Advertising on Google Local

David Galbraith has noticed Google testing out what he calls 'adballoons' on Google Local.

Searching for hotels in New York brings up a pair of blue sponsored links for two specific hotels ('W Court Hotel' and 'Courtyard Manhattan Hotel'). Clicking on these brings up the balloon on the map.

nyhotels

By comparison, searching for hotels in San Francisco brings up a generic sponsored link for 'San Francisco Hotels' which takes users to a new page.

sfhotels

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