Google’s Local Inventory Ads Spotted in Local Pack Listing

Google appears to be testing a mixture of a local pack listing with shopping ads, where it is highlighting products available locally, but within a local pack style, including a map. This new ad unit is believed to be a display test of Google’s shopping campaign local inventory ad unit as it is not visible by many. 

Mike Blumenthal shared a screenshot showing it in action:

As visible in the map, it shows a thumbnail of the product, along with details such as price and ratings, but it also adds a “Store pickup”, which are presumably shown on the map with the icons. It also appears to expand to “more products nearby.” They are clearly labeled as sponsored. The ad is immediately followed up by another ad with site links, which takes up a fair bit of space and then comes the 3 pack and finally the local organic results below that.

AdWords does have a program called Local Inventory Ads that allow local businesses to highlight their products to searchers located nearby. If your products are shown in the local pack, it might be a good thing. But for those who show organically in the local pack, this might not be such a good thing, especially since regular organic listings would be shown below this sponsored local pack and regular AdWords ads.