Local campaigns and Google Business Profile ads: drive more visits to your location in 2026

In 2026, more consumers than ever are using their smartphones to find, compare and visit local businesses. Searches like "air conditioning installer near me" or "electric folding bike showroom open now" carry enormous commercial intent. Local campaigns and Google Business Profile ads are among the most powerful, yet consistently underestimated tools within Google Ads. This article explains what these campaign types involve, when and for whom they work best, how to set them up correctly, and how AdBrains uses its own AI technology to automatically optimise these local advertising flows for structurally better results.

What are local campaigns and Google Business Profile ads?

Local advertising impact: industry benchmarks 2026

Average results for locally targeted Google Ads campaigns

+34%

more store visits via local campaigns

76%

of mobile searchers visit a business within 24 hours

+28%

higher CTR with Google Business Profile extension

4.2x

higher conversion likelihood for 'near me' searches

Local campaigns were until recently a standalone campaign type within Google Ads, specifically designed to drive offline store visits. Google integrated this campaign type into Performance Max (PMax) in 2023, but the underlying local advertising logic, combining your Google Business Profile data with paid search campaigns, remains fully in effect. Understanding this distinction is essential before building any local strategy.

Google Business Profile ads (also known as Promoted Pins or location extensions in search ads) are ad formats based directly on your Google Business Profile. They display your business name, address, opening hours, phone number and reviews in prominent positions: Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube and the Display Network. When someone searches for a service or product near them, your business appears not just organically on Maps, but also as a sponsored pin or expanded location card above the organic results.

The difference from regular Google search campaigns lies in intent alignment: local ads reach people at the exact moment they are physically nearby or actively searching for a nearby provider. This makes the quality of these impressions significantly higher than a generic national campaign.

How local campaigns work technically

When you set up a local campaign today (via Performance Max with a location objective), you supply Google with a set of assets: headlines, descriptions, images, videos and your Google Business Profile connection. Google combines these automatically and distributes them across its entire network, with the algorithm prioritising placements most likely to drive a store visit or location-related conversion.

The most relevant conversion goals for local campaigns are:

• Store visits: Google estimates, based on GPS data and WiFi signals, whether a user who clicked the ad subsequently visited your physical location.
• Directions: clicks on the directions button in Google Maps or in a location extension.
• Phone calls: direct call actions from the ad.
• Website visits: click-throughs to your website for more information.
• Menu views: specific to hospitality, directly from Google Maps.

Google uses Smart Bidding to automatically optimise for these goals based on historical conversion data, location signals, device type, time of day and even weather conditions. The system continuously learns and adjusts bids to maximise the probability of an actual store visit or phone contact.

Who benefits most from local campaigns?

Local campaigns are ideal for businesses that depend on physical customer contact or serve a geographically defined audience. Think of installation companies, showrooms, gyms, restaurants, hairdressers and service providers who schedule appointments. But e-commerce businesses with a showroom or collection point also benefit significantly.

A concrete example: Clima-Active.nl, which handles air conditioning and heat pump installations, uses local campaigns to generate quote requests from within a 40-kilometre radius of their service locations. Consumers searching for "heat pump installer [city]" or "airco installation [region]" are directed via sponsored Maps pins and location extensions to the right landing page. The result is that incoming requests are geographically relevant, significantly increasing the likelihood of a successful conversion.

E-4motion.com, the webshop for new electric folding bikes, combines local campaigns with test ride requests. Potential buyers searching near their showroom for "electric folding bike test" or "e-bike showroom open today" are invited via local ads to book a test ride. This significantly lowers the barrier to purchase, because the customer can physically experience the product first.

Connecting Google Business Profile to Google Ads: step by step

1. Claim and verify your Google Business Profile via business.google.com. Ensure all basic information is complete: address, opening hours, categories and an up-to-date profile photo.
2. Link your Google Business Profile to your Google Ads account via the "Linked accounts" section in Google Ads settings. Select "Google Business Profile" and complete the verification process.
3. Activate location extensions (now called "location assets" in the new Google Ads interface) at account or campaign level. Google will then automatically pull data from your Business Profile.
4. Set geographic targeting that matches your service area. Use a targeting radius around one or more addresses, or target specific postal codes and cities.
5. Add call extensions so mobile users can call directly from search results or Maps.
6. Configure conversion tracking for store visits, phone calls and directions in Google Ads.
7. Upload high-quality imagery to your Business Profile: exterior, interior, products and team members. This material is also used in local ads.

Performance Max with local focus: the current best practice

Key benefits of local campaigns by channel

Share of advertisers reporting a positive impact per placement

Google Maps

91%

Google Search

87%

YouTube (local)

74%

Google Display Network

68%

Gmail (local)

59%

Since Google merged the standalone local campaign type into Performance Max, a PMax campaign with strong local settings is now the most effective way to advertise locally. The key lies in correctly configuring asset groups, audience signals and conversion goals.

Use separate asset groups per region or per location. This allows Google to show relevant combinations of ad copy and images for each location that specifically connect with the local audience. An asset group for the Amsterdam region will have different headlines than one for Rotterdam, even if the products or services are identical.

