Google Maps ads are Google Ads placements that show your business inside Maps: square promoted pins on the map, ads at the top of Maps search results, sponsored suggestions while someone types, and placesheet ads on another place's page. You can't buy them on their own: Google Ads Help (checked on 11 November 2026) says you can't serve ads exclusively in Google Maps, so you get there with a Search campaign with location assets, Performance Max, a Smart campaign or Demand Gen.
Maps is worth being on.
In October 2024 Sundar Pichai said Google Maps had passed 2 billion users. People who open it are usually about to leave the house: they want an optician, a garage, a plumber who can come within the hour.
So why do so many businesses pay for Google Ads and never appear on Maps?
Because most guides stop at "set up your profile and run a local campaign". Three mistakes follow:
- treating Business Profile posts and offers as advertising: they are no-cost profile features, not ads;
- looking for a "Google Maps" campaign type: there isn't one, and the old Local campaigns were folded into Performance Max;
- launching without location assets: without them, Map search ads don't run.
The costliest mistake is a measurement one, and we find it in the accounts we inherit: counting every tap on the map as a "conversion". In 2024 Sunscape's account counted 1,487 "conversions" in a month at €0.61 each. Once tracking was rebuilt, Google Ads brought 144 real enquiries in 2026.
What has that got to do with Maps?
A "Get directions" click is the easiest action to count and the easiest to inflate. We come back to it in the measurement section.
What Google Maps ads are (and what they aren't)
Google Maps ads are paid Google Ads placements that show your location inside Maps to people searching nearby for a business like yours. Google calls them local search ads and describes them as suited to businesses with a physical location or a service area.
The same help page makes a useful distinction: the ad is one thing, your organic listing is another. A wrong pin or address is fixed in your Google Business Profile, not in Google Ads.
Three things that are NOT Maps advertising:
- your position in the local pack: that is the organic ranking we explain in our local SEO guide;
- profile posts, offers and events: published from your profile at no cost, they don't buy visibility;
- Local Services Ads: the "Sponsored" box with stars and a call button is paid per lead and works differently (see Local Services Ads).
The 4 types of Google Maps ads (and which campaign turns each on)
Google Maps currently shows four ad formats: promoted pins, Map search ads, Map suggest ads and placesheet ads. The table comes straight from Google's "How to advertise in Google Maps" page.
| Format | Where it shows | Campaigns that serve it | Requirement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promoted pins | On the map, square instead of round; also along a route and during navigation | Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Demand Gen, Travel (Things to Do) | Business Profile linked to Google Ads |
| Map search ads | At the top of the results list for a search | Search, Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Shopping | Location assets active |
| Map suggest ads | As an autocomplete suggestion while typing, app only | Performance Max for store goals, Smart, Search | Business location specified |
| Placesheet ads | On the details page of another place (a hotel, a shopping centre) | Travel, Performance Max, Search or Display | Business location specified |
All clear, then?
Almost. Google's own pages don't agree. The body of the guide lists Search campaigns for Map search ads; the FAQ at the bottom of the same page drops Search and keeps Performance Max, Smart and Shopping. The other page, "Show local search ads on Google Maps", includes Search with location assets again.
Our working rule: a Search campaign with location assets can serve on Maps, but you don't control how much of the budget goes there. The FAQ says it plainly: chosen campaigns "may automatically serve on multiple surfaces".
One detail on pins: with Performance Max they show your logo, with a Smart campaign a generic icon for your type of business. And they disappear when the user zooms out.
What you need to show on Maps (three requirements, and the one people skip)
To run ads on Google Maps you need three things: a verified Business Profile linked to Google Ads, location assets active on the campaign, and location targeting with local keywords. They are the steps in Google Ads Help, and when an ad doesn't show, the cause is almost always one of the three.
- Link your Business Profile. You link it from Google Ads, under linked products, and you need access to the profile with your Google account. If a former agency still holds it, get it back first: see Business Profile owners and managers.
- Turn on location assets and apply them to the campaign. They used to be called location extensions and they add address, distance, a call button and directions. They also enable store visit conversions. This is the step people skip: linking the profile isn't enough, the asset must be active and approved on the campaign.
- Target a specific area with local keywords. No UK-wide campaign for a shop in Leeds, and "Presence" rather than "Presence or interest".
If you serve customers at their address and have no shopfront, Google asks you to set the profile up as a service-area business and points to Local Services Ads. With several branches, tidy the profiles first: see Business Profile with multiple locations.
Which campaign to choose (Search first, Performance Max later)
For a single location the most controllable option is a Search campaign with location assets: you pick the keywords and you can read the search terms. Performance Max for store goals reaches all four Maps formats, but decides on its own where to spend.
We use the rule from our Google Ads for small business guide: Performance Max only after at least 30 real conversions a month, because it optimises on the conversions you feed it. Feed it "Get directions" clicks and it will learn to buy "Get directions" clicks. The mechanics are in our Performance Max guide.
