Google Gets More Local with New AdWords Extensions

The Internet is getting increasingly localized and it's also becoming aware of where you are. Geotagging is the latest trend in browsers and, as more start to support the feature, a lot of sites are starting to make use of it. One of the areas that can benefit from geolocation is targeted ads, also something Internet companies are focusing more on, and Google is taking such a step by launching a new address extension to ads for local businesses.

“Location extensions allow you to "extend" your AdWords campaigns by dynamically attaching your business address to your ads. This new feature will be fully available in the coming weeks, with some advertisers having access to the feature starting today,” Emel Mutlu, member of Google's AdWords team, wrote. “Once extensions are set up, we'll dynamically match your business locations to a user's location or search terms and show the address with your text ads.”

Local businesses can set up the new extensions from their Local Business Center account by coupling it with an AdWords campaign or by manually entering the address if the first option isn't viable. After this step, an address will be shown in the text ads for their campaign, based on the users' whereabouts, allowing them to easily find an outlet for a particular business close to their current location. However, if the users' location can't be determined accurately or if there is no address that is close enough to be relevant no address will be shown. If, for whatever reason, a business may want to only show one address in a particular ad this can also be set up and customized.

With these latest extensions, local business ads will no longer be a separate ad type, being merged into local ads. Then, by using the new extensions, regular ads can be made to behave just like a local business ad, removing the need for a separate format. The new ads will be identical to local business ones and will be carried in the same places as before.