per-click model aren’t billed when the ad is viewed, but only if a user clicks the call button.
Advertising with location extensions on mobile devices is also great value because you’re only charged when a user clicks to call the business or clicks to visit your website. You are not charged when users click to expand the map or gets directions. The cost of a click to call your business will be the same as the cost of a click to visit your website.