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Google Woos Local Advertisers

Google's $24 billion in revenue last year came almost entirely from AdWords, a self-service system developed 10 years ago to let anyone buy text ads that show up next to search results.But it hasn't clicked with local businesses. Direct sales isn't a new approach for Google in handling large advertisers.

To reach local businesses, Google has already built relationships through Web pages it developed last year for them on its search engine. Known as "Place pages," they list basic information, such as the location on a map and a summary of customer reviews. Google's new sales reps are primarily selling two ad offerings called "tags" and "boost" to the 4 million businesses that have contacted Google electronically to verify the accuracy of their Place page. The ads show up on Google search results and in Google Maps that display local businesses.

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Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »

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