Posts Tagged ‘Local Listing Ads’

On December 3, 2009 Greg Sterling had posted an article saying that Google Suspends Local Listing Ads – For Now.  Well it seems that they have suspended them indefinitely since they completely remove the section of their website that was deticated to the local listing ads.  Take a look at the screenshot below:

This is what I end up on after performing the search query “Local Listing Ads” (LLA) and click on the number one result, Google’s own page dedicated for these ads.  Well it seems that the beta test didn’t go over as well as they thought or they are about to launch some nationwide model.

If you are unfamiliar with Local Listing Ads, they are/were an advertising medium that Google offered to it’s Local Business Center clients where they would pay a flat monthly fee to have a advertisement placed above the map-pack and below the search field.  This advertisement was given a blue pin icon so it could stand out from all the red ones.

I thought this was one of the best values for a local business since you are paying a flat fee to have arguably the best position on the SERPs.  One downside seemed to be that more competitive markets would yield rotating LLA in order to keep the clicks equal.  If your market was not highly competitive the value appeared to be greater on the consumer’s end.

Google announced the beta release of Local Listing Ads on October 6, 2009 and suspended them on Dec 3, 2009.

The ads were only released in the San Francisco and San Diego metropolitan markets.