Google Unveils Location Extensions For Mobile Devices

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Google as announced that moving forward, iPhone and Android users may soon be seeing geo-targetted advertisements. Well, truth be told those user will be seeing the ads, just not yet. According to the announcement, this “will be fully available in the coming weeks, with some advertisers having access to the feature starting today.”

The new feature will has been dubbed Location Extensions and it will allow the business owner (AdWords user) to set up their ad with the location of the business included. In short, that will allow the end user to receive a special ad when they are searching in a specific location. So, search for a coffee shop and you may find an ad for one that is a block away.

As for what the end user will see, the ad almost as normal except it will have a small double arrow included. That double arrow means the ad will open up when clicked. And in turn, it will reveal information for the business to include a map, a link to get directions and a link to call the business.

All in all it sounds pretty nice, although at the same time a little familiar. In fact, Google has already been doing this, except up until now the results have come by way of mobile search whereas now they will be mobile display ads. For example, an ad that you may see in an app.

Of course, that familiar feeling does do one nice thing for Google — it makes it easier for Google to tout these as beneficial to the business owner because they have stats to back up their claims. According to the numbers, location based ads receive an average 8 percent increase over regular ads with a 6 percent increase in click to call mobile ads.

And based on that, the numbers seem to make sense. Personally I would much rather click on a local ad based on what I have just searched for, at least when searching from a mobile device. I am not sure about everyone, but when I search mobile, its generally because I need to actually find something at that moment.