Google launches Online Conversion Local Ads
While LPM is almost always about organic and free traffic to your listings, there is occasionally paid ad news substantive enough to warrant its inclusion. Google has recently launched Online-Conversion Local Ads, a subset of the Online Local Ads (OLA). This new ad format allows for business owners to promote products or services relevant to specific locations, not something that could be done historically. More important is the placement of this new ad type. To give an example, a hair care product line can now advertise on a salon’s Google Business Profile. Ads from Dealscanner, Grubhub and UberEats are sure to be found as well. You’ll want to carefully watch this space as it could be claimed by other brands and competitors alike.
Google is allowing brands to directly buy ad inventory on relevant GBP locations. This has been an option on sites like Yelp in the past but up until now, Google hasn’t forced this paid competition on everyone. Now that Google has begun this practice, it leaves business managers with the choice of either taking advantage of this “pay-to-win” tool or to monitor it to see whom else is buying their location ads.
