Google Maps is where people decide where to go next. When someone searches for a coffee shop, a dentist or a hardware store nearby, the businesses that show up on the map get the call, the directions request and very often the visit. Google Maps ads let a business pay to be in that moment, at the top of map results, as a pin on the map itself or along the route someone is already driving.
The audience is enormous. Google said in October 2024 that Maps had become its latest product to pass the 2 billion user milestone, and the Android app alone shows more than 10 billion installs on Google Play. This guide explains how Google Maps advertising works in 2026, which ad formats and campaign types can show on Maps, how to set it up and how to measure whether it is working.
What Are Google Maps Ads?
Google Maps ads are paid placements that show your business inside the Maps app and on maps.google.com. They draw on your Google Business Profile, so the ad can show your name, address, rating, opening hours and a button to call or get directions. Ads are labelled “Sponsored” or appear as square promoted pins on the map.
One point trips up a lot of advertisers: there is no Maps-only campaign. Google’s help pages state plainly that you cannot serve ads exclusively in Google Maps. Maps is inventory that certain campaign types can reach, alongside Search, YouTube and Google’s other surfaces. What you control is whether your campaign is eligible for Maps and how well your locations are set up for it.
Types Of Google Maps Ads
Google currently describes four ad formats on Maps. Each shows at a different point in the user’s journey, and not every campaign type can use every format.
| Format | Where It Shows | Eligible Campaign Types |
|---|---|---|
| Promoted pins | Square pins on the map while people browse, search or navigate | Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Demand Gen, Travel |
| Map search ads | Top of the results list when someone searches in Maps | Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Shopping |
| Map suggest ads | In the autocomplete suggestions as someone types (mobile app only) | Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Search |
| Placesheet ads | On a business’s details page, including booking modules and related ads | Performance Max for store goals, Search, Display, Travel |
Source: Google Ads Help, How to advertise in Google Maps. Promoted pins show your logo in Performance Max campaigns and a business-type icon in Smart campaigns, which is a good reason to upload a clean, square logo before you launch.
Which Campaign Types Show Ads On Google Maps?
If you read older guides, you will see instructions to create a “Local campaign” with a “Google Maps ads” subtype. That option no longer exists. Google upgraded Local campaigns to Performance Max in 2022, and the replacement is Performance Max for store goals. Today these are the main routes onto Maps:
- Performance Max for store goals: the most complete option for businesses with physical locations. It can use all four Maps formats and optimizes toward store visits, store sales and local actions such as calls and direction requests.
- Search campaigns with location assets: your Search ads can appear in Maps results and suggestions when location assets are attached. A good fit if you already run Search and want Maps reach without a new campaign.
- Demand Gen: Google added Maps as Demand Gen inventory at Google Marketing Live in May 2026, with an option to opt in or out of Maps placements. In September 2026 Google extended promoted pins in Demand Gen to affiliate locations, so retail networks and car dealerships can use them too.
- Smart campaigns: Google’s simplified campaign type for small businesses, eligible for pins, search ads and suggest ads.
- Shopping, Display and Travel campaigns: eligible for specific formats, as shown in the table above.
For most local businesses the decision comes down to Performance Max for store goals if you want Google to optimize for visits, or Search with location assets if you want tighter control over keywords. If you would rather hand this to specialists, our list of Google Ads management agencies for small businesses is a reasonable place to start.
How To Advertise On Google Maps: Step By Step
1. Claim, Verify And Complete Your Google Business Profile
Everything on Maps runs off your Business Profile. Google requires the profile to be verified, and its troubleshooting guidance says to make sure all business locations are fully verified and active. Fill in every field: categories, hours, holiday hours, phone, website, products or services and current photos. An ad that sends people to a listing with the wrong hours wastes the click.
2. Link Your Business Profile To Google Ads
In Google Ads, go to Tools, then Shared library, then Location Manager. Click the plus button, choose “Our locations”, then Google Business Profile, and select the profile you manage or request access to it. Google’s linking instructions note that syncing can take up to a day, so do this before you build the campaign.
