Google’s new info-window ads may effectively “force” SMBs to buy AdWords. Mike Blumenthal and I have had several Twitter exchanges about Google’s new info-window ads and Mike has documented some curious and highly questionable ones. I’m sure there will be many more such posts as people investigate the matching of listings and ads.
What I’ll focus on here is the idea that Google is now effectively compelling businesses to buy ads against their own brands/names. This practice has long gone on in general SEM and it’s nothing new in a way.
National advertisers typically buy their own branded keywords to protect against competitors buying them and to “own the SERP.” Take for example a navigational search for retailer The Gap in the screenshot above. Some search marketers refer to this as the “Google tax” and argue that a company shouldn’t have to pay for a “navigational” query.
Now with the new info-window ads on Google Maps this practice comes to local. In a positive sense, the ad enables the marketer or local business to place an additional message in the window, with promotional information — as in the case of this Baby Gap ad.
However for SMBs it also creates problems, as competitors’ ads show up if they’re not Google AdWords advertisers. Here are two examples at random: a San Francisco plastic surgeon and a bike repair shop.
Each listing above features a competitor ad, in both cases with a deal that may steal away the lead. There are many more such examples. There are also some strange pairings like this listing for a church/charitable foundation in San Francisco and a mattress ad:
Yelp’s policy of placing competitive ads on profile pages (see below) has created confusion and even anger among some SMBs. The sales pitch goes something like: become an advertiser and the competitor’s ad goes away. Confusion created by this concept caused some SMBs to claim that Yelp was manipulating reviews.
Now Google has put a similar system in place. When SMBs discover their listings on Maps also feature competitors’ ads it’s not clear whether they’ll be concerned, angry or indifferent. Some of them may become AdWords (Express) advertisers to get rid of those listings. The idea of eliminating a competitive ad on your listing may also become part of Google’s pitch to SMBs.
What do you think of this practice?
Do you think SMBs will be concerned? How will they react? And, do you think it could create legal problems in connection with the various anti-trust investigations directed toward Google?
November 21st, 2011 at 1:55 pm
On the small business front there are several issues of concern. Not the least of which is whether they will need to defend the space.
The others are bid price and fairness. Many smbs are not savvy bidders and this could very well lead to an irrational (in a market sense) uptick in bid pricing on smb related terms.
The other is that I had heard rumors that Google’s Adword reps were advising large clients to take out these ads as early as the first week of October in anticipation of this release.
It appears that gave companies like Bank Of America time to protect their space (and it does not protecting and OTAs time to gain a footing against the many hotels that aren’t aware of the new placements.
The issues though for me are much larger. I perceive that Google is pushing the boundaries of what society considers an appropriate place to put an ad. Clearly breaking down societal mores that provide implicit boundaries to advertising is in Google’s best interest. I am not sure that it is the interest of either the general public nor the small business community.
November 21st, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Most SMBs are going to be unaware of this until they’re shown their listings on maps. Will the Google sales or customer service reps be doing that?
November 21st, 2011 at 2:14 pm
I have no idea.
Certainly if they are on commission, the reps will figure it out on their own whether the company wants them to or not.
November 21st, 2011 at 4:31 pm
Greg: I believe its a false, somewhat overblown issue in this context: I doubt if there is an infinitesimal amount of traffic to the “branded bubble”. There is still relatively low traffic into the google places pages relative to the first page of organic google, which shows Places Pages in one format or another.
Now I don’t track traffic to the “branded bubble”. Does anyone? Is there a method? But I doubt the traffic is significant.
Yes the ads are inappropriate in my view. Yes they are sometimes weird showing totally off base ads relative to the “bubble”. I sent one to Mike showing an ad for Chevrolet’s when I had hit the “branded page” for a Chevy’s restaurant.
Still the traffic has to be beyond tiny. If anyone has evidence to the contrary let me know.
Now do I want to make smb’s aware of this possibly causing a mad increase in purchasing adwords? Not really. I doubt its worthwhile, in any context whatsoever.
I believe in adwords. I use it for every business. Its always a budget issue. You want the most bang for your buck.
Also it has a direct relevance for the primary source of most traffic….the first page of organic google results. Many many many searchers don’t differentiate between ads and organic results. They hit the first thing that grabs their attention. Adwords is increasingly less differentiated from organic results and adding features such as addresses, phone numbers and site links makes them more indistinguishable.
Yet they sit either on the top of the page or under a map (when we are speaking of smbs) and they attract eyeballs and clicks. Often in significant numbers.
All that being said, I think its inappropriate to spur attention to this probable minute issue, if it will spur buying adwords for an inappropriate reason.
Last point: I’ve dealt with different Yelp salespeople working to sell ads for different businesses and faced the salespitch that suggests my Yelp Page would be free of ads if I paid them. Still haven’t bought ads from Yelp. In a few instances its cost per month is approaching a threshold of activity where it might make sense…..but not yet. That practice of eliminating unsavory ads on pages that reflect your business has been in existence for years. I first faced it about 8 years ago from the owner of an article site. Its certainly not new. It reflects the fact that Yelp pages, Google Places Pages and other pages out of your direct control…are not yours. Despite the fact that Google is aggressively marketing to smb’s to claim “your places page” this latest advertising gambit is simply one more example of how the page isn’t yours….its google’s.
