Google has just opened up a substantial swathe of inventory for AdSense, most of which will be filled with local advertising. AdSense has just announced the Maps Ad Unit for mashup developers using the Google Maps API.

The default implementation serves up 2 AdSense text ad units in a box somewhere along the perimeter of the map; tweaking a parameter in the code can serve up only 1 ad unit instead (for smaller maps). You can see an example of the 2-unit at ZipMaps, and a 1-unit at Acme Mapper. In the example to the right, we’ve pinpointed YieldBuild’s ZIP code; the ad served up is to Roy’s, a Hawaiian restaurant not even a block away.

Google Maps mashups are popular—1688 using the API at last count—and are probably a great way to build local advertiser inventory when mobile map advertising, where the real money is, becomes viable.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.