Add audience signals based on local user characteristics: people who recently visited your website, or users who visited similar local businesses. This accelerates the algorithm's learning process and improves the quality of impressions in the early stages of the campaign.

A clear overview of the most relevant measurement points for local campaigns:

Businesses using Enhanced Conversions and server-side tracking see on average 23% more conversions recorded in their account. This directly improves Smart Bidding performance, because the algorithm receives more and higher-quality signals to base its bids on.

How AdBrains AI automatically optimises local campaigns

Manual management vs. AdBrains AI for local campaigns

What differs in practice?

Manual management

• Manually adjusting bids per location
• Periodically checking Google Business Profile connection
• Manually tracking opening hours and promotions
• No real-time response to seasonal peaks
• Limited insight into store visit conversions
• Ad Strength improvement based on own assessment
• Risk of budget waste outside opening hours

AdBrains AIAdBrains AI

• Automatic location bid optimisation via Smart Bidding
• Daily sync with Google Business Profile data
• AI detects promotion windows and adjusts budgets
• Real-time peak management based on conversion signals
• Enhanced Conversions enriches store visit data
• RSA improvement system rewrites local ad copy
• Budget automatically shifted to opening hours

Local campaigns are precisely the domain where manual management quickly falls short. Opening hours change, promotions run throughout the week, and the geographic spread of conversions shifts with the seasons. AdBrains has developed a set of AI modules specifically aimed at continuously improving local ad performance, without requiring daily manual attention.

First, the automatic tCPA/tROAS optimisation system adjusts the bidding strategy daily based on current conversion volume per location. When Clima-Active.nl sees a spike in quote requests in a particular region, the AI automatically shifts budget to that region to capitalise on the peak period. Conversely, budgets are scaled back in regions where demand temporarily decreases, maintaining overall return on investment.

Second, the AdBrains AI syncs daily with the Google Business Profile data of our clients. If opening hours are updated, a new location is added, or a temporary closure is registered, the system automatically processes this change in the active campaigns. Manual management often overlooks these updates, resulting in ads running outside opening hours and budget being wasted at times when no follow-up is possible.

Third, our RSA improvement system ensures higher-quality local ad copy. The system analyses the Ad Strength scores of all active Responsive Search Ads and automatically rewrites ad copy with a POOR status. For local campaigns, this means headlines with the city name, region-specific unique selling points and local urgency signals are continuously tested and improved.

AdBrains' multi-agent verification system checks every optimisation decision before it is executed. Four independent AI agents assess whether a proposed change, such as a large budget shift or a geographic targeting adjustment, is genuinely in line with the campaign strategy and the client's objectives. This prevents the system from making errors that occur regularly in manual management but are noticed much later.

For E-4motion.com, test ride requests via local campaigns serve as the primary conversion objective. The AdBrains AI monitors daily which search terms near the showroom lead to test ride requests, and automatically adds irrelevant terms as negative keywords through automated search term mining. This keeps the budget focused on people genuinely interested in a new electric folding bike, not those searching for spare parts or second-hand alternatives.

Finally, our server-side signal enrichment enriches the conversion data of local campaigns with first-party CRM signals. When a quote request from Clima-Active.nl actually results in an installation order, this signal is sent back to the Google Ads system via our sGTM infrastructure. Smart Bidding then receives not only the signal that a conversion occurred, but also that it was a high-quality, valuable conversion. The result is that the algorithm learns to optimise for leads that actually become customers, rather than all form submissions.

Frequently asked questions about local campaigns and Google Business Profile ads

What is the difference between a local campaign and a Performance Max campaign?

The standalone local campaign type that previously existed in Google Ads has been integrated into Performance Max. When you set up a PMax campaign with a Google Business Profile connection and store visits as a conversion goal, that campaign effectively functions as a local campaign. The difference lies in the level of control: with a traditional search campaign you decide exactly which keywords to bid on, while with PMax you let Google determine placements based on assets and signals. For local objectives, PMax is the currently recommended approach.

Does my business need a physical location for local campaigns?

In most cases, yes. Local campaigns are designed to drive traffic to a physical location, such as a shop, showroom, office or service address. Businesses without a fixed location can still use location-targeted advertising via regular search campaigns with geographic targeting, but the specific benefits of Google Business Profile ads, such as Maps integration and store visit conversions, will not be available. If you have a service area (like a plumber or installer who visits clients at home), you can set a service area in Google Business Profile without displaying a specific address.

How long does it take for local campaigns to show results?

Like other campaigns running on Smart Bidding, local campaigns need a learning period. Allow at least two to four weeks before the algorithm has collected enough conversion data to optimise structurally. During the learning period, results are often less stable. Ensure sufficient budget and conversion goals to accelerate the learning process. AdBrains launches new local campaigns in a controlled test environment to keep the learning period as short as possible without unnecessary budget waste.

Can I combine local campaigns with remarketing?

Absolutely. Remarketing is a powerful complement to local campaigns. People who previously visited your website but did not convert can be reached again via remarketing with a local ad reminding them of your physical presence nearby. AdBrains manages RLSA audiences (Remarketing Lists for Search Ads) automatically, including weekly updates to audience segments. This makes it possible to approach visitors who already showed interest with an extra nudge to visit your showroom or office.