Google Maps ads start with your Business Profile.

Short version: yes, Google Maps has ads. Google lists four formats: promoted pins on the map, map search ads at the top of Maps results, map suggest ads in the search bar, and ads on business detail pages. They come from your regular campaigns, and the "primary requirement" is location assets, usually by linking your verified Google Business Profile to Google Ads. You pay per click for directions, calls or website visits.

Does Google Maps have ads?

Yes. Google says "there are currently 4 ways to advertise on Google Maps" (About advertising in Google Maps):

• Promoted pins: square pins on the map, standing out from the usual round ones. They show while people browse, search, follow directions and drive. They don't show when the map is zoomed out.
• Map search ads: the top of the Maps results list after someone searches, with your address, phone and directions.
• Map suggest ads: an autocomplete suggestion while someone types, in the Google Maps mobile app only.
• Placesheet ads: inside the details page of a business someone tapped.

How to advertise on Google Maps

There is no Maps-only switch. Google: "Currently, you can't serve ads exclusively in Google Maps." Maps is a placement your campaigns qualify for. Google lists Search with location assets, Performance Max, Smart and Demand Gen campaigns as able to serve on Maps (Show local search ads on Google Maps). For a local service business, that means:

• Link your Google Business Profile. "To enable location assets, link your verified Google Business Profile to your Google Ads account." Map search ads require it (About location assets).
• Set it up as a service-area business if you go to the customer. Google says a business without a storefront should make sure its profile "is set up as a service area business."
• Target where you actually work. Location targeting and bids by location decide which map searches you're eligible for.
• Keep the profile honest. Hours, phone and service area on the profile are what people see on the map. If the hours say open and nobody answers, you pay for the call anyway.

What Google Maps ads cost

For Search campaigns, Maps clicks are charged like any other click: "when a user interacts with the ad (such as clicking for directions, calling the business, or visiting the website)." Google charges for one click type per interaction, even if someone taps several, and swiping through photos is free (About Local Ads). The exception is Performance Max for store goals, whose logo pins are charged per thousand views.

So the price of a Maps click is the price of a click in your trade. Keyword Planner shows advertisers bidding $16.50 to $56.96 at the top of the page for "google maps advertising" itself, but what you pay depends on the searches you show for: see what clicks cost across 18 local trades.

Local Services Ads on Maps

Local Services Ads, the pay-per-lead ads with the Google Verified badge, are moving into Google Ads as Performance Max campaigns with pay-per-lead goals, and Google says they "continue to show exclusively on Google Search and Google Maps" (Google). You still pay per lead, not per click. Our Local Services Ads guide covers what a lead costs and how credits work now.

How you know it's working

Google can count directions requests and calls as conversions, and for eligible accounts it reports store visits automatically. Store visits need location assets and enough locations and traffic, and locations Google treats as sensitive, including some health businesses, are excluded (About store visit conversions). For most service businesses the honest measure is simpler: calls and booked jobs traced back to the ad, which is what our lead tracking does.

Related

See what clicks cost in your trade on our industry pages, check the math with the worth-it calculator, read how ads show inside Google's AI answers, or get a free audit to see whether your account is set up for Maps at all.