Google is taking on South Korea's government, arguing that national-security laws unfairly restrict its map service in the country. The WSJ's Jonathan Cheng explains why.

Why Google Maps Works Better in Pyongyang Than Seoul

THE chance to squeeze some extra advertising dollars is something rarely missed by Google.

This week the company quietly announced changes to two of its most widely used services, offering businesses the chance to pay for featured advertisements in Google.com and Google Maps.

In a blog post, Google senior ads vice president Sridhar Ramaswamy outlined the likely changes to Google Maps that will see users met with pop up ads for local businesses when they use the GPS-based app.

The announcement has been facetiously described online as “the Ad-pocalypse” but Google has shown more tact in their use of language, referring to the ads as “promoted pins”.

“To help advertisers reach consumers searching for physical business locations, we’re introducing new local search ads across Google.com and Google Maps,” Mr Ramaswamy wrote.

“Maps users may start to see promoted pins for nearby coffee shops, gas stations or lunch spots along their driving route.”

Similar pop ups will begin appearing when users make location-based searchers online. Advertisers using location extensions will be able to prominently showcase their business locations when consumers search for things like “shoe store” or “car repair near me”, according to the blog post.

As Google points out, nearly one third of all mobile searches are related to location, so it makes sense for the company to find ways of incentivising business to buy such targeted ad space.

The company said it will strive to ensure the user experience does not become too cluttered with the addition of the ads.

A Google spokesman told Ars Technica the promoted pins will often relate to sales and promotions in the nearby area.

“Promoted pins may appear, depending on whether the store is advertising something at that time. For example, if you open up Maps to find the nearest hardware store, the search results will list your options, and may also feature an ad telling you that the nearby B&Q is having a 10 per cent off promotion,” the spokesman said.