Google Testing AdWords Express in the UK
Last October, Google launched Boost – an (supposedly) easy way of online advertising for small business owners. While the problems of this marketing tool are not the topic of this post, it has to be mentioned that recently Google decided to re-brand the product and re-named it “AdWords Express”.
A few weeks ago, I noticed a comment by Sheetal_M (a Google employee, responsible for the Boost/AdWords Express customer service) on the Google Places Help Forum, saying that “Google Boost is in a limited beta in the UK” (comment date is 13 July 2011).
I asked Google for confirmation and received the following reply:
We did recently launch AdWords Express in a few cities like (Liverpool and Sheffield) in United Kingdom.
We are introducing AdWords Express to select trial markets. It has been running in the United States since last October. We don’t have any expansion plans we can share at the moment. However, as with all our field trials, we will listen to customer feedback before expanding to other locations.
You should hear from us if AdWords Express expands. Please keep an eye out!
Thanks,
Mirinyo
AdWords Express Team
I haven’t had the chance to confirm that. If someone has business (or client who has) in Liverpool or Sheffield, I’d be interested to hear if they see the AdWords Express option.
Nyagoslav, I have definitely seen the blue balloons but only very occasionally. If you google ‘health and fitness clubs in southend’ there are two. Is this what you are looking for?
Number 1 is a big chain of fitness gyms but, although number 2 shows on the map, there is no additional listing. From its location, I believe that it is a second branch of number 1 and the listing has been live for several months as I noticed it before so I assume it was part of the original Boost option.
Are you saying that the beta is only available in Sheffield or Liverpool now? They are big cities in the North and we are a small town east of London. Maybe these guys paid for a year in advance..? Or maybe because they are UK wide..?
Hey Jo,
Thanks for the example! I am actually rarely seeing local ads because of my IP address (which is neither in the US, nor in the UK). However, as far as I am concerned the two ads with the blue pins that show up for “health and fitness clubs in southend” are actually normal AdWords with geo-location targeting.
I am not sure if it is available only for the areas of Liverpool and Sheffield, but these were the only cities named by the Google employee. I have clients in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, but the AdWords express option is not available for them. Do you have clients/know someone with business in the areas around Liverpool and Sheffield?
Ah, ok, thanks for the clarification. AdWords is very new to me
Am trying to find friends in the areas you mention.
I have actually confirmed with my friend, who also has clients in the UK that the numbered blue balloons are normal AdWords ads. I’ve seen the same in Sweden and Australia searches too.
Please, report back if you find something out Jo
Google Adwords Express just became available on my Google Places account – I’m based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Pretty sure it only became available in the last week or so, as I’d have noticed it before.
Ruth
P.S. I wrote a blog on the pro’s and con’s of Google Adwords Express based on my experiences with poking about over the past couple of days: Are you making the most of Google Places and location based adwords since Google Adwords Express launched?
Ruth
Thanks for the heads up Ruth! I think they are starting to roll them out in many countries in Europe now, as I learnt they are starting in Germany too.