New Adwords link to Google Places means you need to be top 3 or nowhere

Recently I posted about how Google Local Places was revamped giving a larger share of screen space to those listings which had optimised their local listings. One of the results of this was that the local places map image was moved to the right of the Google screen, causing Adwords ads from positions 4 onwards to be moved downwards and quite likely resulting in a lower CTR.

This week has seen the upgrading of the link between Adwords ads and the local map - as seen in the image above the number one listing has a blue balloon next to it which is also shown on the map. No doubt this prominent link will cause even highest CTRs for the well optimsed ad(s) within the first three positions. This will also create a further gap in performance between positions three and four- i,e pre and post map making competition for those first three spots more intense..