---
title: "How Google Maps Ads Work"
description: "Google Maps ads are paid placements for a local business inside Google Maps: a square pin on the map or a Sponsored result above the search list. Here is what the ad types are, what you need to run them, how Google charges, and how to measure the calls they produce."
image: "/assets/images/posts/call-tracker-google-maps-ads-banner.png"
url: "https://calltracker.io/blog/2026-10-05-google-maps-ads/"
---
Google Maps ads are paid placements that put your business in front of people using Google Maps. They show as a square pin on the map or as a result marked "Sponsored" at the top of the search list. There is no separate Maps ad product to buy: you run a campaign in Google Ads with your business location attached, and Maps is one of the places it can appear.
This guide covers the ad types, what you need before you start, how Google charges, and how to measure the phone calls that come from them.
#### What Are Google Maps Ads?
Google's help page for Maps users describes them in one line: ads "appear as square pins on the map or next to a 'Sponsored' label".
They are different from your free listing. Your Google Business Profile already puts you on the map at no charge, with a round pin. An ad buys a more prominent position for the same business, and Google bills you when people interact with it.
#### The Four Ad Types
Google's guide on how to advertise in Google Maps lists four formats and calls the first two the most common.
Promoted pins. Square pins on the map itself. They can appear when someone browses the map, makes a search, follows a route in Directions view, and periodically during driving navigation. They do not show when the map is zoomed out too far.
Map search ads. Your business at the top of the Maps search results list, with your location, contact information, and directions. A matching ad pin may show on the map.
Map suggest ads. Your business offered as an autocomplete suggestion while the person is still typing. These display only in the Google Maps mobile app.
Placesheet ads. Ads inside the business details page that opens when someone selects a place, such as a hotel booking module or an ad for a store inside a mall.
#### How Do Google Maps Ads Work?
Google matches what a person does in Maps to your business location. Its Local Ads page puts it this way: when customers search for businesses, explore a local area, or navigate to a place, people who are nearby or who show interest in your location may see your ad.
Two things follow from how this is built.
You cannot buy Maps on its own. Google states that "currently, you can't serve ads exclusively in Google Maps." The same campaign also runs on Google Search and, depending on its type, on other Google properties.
The ad is built from your Business Profile. Google says Local Ads show your star rating, address, phone number, images, and hours, "often sourced from your linked Google Business Profile." A thin or out-of-date profile makes a weak ad.
#### What You Need Before You Start
A verified Google Business Profile. Google's troubleshooting list for ads that do not show starts with whether the profile is linked and verified.
The profile linked to Google Ads. This is required for promoted pins.
Location assets switched on. This is required for Map search ads. Linking your Business Profile to Google Ads is what enables them.
An eligible campaign. Google names Search campaigns with location assets, Performance Max, Smart campaigns, and Demand Gen as campaign types that can serve on Maps.
If you travel to customers and have no storefront, Google says to make sure your Business Profile is set up as a service area business.
#### How to Create Google Maps Ads
Google's page on showing local search ads on Google Maps gives three steps for a Search campaign.
1. Enable location assets for your Google Ads account.
2. Use location targeting and bid by location, so your bids increase for people near your business.
3. Use keywords that relate to your location and to what people search for locally.
Which campaign type you choose decides which formats you can get.
Search campaign with location assets. You choose the keywords and bids. This is the route to Map search ads for a business that wants control.
Performance Max for store goals. You supply locations, a budget, and ad assets, and Google decides bids and placements across Search, Maps, YouTube, Gmail, and the Display Network. Promoted pins from this campaign type show your logo.
Smart campaign. You write an ad, pick keyword themes, and set a budget. The pin shows your type of business or a generic icon for it.
#### How Much Do Google Maps Ads Cost?
Google does not publish a price for Maps ads. You set a budget, and what you pay depends on how the campaign is charged.
Google's Local Ads page says Search and Performance Max campaigns may be charged a standard cost per click for:
Clicks on a headline or sitelink that go to your website
A click on a headline that opens your Business Profile
Clicks on the map to open driving directions
A click on an action button such as Call, Directions, or Website
Clicks on map pins
You are charged for one click type per person, even if they click more than one of those. Swiping through the photo carousel is not charged.
