The Brief

Google Local Listing Ads have been launched in Beta for the San Francisco and San Diego areas.  These are not to be confused with Location Extension Ads, formerly known as Google Local Business Ads (LBAs).

Previously, Local Business Ads were managed through the Local Business Center Interface.  Now that LBAs have been converted to Location Extension Ads, they are managed through the AdWords interface.  For more information on Location Extension Ads, click here.

The new product, Local Listing Ads (LLAs), is in Beta, will be managed through the Local Business Center interface, is free only for the first 30 days, and the listings will be shown in Google.com search results as well as Google Map results.  You can view a short LLA tutorial on YouTube here. 

The Questions

The launch of the Local Listing Ads Beta brings two main concerns:  Placement and Pricing (I feel like I’m jumping back to the 4 P’s of Marketing in College.)

Placement:  In the video, the example shown on the Map results page looks exactly like an AdWords Paid Search ad, with the alternative colored background and label of “Sponsored Links.”   Given this, I’m curious to know how they will visually differ from Location Extension, Paid and Organic listings.  If they will indeed serve in this form, there’s not a solid way to differentiate them from Paid or Location Extension Ads.  When the Beta is over, maybe they will be labeled properly?  Back lit in a different color?  Higher character limits than traditional paid ads?

Pricing:  Advertisers using LLAs will be charged a flat monthly fee which Google determines based on what type of business it is and where it’s located.  Um…okay.  I guess?  That sounds a little vague to me.  (Kind of like cost-per-click, but we’ll go there another time.)  How will Seamus McDaniels, a pub in the Dogtown area of St. Louis, know they aren’t being charged more than Nick’s Pub located just down the street?  Same type of business…same area…will they pay exactly the same monthly fee?  What goes into determining an appropriate price?  And as the space and volume changes, how will these factors affect pricing?

The Concerns for Paid Search Advertisers

Now let’s jump into this from a Paid Search Marketer perspective.  In Google’s official statement, they say:

“Local Listing Ads will be displayed in separate ad slots, independent of the AdWords auction.  Due to this separation, Local Listing Ads should not affect the AdWords auction dynamics, ad ranks or quality scores.”

“Auction dynamics” are the important words here. 

I understand LLAs will be managed outside of the AdWords interface and will not directly affect Paid Search ads, however, no one can tell me that putting something new on the Google SERPs isn’t going to impact searcher behavior and take some clicks away from Paid and even Organic listings.  It’s like telling me your Organic listings don’t affect your Paid and vice versa.  Or sticking your logo into your Paid listing isn’t going to get you a few extra clicks.  And so on and so forth.  Therefore, we can assume if searchers click on LLAs, Paid search listings will lose those clicks, resulting in lower CTRs, and on down the hill we roll.  Naturally, this will not be the case for every query, nor every advertiser.  However, you have to admit it’s possible any time you throw something else up there.

When the ads are shown on Google.com SERPs, there can be up to four shown on the top rail and up to four ads shown on the right rail.  When they are on the top rail, they will show below the Paid listings and above the Organic listings.  When on the right rail, they will show above the Paid listings.  What?!  So that means my Paid ads are going to be pushed down up to FOUR places on the right rail?!  What about all those studies that show the impact on placement for Paid search ads?  So instead of being in position 1 on the right rail, I could now be in position 5 on the right rail. Do YOU want to be in position 5 when you’re shooting for 1?  I typically do not.  I’m sure the argument which could be made here is that the LLAs are not going to take ad slots from Paid Search.  Right.  They’re just going to go before the Paid slots.

And let’s also not forget about those Organic listings getting pushed down the page up to four places.  As an advertiser, how will you feel about four more pieces of real estate showing before you can get a word in edge wise?

By setting aside prime positioning for Local Listing Ads, Google is putting an emphasis on the importance of local businesses.  (Economy? Politics? We won’t go there.)  What the searchers want?

Am I totally against Google Local Listing Ads? Nah.  I’m all for whatever makes a better search experience.  After all, I’m still a searcher, too.

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