Google Maps Ads, How to Advertise on Google Maps and What It Costs

To advertise on Google Maps, you link your Business Profile to Google Ads and run a campaign that’s allowed to show there. Google can then put your business on the map as a square pin, at the top of the list when someone searches in Maps, or in the suggestions while they’re still typing.

There’s no Maps-only button. Google Maps ads come out of ordinary Google Ads campaigns, mostly Search and Performance Max, and Google decides when a search suits a Maps placement.

That catches plenty of people out. So does the price. For most businesses people walk into, Google’s own Keyword Planner puts a Search click in Ireland at under a euro.

Can you advertise on Google Maps?

Yes, and you’ve almost certainly seen the ads. The square pin among the round ones is an ad. So is the business marked “Sponsored” at the top of a list of places.

“There are currently four ways to advertise on Google Maps,” according to Google’s help page on how to advertise in Google Maps. Elsewhere in its help pages you’ll see them called local search ads, or Local ads, a name that also covers the same local formats on Search.

What you can’t buy is a better place in the ordinary map results. In Google’s own words, on its local ranking page, “There’s no way to request or pay for a better local ranking on Google.”

The ads sit on the map and at the top of the results. Where you rank underneath still comes from your Business Profile, and our guide to local SEO in Ireland covers how that’s won.

The four kinds of Google Maps ads

Each one shows in a different place, and each needs a particular kind of campaign behind it.

Promoted pins

A promoted pin is square, which is how it stands out among the round ones. With Performance Max for shop goals, the pin carries your logo. With a Smart campaign, it shows your type of business or a generic icon for it.

Google shows them when someone browses the map, when they search, along the route in directions, and now and then during driving navigation. You pay by the view or by the click, depending on the campaign type.

One catch. Google says promoted pins “won’t show when zoomed out”, so a pin you can’t find on a zoomed-out map isn’t necessarily missing.

Map search ads

Someone searches in Maps, and your ad sits at the top of the results list. It can bring a matching pin on the map with it, plus your location, contact details and directions.

These need location assets. Google says that “to use Map search ads, you must have location assets linked”, and linking your Business Profile to Google Ads is what switches them on.

Map suggest ads

These appear as an autocomplete suggestion, before the person has seen a single result. Google’s own example is someone typing the first three letters of “movies” and a nearby cinema’s ad turning up in the suggestions.

They only show in the Google Maps mobile app.

Placesheet ads

Tap a place on the map and you get its details page. Placesheet ads sit inside that page. Google’s examples are a booking module on a hotel’s page, a shop inside a shopping centre shown on the centre’s page, and nearby tours and things to do.

For most local businesses they matter least. They suit hotels, attractions and tour operators. A salon or a dental practice gets little from them.

Do Google Maps ads show while driving?

Promoted pins do. Google lists “periodically during active driving navigation” among the places they appear, along with the route in directions view.

So a café, a garage or a hotel on a busy road can show up for drivers already heading past it.

What you need before you can advertise on Google Maps

Google sums up the requirements in one sentence. “You must provide the location of your business, have an eligible campaign and meet Google Ads policy standards.” In practice that means four things.

• A Google Ads account, set up in your business’s own name so it stays yours.
• A verified Google Business Profile with the right address or service area, hours and photos. Google says the ads feature your star rating, address, phone number, photos and opening hours, often taken from the profile.
• The profile linked to Google Ads. That’s what switches on location assets. Promoted pins need the link, and map search ads need the location assets.
• A campaign type that can show on Maps. Search with location assets, Performance Max, Smart and Demand Gen can all show there.

Google Ads takes your location details straight from Google Maps and your Business Profile. A wrong address or phone number gets fixed there, not in the ad account. And if you mark a location closed, for now or for good, Google stops showing it in your ads.

If your profile isn’t verified yet, our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile walks you through it.

How to advertise on Google Maps, step by step

Seven steps, and the first one happens outside Google Ads.