Promoted pins can work differently. Google says Performance Max for store goals campaigns charge per thousand impressions when people view a branded logo pin on Maps. So a pin can cost money without a click.
The ceiling on your spend is the budget you set. Google's budget page says a campaign can spend up to twice its average daily budget on a busy day, but never more than 30.4 times the daily budget in a billing period. Its own example: a $10 a day budget means you pay at most $304.
Note what a call costs you. A tap on the Call button is billed as a click, at the same rate as a click to your website. You pay for the tap, not for the conversation.
#### Local Services Ads Are a Separate Product
Local Services Ads are often mixed up with Maps ads. They are a separate program with their own account, where Google charges per lead and the leads arrive as calls and messages. Our guide to Google Local Services Ads covers how they work.
#### Measuring Phone Calls From Maps Ads
For a local business, the result of a Maps ad is usually a phone call. Google gives you three numbers for it, and each one measures something different.
Click type. Segment a campaign by click type and Google shows "mobile clicks-to-call" alongside direction clicks and location detail clicks. This counts taps.
Clicks to call. Once location assets are active, Google Ads creates a local action conversion that tracks Call clicks on your business locations. This also counts taps.
Call reporting. When you turn on call reporting, Google puts a Google forwarding number on the ad and records the call itself: its start time, its duration, whether it connected, and the caller's number for calls over 15 seconds. You can count calls above a length you choose as conversions.
Only call reporting tells you a call happened. A tap that never connects still counts in the first two.
There is a trade here. With call reporting off, Google's page says the ad "shows your direct business number but prevents Google Ads from tracking calls." Google's own note is that this is the setting to use if you want third-party call tracking on your ads.
#### Paid Maps Calls and Free Listing Calls Ring the Same Phone
A Maps ad takes its phone number from your Business Profile, unless call reporting swaps in a Google forwarding number. So the ad and the free listing show the same number. A tracking number on the profile cannot tell them apart.
The Business Profile performance report does not separate them either. Google says its data "includes views, searches, and actions from both organic search results and Google Ads." Its Calls figure is the number of times the call button was clicked, paid and free together.
Here is what you can do.
Put a tracking number on your Business Profile. A dedicated call tracking number on the profile gives you every call from the listing, paid or free, with the caller's number, the length, and whether it was answered. Google lets you add up to two more phone numbers to a profile, so your main line can stay listed. Use a local number, in an account your business controls, that forwards only to your own line.
Turn on call reporting for the paid share. Google's call details report then lists the calls that came from ads, with the caller's number on calls over 15 seconds.
Track website calls separately. Some people click the ad, read your site, and call from there. Dynamic number insertion gives each visitor their own number, so that call carries the Google click ID and can be sent back through the Google Ads integration.
What you cannot do is label each listing call as paid or free inside one tool. Google's list covers the ad calls and your own log covers the listing, so the split comes from reading the two side by side. Google does not say whether a call that came through an ad's forwarding number also reaches the number on your profile, so check that on your own account before you subtract one list from the other. Our post on Google Ads call tracking covers the website side in detail.
#### Are Google Maps Ads Worth It?
They suit a business whose customers choose from a map: someone nearby, on a phone, ready to call or drive over. Whether they pay for you is a number you have to produce yourself.
Compare what the campaign cost with the calls it produced, and count calls, not taps. A recording tells you whether a call was a new job or a wrong number, and call reports put the listing next to your other sources.
See how call tracking is set up for your trade: plumbers, HVAC, roofers, electricians, auto repair shops, and law firms, or browse all industries.
#### Frequently Asked Questions
##### What are Google Maps ads?
Paid placements inside Google Maps, shown as square pins or as results marked Sponsored. You run them from Google Ads.
##### How much do Google Maps ads cost?
There is no set price. You choose a daily budget and pay per click, or per thousand views for logo pins in Performance Max for store goals.
##### Can I run ads only in Maps?
No. Google says you cannot serve ads exclusively in Maps, so the campaign also runs on Search.
##### Can I tell paid Maps calls from free listing calls?
Not by the number alone. Read Google's list of ad calls next to a call log from a tracking number on your profile.
#### See Which Calls Your Map Listing Produces
Put a tracking number on your Business Profile before you start spending, so you have a baseline of free listing calls to compare against. Start a 14 day free trial of Call Tracker, or see pricing. Plans start at $37 a month.
