Google home service ads come to the East Coast & open up to more service categories

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Google continues to expand its ad product for local service providers. This week, the company announced home service ads are available to more businesses in more cities.

Painters, electricians and towing companies can now run ads through AdWords Express, joining locksmiths and plumbers, house cleaners and handymen.

Google launched home service ads in 2015 with a pilot in San Francisco. The ad product is also available in Stockton, San Diego, Los Angeles and Philadelphia — marking its first availability on the East Coast — in addition to the San Francisco Bay Area. As is its practice, Google has regularly tested new formats for these ads over the past couple of years. 

The product takes aim at fulfilling consumers’ heightened expectations for sourcing and booking providers on demand online. It’s a sector that offers big market potential for Google. Home services is predicted to be a $435 billion market globally by 2021. It’s not alone in this area, with Yelp, Angie’s List and Amazon Home Services among those vying for market share. In May, IAC acquired Angie’s List in a deal worth more than $500 million, merging it with competitor HomeAdvisor.

After going through an application and background check process, providers can set up their Google Home Service ad listings in AdWords Express. The ad blocks typically appear at the top of the results page, with the organic pack of listings displaying farther down the page.

About The Author

Ginny Marvin

Ginny Marvin is Third Door Media's Associate Editor, assisting with the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid online marketing topics including paid search, paid social, display and retargeting for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.