1. Get your Business Profile right first. Check the address, hours, phone number and photos, because the ad can show all of them.
2. Link the profile to Google Ads. In Google Ads, open Assets from the Campaigns menu, select the plus button, then Location, then Our locations. Find your profile and confirm it. Google sends a request to the profile’s email address, and once it’s approved your locations can show with your ads.
3. Choose a campaign that can reach Maps. Search with location assets if you want to choose the searches. Performance Max for shop goals if what you want is people through the door.
4. Aim at the area around you. Google’s advice is to “target a specific location and set bids by location, so that your bids increase for people located near your business.”
5. Use the words local customers type. For a Search campaign, that means keywords pairing what you do with where you are, like “physio Naas” or “hotel Lahinch”.
6. Count calls and directions. With location assets on, Google Ads creates local action conversions such as Get directions and Clicks to call. Set the ones you care about to Primary so the campaign works towards them.
7. Check which clicks came from Maps. In your campaign report, select the Segment icon, then Click type. You’ll see location detail clicks, direction clicks and calls from mobile separately.

Already manage the profile from your own Google account? At step two, choose Link to a Business Profile Manager account I know and pick it from the drop-down instead. Google’s page on linking a Business Profile to Google Ads has both routes.

If it’s calls you’re after, Google’s advice is to use location assets rather than call assets. The ad then uses the phone number of the location it’s showing.

Which Google Ads campaigns show on Google Maps?

Google names Demand Gen, Performance Max, Smart and Search campaigns with location assets as the ones that can serve on Maps. Shopping, Travel and Display campaigns reach particular formats. Here’s how they line up against the four ads, from Google’s Maps advertising page.

For most local businesses, the real choice is between the first two.

Search with location assets keeps you in control. You choose the keywords, so you decide which searches you pay for, and the same ad can show on Google Search and on Maps. It suits a business that wants calls and enquiries from people looking for something specific.

Performance Max for shop goals is Google’s own pick for footfall. Google calls it “best for maximising visits to your physical shops and local actions (calls, directions)”. It’s the one that puts your logo on the pin, and it reaches all four Maps formats.

What you give up is control. The same campaign also runs across Search, YouTube, Gmail and the Display Network, and Google decides the mix.

Smart campaigns are the simplest of all, made for owners who want Google to do most of the setting up. They reach Maps too, but you get the least say in how.

Can you run ads only on Google Maps?

No. “Chosen campaigns may automatically serve on multiple surfaces,” in Google’s words. Any campaign that can reach Maps will show in other places too, so set the budget for all of it, not just the map.

How much does it cost to advertise on Google Maps?

There’s no set price. Google Maps ads are part of Google Ads, so you choose the budget, and for most formats you pay only when someone clicks. Google doesn’t publish a separate price list for Maps.

What you’re charged for

For Search and Performance Max campaigns, Google charges a standard cost per click for any of these:

• A click on your headline or sitelinks that goes to your website
• A click on a headline that opens your Business Profile
• A click on Map to open driving directions
• A tap on a button such as Call, Directions or Website
• A tap on your pin on the map

You’re charged for one click, even if the same person taps two or three of those. Swiping through your photos costs nothing.

The exception is the logo pin. On Maps, Performance Max for shop goals charges per thousand impressions when people see a branded logo pin.

What a click costs for businesses people visit in Ireland

Google doesn’t publish a separate price for a click on Maps. The nearest guide is what a Search click costs for the same trade in Ireland, which Google’s Keyword Planner does show.

Click prices are Google Keyword Planner’s figures for Irish searches, September 2026: the middle price across the counties where the trade has one (between four and fifteen counties each), converted from Google’s dollar figures at the ECB reference rate.

Nine of the eleven cost less than a euro. €300 buys a pharmacy about 590 clicks. The same €300 buys a roofer, at €4.71 a click, about 64.

That gap is one reason Maps suits businesses people walk into.

Your county matters too. Across every trade, the middle click runs from €1.00 in Monaghan to €2.71 in Dublin. Our county pages carry local prices for Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and eleven more counties.

Can you advertise on Google Maps for free?

Not the ads. But you can be on Google Maps for free, and for most local businesses that’s where to start.

Your Google Business Profile costs nothing. It’s what puts you on the map in the first place, with your pin, reviews, photos and hours. It’s also what the paid ads are built from, so a weak profile makes a weak ad.

Shops have a second free route. Google’s page on showing local search ads on Google Maps says businesses that want to advertise products for in-store purchase or local pick-up should use “local inventory ads or cost-free local listings”. Free local listings are switched on in Merchant Center, and our guide on how to set up Google Merchant Center covers the account you’ll need.

How do I get listed on Google Maps?

