It’s been rumored for some time that a small, but significant change was coming to the 3 Pack Local Map Listings that frequently appear in search results when searching for a specific things, like a business or industry in a specific city. The change was that Google, through their Google Adwords program, was going to start inserting paid listings into the mix….and that appears to be close to happening.

Recently, users in the United Kingdom reported seeing “test” ads in the local pack. So the rollout of these paid insertions are getting close.

Many businesses who have avoided Google Adwords because they had a lock on good local pack positioning, or perhaps good rankings organically, are in for a little tougher time. Earlier this year Google started inserting 4 ads above the local pack (instead of 3) pushing the “organic” listings further down the page. And now with a new paid ad coming the Local Pack, free listings there will now be a little tougher to keep positioning as they will be pushed down as well.

This is not a bad thing as well run campaigns within Google Adwords can be a boon for your business. Adwords encompasses Google Search, Google Display, YouTube…there’s literally millions of places your ad can be put to find your audience and get your message in front of them. So adding this paid inserting serves as yet another reason to consider getting on board with Google Adwords so you can maintain a good positioning moving forward.

Need some help with that? We can! We are Google Adwords Certified Partners, so we can quickly get your account setup, running and driving traffic!

source: Search Engine Land