Yes, you can advertise on Google Maps. Google Ads reaches the map through location assets, and that’s how Google Maps ads work. A location asset is your business information riding along with the ads you run. It can show your address, a map to your location, the approximate travel distance and a call button. Your locations can appear beside, above or below results on Google Maps.
The usual way to set them up is to link your Google Business Profile to Google Ads. So the profile is where you start. A nearby customer can decide right there on the map. Your ad carries your address and your distance only when a location is linked. Google pulls that location from your Business Profile, so a profile with the right address, phone number and hours is what points people to the right door. Get the profile right, link it, then choose which campaigns show the location. That’s the whole plan.
How Do Google Maps Ads Work?
Location assets carry your business details into your ads. Google’s help page on location assets says they can show that information on the Search Network, the Display Network, YouTube and Google Maps. Your locations can appear beside, above or below search results on Google Maps, including the Maps app.
Here’s what that looks like to someone searching. The ad can show your store address. It can show a map to your location. It can show the approximate travel distance, so a person can see at a glance how far you are. On a phone, a clickable Call button may show in place of your phone number. That’s one tap to reach you.
Your locations become eligible once they’re approved through Google’s integrity verification. That’s Google’s own review of the location data you add. After that, they can show with any Search, Display or Video ad in your account. Location assets work with Performance Max campaigns too. So the location travels with the ads you already run.
Why Does Your Business Profile Matter?
Your profile is where the data comes from. Google says the information for location assets is sourced from Google Maps and your Business Profile. Address and phone corrections are made in Google Maps, and they flow into the linked Google Ads account. A location you mark temporarily or permanently closed in your Business Profile won’t show to customers in your ad.
Google’s location asset requirements cover the policy side of this. Your business information and the images of your location are managed in your Business Profile, not in Google Ads. An ad also may not show a location without the explicit approval of the business owner at that location. The same holds for a permanently closed location, or one that doesn’t match the business running the ad. Those rules are how Google keeps map information accurate.
Here’s the upside. A profile that’s in good shape sends every ad out with the correct address, the correct number and the correct hours. Location assets can include hours and ratings next to the address and phone number. Maybe you serve customers at their homes instead of at a storefront. Spilt Media’s post on storefront or service-area address setup covers how the address is handled in the profile.
How Do You Set Up Google Maps Ads?
The setup runs in two places: your Business Profile and your Google Ads account. You check the profile and confirm the login you use for ads can reach it. Then you link it in Google Ads and pick which campaigns carry the locations. Start in the profile.
- Check your Business Profile before anything else. Look at the address, the phone number and the hours, and check whether any location sits marked as temporarily or permanently closed.
- Confirm that the login you use for Google Ads can reach the profile. Linking needs access to the Business Profile manager that lists your locations. If someone else holds it, ask that person to add your Google Ads email address as an owner or manager.
- In Google Ads, go to Location manager within the Tools menu, under the Shared library. Link your Business Profile there, and its locations become location assets in the account.
- If no Business Profile fits your situation, you can select up to 10 locations from Google Maps to link with your Ads account instead. Those locations must be yours, or they may be disapproved.
- Decide where the locations show. You can add all account-level locations, use a subset of them through location groups, or keep the asset from showing for a campaign or ad group that shouldn’t carry one.
- Keep the profile current after that. Edits you make there feed the ads, so one place stays the source of your address, number and hours.
Location assets decide which locations your ad can show. Who sees the ad is a separate setting, and Spilt Media’s post on Google Ads location targeting walks through that choice.
When Is It Worth Getting Help?
Spilt Media manages Google Ads campaigns and primarily recommends Search campaigns for local service businesses, and its Google Business Profile optimization starts with an audit of profile completeness and accuracy.
On the ad side, Spilt Media’s Google Ads management sets up conversion tracking on every campaign, so the calls and forms your ads bring in get counted.
Doing it yourself is reasonable when you hold the profile and run one location. Help pays off in a few other spots. Someone else controls the profile and you need owner or manager access sorted out. You run more than one location. Your ads are live and they aren’t carrying your location yet. Or the profile and the campaigns both need upkeep, and your week doesn’t have room for it.
If you’d rather hand it off, you can book a consultation with Spilt Media to check the profile, link it and settle which campaigns should carry your location.
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Maps Ads
Does Google Maps have ads?
Yes. Through location assets, your locations can appear beside, above or below results on Google Maps, including the Maps app. The ad can carry your address, a map to your location and the approximate travel distance. On a phone, a clickable Call button may replace your phone number.
Do you need a Business Profile to advertise on Google Maps?
A Business Profile is the usual source for the location data, and linking one is how the locations get into Google Ads. Google also lets you link up to ten locations from Google Maps directly. Those locations must be your own or they may be disapproved. Businesses whose products sell in stores they don’t own have a chain-location option.
Why would an ad show an old phone number or address?
The ad pulls its location data from Google Maps and your Business Profile. Make the edit in Google Maps and the correction flows into the linked Google Ads account. Your business information lives in the Business Profile, not in Google Ads, so that’s where the fix belongs.
What happens to the ads if you mark the business temporarily closed?
Location assets for those locations won’t show to customers in your ad. The status in your Business Profile drives that, so changing it back is what brings the locations into the ad again. If you close for a stretch and reopen, update the profile and the ads follow.