Create or claim a Google Business Profile, then verify it. That’s the free listing, and it’s the same profile you’ll link to Google Ads if you advertise later. Our Google Business Profile guide covers setup, verification and what moves you up the map.

Google Maps ads vs Local Services Ads

Both put a business on Maps, and they get mixed up all the time. They’re different products.

If you’re a plumber, an electrician or a roofer, Local Services Ads usually come first, because you pay only when someone rings or messages. Our guide to Google Local Services Ads covers the trades, the checks and the costs.

If you run a café, a salon, a hotel, a shop or a clinic, Local Services Ads aren’t open to you in Ireland. Maps ads are your paid way onto the map.

Are Google Maps ads worth it?

They’re worth it when your customer is nearby and ready to go somewhere. That’s the whole case for them.

Someone who opens Maps and types “pharmacy” or “hotel” is choosing where to go, from whatever is on the screen. For a business people travel to, there’s no better moment to be in front of them, and for most of those businesses a Search click costs under a euro.

They’re less use in three cases.

• You go to the customer. A trade that works in people’s homes is usually better served by Local Services Ads or ordinary Search ads.
• You sell online, nationwide. Maps is local by design. Google Shopping ads do far more for a web shop.
• Your profile lets you down. The ad carries your star rating. A 3.4 from eleven reviews is an expensive thing to advertise, so start with getting more Google reviews.

And the sum still applies. If winning a customer costs more than that customer leaves you, a cheap click doesn’t rescue it. Our piece on whether Google Ads are worth it sets out the four numbers to check.

Why can’t I see my Google Maps ads?

If your ad doesn’t turn up when you look for it, Google lists five usual causes.

• The location setup. Is the Business Profile linked and verified, and is the location asset active and approved?
• The campaign. Is it running, and aimed at the area you’re searching from?
• The zoom level. Promoted pins don’t show on a zoomed-out map.
• The search. For Search campaigns, is what you typed relevant to your keywords and your business?
• The auction. There are only so many ad slots, and another business may have the one you’re looking at.

Google adds one more point. A promoted pin and a map search ad don’t necessarily appear together, so seeing one without the other isn’t a fault.

And what you see on your own phone, standing in your own premises, isn’t what a customer across town sees.

How to get more from Google Maps ads

Most of what makes a Maps ad work lives in your Business Profile, not the ad account.

• Photos. Google says the quality of your images and videos affects clicks and how often your ads are shown, and much of it comes from your profile. Real photos of the place beat stock ones.
• Reviews. Your rating travels with the ad. A steady run of recent reviews gives the person looking at your pin a reason to pick you.
• Hours. Set your bank holiday hours. A pin that sends someone to a locked door costs you the click and the customer.
• Offers. Performance Max for shop goals can show local promotions in Maps, which people can view, save and share.

Questions people ask about Google Maps ads

Is Google Maps going to have ads?

It already has them. Google currently lists four kinds: promoted pins, map search ads, map suggest ads and placesheet ads.

Can I advertise on the Google Maps app?

Yes, though you don’t set anything up in the app. It all runs from Google Ads. Google says your locations can appear in search results on Google Maps, including the Maps app, and map suggest ads show only in the app.

Do Google Maps ads improve my ranking on the map?

No. Google says there’s no way to pay for a better local ranking. The ads sit on top of the free results, and your place in those still comes down to your profile, your reviews and how near you are to the person searching.

Can a service-area business advertise on Google Maps?

Yes. Google describes Local ads as being for businesses “with a physical location or service area”. If you go to your customers, set your Business Profile up as a service-area business, as Google’s Maps help page asks, and check whether your trade qualifies for Local Services Ads too.

How do I track calls and directions from Google Maps ads?

Link your Business Profile and Google Ads creates local action conversions for directions and calls by itself. Set them to Primary. Then segment your campaign report by click type. Shop visits can be counted too, once your account meets Google’s eligibility rules.

If you want to know what Maps would cost around you

You probably know already whether people come to you or you go to them. That settles half of it.

Tell us what you do and where, and we’ll price the searches around you, pick the campaign type that fits, and tell you whether Maps is the right place for the money. Your account stays in your own business name, linked to your own Business Profile, and our Google Ads team sets it up.

Management starts at €450 a month plus VAT. If your account is too small to carry a fee, you’ll hear that on the first call.