Custom map icons in local business ads

We've posted before about how you can use local business ads to promote your business on Google Maps. Here's Dominic P. from the Local Business Ads team with an update about a new feature:

You may already know that Local Business Ads allow you to create an enhanced text ad with photos and icons that will give you greater visibility when potential customers search for your business on Google Maps (see screenshot below). In addition, we'll even show a regular text version of your local business ad when users in your area are searching for your business on Google.com.

To enhance local business ads, we've recently introduced the ability to use your own icon as the marker on the Google Map. The icon is 16 pixels by 16 pixels and is similar to a favicon that you see in your favorite web browser. (We've highlighted the custom map marker icons in red in the screenshot below.)

To recap, local business ads are priced the same way as standard keyword-targeted ads -- that is, you only pay when a user clicks on the ad to get to your your webpage from Google Maps, Google.com, or one of our partners on the Google search network. You can use local business ads to promote business locations in the US, Canada or the UK. To get started with local business ads, just follow the steps listed here.

Posted by Vivian, Inside AdWords crew