If you sell through stores you do not own, such as a brand stocked by retail chains, use affiliate location assets instead. These pull store locations from chain data, so you can advertise where your products are sold without owning those listings.
3. Choose Your Campaign Type
Create a Performance Max campaign with the store goals setup, or add location assets to a Search, Demand Gen or Smart campaign. If you use Demand Gen, check that Maps inventory is switched on in the campaign settings.
4. Set Location Targeting
Target the area your customers actually travel from. A cafe might target a few kilometers around each location, while a specialist clinic or a car dealer can justify a much wider radius. Exclude areas you cannot serve. For Search campaigns, build keyword lists around local intent, such as “near me” terms, neighborhood names and the services people search for.
5. Build Strong Creative
Upload a square logo, several high quality images of your storefront, interior and products, and clear headlines that say what you offer and why someone should choose you. On Maps the creative competes with every other pin and listing on the screen, so specific beats generic: “Open until 11pm, free parking” will outperform “Quality service you can trust”.
6. Set Up Conversion Tracking
Decide what a win looks like before you spend. For most local businesses that means calls, direction requests and, where available, store visits. Google’s store visit conversions are available in more than 50 countries but require verified locations, location assets and enough clicks and foot traffic to pass Google’s privacy thresholds, so smaller businesses may not see them.
7. Launch, Monitor And Adjust
Give a new campaign a few weeks to learn before making big changes, then review which locations, times of day and search terms are driving local actions. Adjust budgets toward the locations that convert and fix listings that get impressions but no clicks.
How Much Do Google Maps Ads Cost?
Google does not publish a separate price for Maps. Ads are bought through the normal Google Ads auction, so cost depends on your industry, location, competition and bids. What matters is which interactions you pay for. On Maps, Google charges for clicks to get location details, clicks for directions and mobile clicks to call. Promoted pins are charged either by views or by clicks, depending on the campaign type.
Because a click on Maps is often a direction request or a phone call from someone nearby, these clicks tend to be high intent. That makes cost per local action a more useful number to watch than cost per click alone.
How To Measure The Success Of Your Google Maps Ads
- Impressions: how often your ads were shown. Low impressions usually point to narrow targeting, a low budget or location assets that are not linked correctly.
- Clicks by type: Google lets you segment Maps clicks into location details, directions and calls, which tells you what people actually wanted.
- Directions requests: the best early signal of foot traffic for a physical business.
- Calls: especially important for service businesses, clinics and restaurants that take bookings by phone.
- Store visits: modelled visits, where your account is eligible.
- Cost per local action: spend divided by calls, directions and other local actions combined. This is the number to compare across locations and campaigns.
What Is Coming Next For Advertising On Google Maps
Maps itself is changing quickly. Google added Gemini to navigation in November 2025 and launched Ask Maps and Immersive Navigation in March 2026, letting people ask Maps questions in plain language. Google has not put ads inside these AI features yet. When it does, the businesses with complete, accurate and well-reviewed Business Profiles will be best placed, because that is the data the AI draws on.
The practical takeaway is the same either way: keep your listing accurate, collect reviews steadily and make sure your locations are verified and linked, so you are ready for whatever formats come next.
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Running ads to a listing with outdated hours, phone numbers or photos.
- Following old tutorials that tell you to create a Local campaign, which no longer exists.
- Leaving locations unverified or unlinked, so the campaign cannot serve on Maps at all.
- Judging Maps ads on click-through rate alone instead of calls, directions and visits.
- Targeting a radius far larger than the area customers will realistically travel from.
Final Thought: Pair Google Maps Ads With Strong Local SEO
Google Maps ads buy visibility at the exact moment someone nearby is ready to act, but they work best when the organic listing behind them is just as strong. A complete, verified Business Profile with good reviews makes every paid click more likely to convert, and it keeps you visible when the ads are switched off. For more on combining the two, AlgoSaga’s guide to Google Maps marketing covers the organic side in detail.
AlgoSaga’s SEO services focus on data-backed local strategies for restaurants, clinics and retail stores, so that Google Maps ads and organic visibility work together to get your business found by the right people at the right time.