How much Google Maps ads cost (from $1.57 to $9.62 a click in three UK cities)
Google Maps ads have no price list: you pay per click as in the rest of Google Ads, and the auction on each keyword sets the price. On the UK local searches we checked, the average cost per click runs from $1.57 for "plumber manchester" to $9.62 for "dentist london".
| Search | Monthly searches | Average CPC (USD) | Top of page bid, high (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| dentist london | 5,400 | 9.62 | 10.73 |
| dentist manchester | 2,900 | 8.28 | 8.17 |
| optician london | 320 | 7.50 | 12.33 |
| optician manchester | 1,300 | 6.37 | 7.92 |
| plumber glasgow | 2,400 | 6.26 | 12.40 |
| plumber london | 5,400 | 5.55 | 46.01 |
| optician glasgow | 320 | 5.05 | 6.40 |
| car body repair london | 390 | 4.20 | 4.28 |
| dentist glasgow | 1,900 | 4.18 | 4.98 |
| plumber manchester | 3,600 | 1.57 | 13.86 |
The same check in Italy gives a wider spread: $14.57 for "idraulico milano" (plumber Milan) against $1.80 in Naples, eight times more for the same trade. In the UK the gap runs the other way: in London and Manchester a dentist click costs more than a plumber click.
What exactly do you pay for? For Map search ads Google lists three click types: get location details, get directions and mobile clicks-to-call. Promoted pins are charged by views or clicks, depending on campaign type.
To set a first budget we use the sum in our cost per click guide: CPC times the clicks you need to get one enquiry. The full bill, management fee included, is in Google Ads cost.
Paying for Maps clicks that never become customers?
You've just seen a dentist click in London costs close to $10. We help you see how much of your budget lands on Maps, which clicks are real directions and calls, and what an enquiry actually costs you.
Book a strategy callHow crowded local ads are (12 Italian searches, 1 text ad)
On 11 November 2026 we read 12 Italian mobile results pages for plumber, dentist, optician and body shop in Milan, Rome and Naples. The local pack showed on all 12, a text ad on just 1, and no listing in the pack was marked as sponsored.
| Element on the page | Out of 12 searches | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Local pack | 12 | always 4 listings, first element in 7 cases |
| AI Overview | 12 | lists businesses with addresses, taken from Google listings |
| Text ads | 1 | "dentista napoli", bottom of the page, advertiser a booking portal |
| Local Services Ads | 1 | "idraulico milano", first element, 8 listings |
| Sponsored listings in the pack | 0 | none marked as an ad |
The limit: we read Google Search, not the Maps app, and ads change from one search to the next with auction, budget and time of day. The UK market is more competitive on price, as the CPC table shows, so run the same check on your own street before you assume the space is free.
How to measure Maps ads (by click type, not "conversions")
You measure Maps ads by splitting clicks by type: in Google Ads open campaigns, ads or keywords, click Segment and choose "Click type". You then see how many were directions, how many calls and how many detail views, instead of one "conversions" figure.
Then there are store visits, which Google switches on automatically only for accounts that meet its eligibility criteria, and the conversion actions you create yourself, such as forms and calls to a forwarding number.
The risk is the Sunscape one: 1,487 "conversions" at €0.61 that were technical events, not enquiries. On Maps the equivalent is counting every "Get directions" as a customer. We keep directions and short calls as secondary conversions, and only calls over a minimum length and submitted forms as primary.
You can see the same actions at no cost in your Business Profile performance report: comparing them before and after the campaign is the simplest way to see what Maps already brings you without ad spend.
Maps ads and AI answers (what AI Overviews and ChatGPT cite)
Ads don't buy a citation in AI answers. On all 12 local searches in our check the AI Overview listed businesses taken from Google listings, not from ads: the ones cited were the ones with a complete profile, reviews and a consistent website.
On the general question it's the same story. The UK AI Overview for "google maps ads" on 11 November 2026 cited the two Google Ads Help pages, a Google Business page, Shopify and two YouTube videos. Asked in Italian how to advertise on Google Maps, ChatGPT cited three Google help pages and suggested test budgets of €150, €300 and €600 a month, with no source for those figures.
The lever for those answers is the listing, not the ad: see local AI visibility.
Maps ads or a well-kept listing? (it depends on how crowded the pack is)
If you're already in the top three of the local pack for your searches, a Maps ad buys clicks you'd partly get anyway. If you're outside it, it's the fastest way to appear in an area or a town your listing doesn't reach, the case we cover in ranking in another city. If you'd rather have someone set up the campaign, assets and conversions, that's our Google Ads management service.
Google Maps ads: frequently asked questions
No. Google Ads Help says you currently can't serve ads exclusively in Google Maps: eligible campaigns (Search with location assets, Performance Max, Smart, Demand Gen) may also serve on other surfaces.
It depends: there is no fixed price, you pay per click as in the rest of Google Ads. On 10 UK local searches the average CPC ran from $1.57 for "plumber manchester" to $9.62 for "dentist london" (DataForSEO, November 2026).
No. Posts, offers and events are published from your Business Profile at no cost and don't buy positions. Advertising on Maps always goes through Google Ads.
It depends: the usual causes are a Business Profile that isn't linked or verified, a location asset not active on the campaign, targeting the wrong area or a competitor winning the auction. For promoted pins zoom matters too: they disappear when you zoom out.
Yes. Placesheet ads can show on a place's details page, for example a related business. It doesn't mean anyone has edited your listing.
It depends: for ads that drive directions and calls a linked Business Profile is enough, but without a site you can't measure forms and enquiries, and Search campaigns need a landing page.
Google Maps ads in short (and the check to run tomorrow)
There is no "Maps only" campaign.
Four formats: pins, search, suggest, placesheet.
Three requirements: linked profile, active location asset, local targeting.
A UK click costs $1.57 to $9.62, depending on trade and city.
Measure by click type, not with one conversions figure.
One last thing no guide mentions: before you launch, open Maps on your phone where your shop is and search for your trade. If there's no square pin and no "Sponsored" label at the top, you're about to buy a space nobody is paying for at that moment. On our 12 Italian searches that was the case 10 times.