My experience is that their a lot of beneficial reasons to use adwords. I don’t agree that this phenomena is one of them.
….oh yeah…and they are showing up as distasteful, inappropriate, and an example of google marketing itself in a not totally honest framework.
November 21st, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Dave: Fair points about competitive ads pitch (re: Yelp) being around for years. YP did this with your competitor has a bigger ad. And you’re right that tiny traffic to info-windows may mitigate what otherwise might be a controversy.
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:00 pm
good article, I’im having serious issues with this. I actually use adwords and have a branded campaign however, my competitors ad is still appearing on the Google map bubble, I rank #1 for my branded terms, and my ad is displayed on the left bar of the Google maps page but not on the bubble, any ideas on how to fix this?
Thanks
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:08 pm
Mark: If you’re already an advertiser I don’t have a concrete suggestion. Perhaps Mike B. can suggestion something. You could also try and contact Google by phone to see what they say. But I wouldn’t have high hopes with that approach.
November 23rd, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Bidding more aggressively is one way to get there. But its somewhat trickier than that as the algo could pull ads from different campaigns.
2ndly set up a campaign that is solely focused on branded phrases rather than discovery phrases. Maybe that will help. If you are just setting that up also wait a while as google’s ad delivery algo gets into sync with your campaign.
I personally think its the wrong way to look. Traffic into the bubble is typically minimal beyond minimal. I’d review my adwords campaign pretty thoroughly if my goal was to control that spot on the bubble…but in general I suspect you are letting the tail wag the dog rather than the other way around.
November 23rd, 2011 at 9:22 pm
From a user perspective, I believe this confuses the experience. Consider that the whole idea of the map, and in particular the bubble, is to inform users of the Name, Address, and Phone Number of the business at the given location. Putting an ad in the bubble for a business that may be nowhere near the location is counter to the purpose of the mapping tool and the intent of user of the map service.
I think this an example of Google forgoing good user experience in hopes of generating (relatively little) revenue. My hope is this goes away, mark it as an idea that should have never gone beyond brainstorming. Bad UX.
November 23rd, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Agree
November 27th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Ever since Google IPO’d it has seemed that their “do no evil” motto has gone out the door, and that their drive to increase earnings more and more has taken over.
Of greatest concern to us is that it is becoming really hard for real local consumers to identify what are ads and what are ordinary organic search results. The top 3 spots on each search are now nearly always ads, and now google is making the ad backgrounds lighter and lighter, these ads now look and feel exactly like organic searches.
On top of that Google are now placing their map over any ads on the right hand column forcing you to bid for a top 3 spot or your ad wont even really be seen.
OK one more issue with Google, their Panda update has wiped out the seo efforts of anyone who could compete with them. Local directories have been pushed way down, content sites have beebread deranked as well. Panda sure has the look and feel of anti competitive behavior. Surely Google aren’t arguing that their Google Places data is of higher quality than other directories such as Yelp?
That’s my $0.02
November 27th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Google’s struggle with China is an example how corporate “morals” confluct with the profit imeperative. Public companies have a very difficult time not maixmizing revenue by any means legally available. It’s the logic of the system and the demand of the public markets.
November 28th, 2011 at 9:23 pm
[...] Conceptually this follows Google placing ads in the info-window on Maps. [...]
January 6th, 2012 at 3:22 pm
After my investigation the statement is TRUE about “Google ‘Forcing’ SMBs to Buy AdWords” Google being unfair with Organic listings… Google adwords sales reps say no it will only help your organic content listings!!! Question was asked why high searched term keywords directly related to the product you are selling does not list while large conglomerate organic listings show up number one with products less related products? AND why Bing lists site while google only lists by company name or domain?? You would not believe the answers. Was told you must work updating your site non-stop and your content is not as good or as related! Next question is who to contact or form to fill out if you are having technical problems with organic site listings? Answer: Forums is the only place to ask questions. No one at Google supports Organic listings becuse they are free. So if you spend money with Adwords I can’t get organic support? NO Then why spend any money with Google? Best to Boycott Google and use Bing for all searches if possible. Google is NOT humble and they think they are GOD just becuse they have the majority market share. Google is the Wal-Mart of Search Engines these days… This is sad… Use BING and let them know how much you appreciate the free placement is my professional advise. Once Google LOOSES market share they will have no choice but to change their ways.
February 21st, 2012 at 3:45 pm
I have had clients approach me about this problem, specifically about website links from their contact page going to Google maps for directions where lo and behold the competitor ads show up. All I can do is offer them two solutions: Get involved in Adwords or switch map technology to something else. So far they have elected to drop Google Maps from their website pages.
I have a feeling this decision by Google was a bad one.