Google for the last few years has been working to prioritize mobile, not only trying to enhance the user experience for consumers but giving advertisers more ways to reach them.
Now the company is making another leap in its mobile ad offering, rolling out ads in its Maps app.
The new products, announced at the annual Google Performance Summit on Tuesday, include ads that pop up in search results in Maps. Someone searching in Maps for coffee shops, pharmacies or gas stations, for example, will see ads for specific coffee shops, pharmacies or gas stations atop the list of results. Pins marking advertisers' locations will also pop up directly on the map portion of the results screen.
Those promoted pins can also appear in the app's navigation mode, which complements on-screen directions with audible instructions. Navigation ads will be visual only, not spoken.
(Google announced Assistant, its AI-heavy voice helper, last week at its I/O event for developers, so it's not impossible to conceive of audible ads in Google products at some point in the future.)
The new products give advertisers, especially retailers, a way to increase their mobile advertising as it relates to search and navigation. Fast food companies, for example, could see the value in buying promoted pins along expressways to attract people on road trips.
Advertisers will also have the option to not just advertise the location, but what's inside as well. Tapping a promoted pin will bring up a "business" page with offers and promotions at that spot, as well as information already available for many locations in Google Maps such as address and hours.