In this 21st Century, there is a very little percentage of people who have no idea about online maps or Google maps. Google Maps is a web mapping platform that is used by more than a billion people every month around the world. In this article we are going to see Ho Does Google Maps Make Money?
Google has been a highly popular search engine ever since it was released in the world market. The search engine platform has dominated the Internet landscape since 1998. Today, along with Google search engine the company has opened up a long list of Google services such as Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Sheets, Google Chat, Google Meet, Google Alerts, Google Images, Google Scholar, Google News, YouTube, Google Maps is one of them.
So, if we take the Google community as a whole they have hundreds of various platforms working 24 hours and 365 days and generating revenue. But, if we take Google Maps particularly then the use
What is Google Maps?
There are still many people around the world who have very little and no idea of what Google Maps is. Google Maps is simply an online form of mapping platform, this platform offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, traffics, 360-degree interactive panoramic view, and route planning for the consumers traveling by foot, car, trains, busses, or any other public form of transportation.
Google Maps was introduced way back on 8th February 2005. The platform began as a C++ desktop program which was developed by brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen. The initial release of this platform was made later on 23rd September 2008.
Today, this web mapping uses so many programs to run smoothly for consumers all around the world. Additionally, this platform offers an Application Programming Interface (API) that allows the map to be embedded on third-party websites, and also offers a locator for businesses and other business entities around the country.
Currently, Google Maps satellite view or the ‘bird’s eye’ view is the most high-resolution program that is easily used by consumers from all over the world. The interesting part is that the satellite image shown by the platform is no more than three years old because they are updated regularly. Previously, Google Maps used a variant of the Mercator projection, which did not show the accurate result on the areas that were searched.
The Google Maps for Android and iOS devices were released in 2008 and it featured GPS turn-by-turn navigation along with dedicated parking assistance features for both the users of Android and iOS.
How Do Google Maps Make Money?
Google Maps have currently highly dominated the online mapping business for more than a decade. The unique mapping service quickly captured the attraction of consumers around the world. Everybody got used to the fact that the results from Google Maps are excellent, detailed, free, and with no advertisements.
The rising demand for the usage of Google Maps changed the decision of Google to earn or start making serious money from the platform. But, we have very little idea of how exactly Google Maps make or generate revenue. Google Maps primarily uses three types of revenue-generating processes and they are as follows:-
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Local Search Ads Present Within Google Maps
The web mapping platform always allows its consumers to do a local search and quite easily as well. The consumer can zoom in to a city or area or in a specific part of the city for restaurants, hotels, shops, or any other various landmarks.
The advertising in Google Maps works quite the same way as we see in the standard Google search. The paid listing will automatically show at the top which will be tagged as ‘Ad’.
It is an AdSense program created by Google LLC itself. This is a program where interested companies can have advertising on their websites, and it uses Google’s proprietary algorithms based on the Google search activity of the user.
To be eligible to put up advertisements in the Google Maps search, the company has to have its ‘Google My Business Profile’ and must use the ‘location extensions’ that is present in Google Ads. The advertisers will pay only if their advertisements get clicked as per the number of times, similar to the standard of Google Ads.
Branded Map Pins
This is another way where Google is monetizing Google Maps through advertisement revenue by offering business custom branded pins. These custom branded pins feature the logo of the business. Such types of customer-branded pins show just right up on Google Maps, even if the consumer is not looking for specific business entities.
Such a feature in Google Maps does not go for free, they are paid features. In some way, we could call promoted pins for the brands or businesses in the country. Google Map uses a ‘pin’ like a symbol to showcase the exact location of the place that the user is looking for.
Moving to large cities with thousands of businesses, it becomes quite difficult to locate a specific place among the many pins. So, Google Maps steps in by offering the company’s logo instead of using the standard pin. For example, Starbucks pays a fee to Google to have its brand logo or any suitable signature of ‘a cup of coffee’ logo to be embedded in the map for all their outlets. Additionally, the logos that are featured in the Google Maps will be differently colored so that it is easy to spot.
This not only helps expand the business vision, but also expands the user experience, and overall helps generate more revenue. Currently, this process for advertisement has become quite famous as we can see thousands of brands and restaurants while we make a Google Maps search.
Google Maps API
We have discussed above what is an API in Google or the online world. API here stands for an Application Programming Interface (API) which is a connection between different computer programs.
There are many international and national companies that pay Google for Google Maps API service and some of the companies are Uber, The Pokemon Company, Lyft, Snapchat, Accenture, Alibaba Travels, and many more.
The API software used by Google Maps allows two different applications to communicate to each other smoothly. Google Maps sells its API to the above-mentioned businesses and they use it as per their requirement.
Interestingly, Google API can be categorized into three different products and they are:-
- Custom Maps
- Places
- Routes
Custom Maps- These maps are highly customizable maps that can be embedded in the application or any website to enhance the overall user experience by helping the consumer and get the result that the consumer is looking for. These types of Google API or Google Maps are often used by hotels, marketplaces, real estate websites, land-owning websites, and other applications.
Places- This type of API system is used to help the consumers or users to discover points of interest that are on-demand for consumers. This product is highly suitable for varieties of applications and websites that deal with event hosting, trip booking, trip planning, trip cancellation, and many more.
Routes- Routes is quite a comprehensive format, provides up-to-date transit, driving, biking, riding, and walking directions that cover more than 40 million miles of roads in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. This type of API product is often used by Vallie, Appy Parking, Swiggy, and many more. The product is used by those business entities who need to be on the road to deliver products.
Different Partnerships
Every business entity around the world partners with some other business to grow rapidly in the market and the same is with Google Maps. Over the years Google Maps and Google have partnered with several cab companies across the globe. They have partnered with Uber, Lyft, Ola, and many more.
The several partnerships with cab delivery companies have helped the consumers or users to explore different offers from the cab companies within the Google Maps application. If the consumer or user wants to book a cab they are directed to their applications.
Conclusion
As everything is turning digital we all need to keep ourselves updated and so does Google Maps to compete in the market. Google normally does not disclose how much money they make from Google Maps. But, with more than 1 billion users active each month we are pretty sure they do not face loss in any way.
Google Maps have always been ahead of its competitors in both conditions: worldwide and nationally. In its native country, Google Maps has already made more than 150 million, which is six times more than its closest competitor. This proves that Google Maps earns approximately $4.3 billion in revenue a year and that seems to go up each year.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who are the initial inventors of Google Maps?
Answer- The genuine inventors of Google Maps were the Sydney-based developers Brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen. This company co-founded the startup mapping company in 2003.
- Who are the top competitors of Google Maps?
Answer- Many other companies provide the same service like Google Maps and are the competitors of it. Some of them are as follows:-
- Bing Maps
- MAPS.ME
- Navmii
- MapQuest
- Waze
- Sygic Maps
- CityMapper
- What is the estimated profit earned by Google Maps per year?
Answer- Google Maps uses three-four different sources to earn money. As per previous reports, it has been estimated that Google Maps generates revenue with an estimation of $4.3 billion a year. The value is just impressive, but it is just a small part of the Google community.
- How often is Google Maps refreshed or updated?
Answer- The platform is refreshed every second of each day. The map is updated constantly as it collects new information constantly from all over the world.
