A location asset adds your business address to a Google ad, usually with the distance from the searcher, a link for directions and a call button. It takes the address from your Google Business Profile, so your ads and your map listing always show the same details.
How location assets work
You link your Business Profile to Google Ads, then add the location asset at account or campaign level. Google pulls the address, phone number and other details from the profile; you cannot type an address into the asset itself. If you have several branches, you can include all of them or filter by the labels you have set in the Business Profile, so a campaign for your Islington branch shows only that address.
The address appears as it is held in the profile, in the standard UK format: number and street, town or city, then the full postcode (the outward code, such as N1, followed by the inward code). Mistakes in the profile, such as a missing inward code or an old street name, are repeated in every ad.
Like other ad assets, a location asset is not guaranteed to show. Google decides in each auction whether it is likely to help, and it tends to appear when the searcher is nearby or the search has local intent. Location assets also make your ads eligible to appear as ads on Google Maps.
Brands that sell through other retailers use a different asset, the affiliate location asset, which points people to stockists rather than your own premises.
Why it matters
For a business people visit, such as a dental practice in Clapham, a café, a garage or a showroom, the address and distance answer the searcher’s first practical question: how far away is it. An ad with an address takes up more space on the page and offers two extra ways to act, directions and calling, and Google reports those interactions separately.
A request for directions is a fair sign that someone intends to visit, though not proof that they did. For a business whose sales happen on the premises, those signals are often a better guide to an ad’s value than website conversions alone.
Common mistakes
- Leaving an old address or postcode in the Business Profile after a move, so the ads send people to the wrong place.
- Linking a Business Profile that the business does not control, such as one set up by a former agency, and then losing access to it.
- Expecting a location asset to work for a service-area business that hides its address. Without a visible address there is nothing to show; a call asset is the better choice.
- Leaving closed or temporarily shut branches in the profile, so the asset offers directions to a locked door.
- Pairing the asset with location settings that reach people far beyond the distance customers will travel, so the distance shown puts them off.
How to act on it
Check the Business Profile first: verified, correct address with the full postcode, correct phone number and owned by a Google account the business controls. Then link it in Google Ads, add the location asset at account level so every relevant campaign can use it, and filter by label if branches run separate campaigns.
After a few weeks, segment your campaign report by click type to see how many people asked for directions or called from the ad. Pair the asset with location targeting that matches how far your customers actually travel. Location assets are part of how I set up Google search campaigns for any business with premises customers visit.