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I personally think that ads on maps were a bad idea even for monetization. At glance, this seems to be a plausible ads inventory for local businesses but in rea

I personally think that ads on maps were a bad idea even for monetization. At glance, this seems to be a plausible ads inventory for local businesses but in reality this doesn't scale very well compared to Search or App ads (or even Display) since most of ads will be limited to a very narrow area so big advertisers don't feel as strongly as other channels. They could design ad campaigns specific to local areas but this increases overall complexity and makes it really hard to plan and optimize its budgets. Also, it's worth mentioning the difficulty of measuring offline conversions accurately... Some degree of automation might help, but at this state it's not really a great place for advertisers.

vladvasiliu 3y ago
I hate ads as much as the next guy, but I actually think that if this were better implemented, it wouldn't be that bad. One way I commonly use google maps is as a restaurant or bar finder. Like "show me open restaurants around me". I even do this when at home and feel like eating out for whatever reason. I don't want to walk too far away or take transit. I just want to see the restaurants in a 10-minute walk radius around where I am which are open and what they serve. Now, sure, I'd like to see all restaurants, not just those which took out ads. But I'd be fine with those being featured at the top of the list. Instead, what I get, is ads for hotels down the street when I'm already home. Or ads for a carpet store chain, which was closed that particular day (national holiday), which you also can't really miss if you set foot in the square. Regarding monetization, they could probably figure a way to tell that if I click on the restaurant's pin, then follow directions there and stop at the address, I'm likely dining there.
- bostik 3y ago
  I do something similar when going around and about in the UK (and to a lesser degree Malta when I happen to be there). I like to visit random places, seeking out locations off the touristy paths. One particular search has helped me over the years: "pubs near me". Local pubs, even those part of a large chain, tend to give a nice feel of the region and the people who live there. And you can learn interesting details about the local history.
bandrami 3y ago
The author notes that Google does seem to be leaning in to the sector where they really make a lot of sense, hotels. I'm going to Delhi for work next week and how I picked a hotel was going to maps, zooming out from the venue a bit, and letting hotel pins appear.

vladvasiliu 3y ago

I hate ads as much as the next guy, but I actually think that if this were better implemented, it wouldn't be that bad. One way I commonly use google maps is as a restaurant or bar finder. Like "show me open restaurants around me". I even do this when at home and feel like eating out for whatever reason. I don't want to walk too far away or take transit. I just want to see the restaurants in a 10-minute walk radius around where I am which are open and what they serve. Now, sure, I'd like to see all restaurants, not just those which took out ads. But I'd be fine with those being featured at the top of the list. Instead, what I get, is ads for hotels down the street when I'm already home. Or ads for a carpet store chain, which was closed that particular day (national holiday), which you also can't really miss if you set foot in the square. Regarding monetization, they could probably figure a way to tell that if I click on the restaurant's pin, then follow directions there and stop at the address, I'm likely dining there.

bostik 3y ago
I do something similar when going around and about in the UK (and to a lesser degree Malta when I happen to be there). I like to visit random places, seeking out locations off the touristy paths. One particular search has helped me over the years: "pubs near me". Local pubs, even those part of a large chain, tend to give a nice feel of the region and the people who live there. And you can learn interesting details about the local history.

bandrami 3y ago

The author notes that Google does seem to be leaning in to the sector where they really make a lot of sense, hotels. I'm going to Delhi for work next week and how I picked a hotel was going to maps, zooming out from the venue a bit, and letting hotel pins appear.