Google is testing a swipeable location carousel within its search ads — a small interface tweak with potentially outsized implications for multi-location businesses, franchise operators, and the agencies that manage their campaigns. The feature, spotted in the wild and first reported by Search Engine Land, lets users swipe horizontally through multiple business locations directly inside a single ad unit, rather than clicking through to a landing page or map to find a nearby store.
It’s the kind of change that doesn’t make headlines outside the search marketing world. But for the advertisers spending billions annually on Google’s local ad products, the design shift signals where the company is headed: more engagement, more information density, and less reason for a user to ever leave the search results page.
What the Test Looks Like — and What It Means
The carousel format appears below a standard search ad creative. Each card in the swipeable row displays a different store location, complete with address details, making it easy for a user to browse nearby options without additional taps. Think of it as location extensions on steroids — a richer, more visual, and more interactive way to surface store proximity data right at the moment of commercial intent.
Google has not officially announced the feature. That’s typical. The company runs hundreds of ad format experiments at any given time, and only a fraction graduate to general availability. But the pattern here is consistent with a broader strategic direction Google has pursued aggressively over the past two years: collapsing the distance between a search query and a transaction.
Consider the trajectory. Google has steadily expanded its local ad inventory — from location extensions and local campaigns to Performance Max campaigns with store visit goals. Each iteration has added more location-specific data directly into the ad unit itself. The swipeable carousel is a logical next step, one that borrows the familiar mobile interaction pattern users already know from Instagram stories and product shopping carousels.
For multi-location retailers and restaurant chains, the implications are significant. Currently, if a brand like Starbucks or CVS runs a search ad with location extensions, the ad typically shows one nearby location — maybe two. A user who wants to compare distances or check which location is closest has to click through to Google Maps or the brand’s store locator page. That’s friction. And in mobile advertising, friction kills conversions.
The carousel format removes that friction. A user can swipe through three, four, maybe five locations in a single gesture. No extra clicks. No page loads. No waiting.
Short and sweet: it keeps users inside Google’s interface longer while giving advertisers more surface area to convert.
That dual benefit is no accident.
Google’s Larger Play for Local Ad Dollars
Google’s advertising revenue hit $237.86 billion in 2023, according to Alphabet’s earnings filings. A meaningful and growing share of that comes from local-intent queries — searches like “coffee near me,” “tire shop open now,” or “pharmacy 24 hours.” These are among the highest-converting queries in all of search advertising because the user’s intent is immediate and geographically specific.
The company has been locked in an intensifying battle for local ad spending with Meta, TikTok, Amazon, and even Apple, which quietly launched its own search ads product in Apple Maps. Google’s response has been to make its local ad formats more engaging, more data-rich, and harder for advertisers to ignore.
The swipeable location carousel fits neatly into this strategy. By giving brands a more compelling way to showcase multiple locations, Google creates a format that’s inherently more useful for large advertisers — the ones with the biggest budgets. A single-location pizza shop doesn’t need a carousel. A national pizza chain with 5,000 locations absolutely does.
And that’s the business logic. Formats that serve enterprise advertisers tend to drive higher CPCs and larger campaign budgets. Google knows this. Every new ad format it launches is designed to capture more spend from the advertisers who have the most to spend.
There’s also a defensive component. As AI-powered search experiences from competitors like Microsoft’s Bing Chat and emerging startups like Perplexity begin to chip away at Google’s search monopoly, the company has every incentive to make its ad products stickier and more performant. If advertisers see better engagement metrics from a carousel format — higher click-through rates, more store visits, lower cost per acquisition — they’re less likely to shift budget elsewhere.
The timing matters too. Google’s push into AI Overviews, its generative AI search feature, has raised questions about where ads will appear in an AI-first search experience. A swipeable location carousel is the kind of visually distinct, interactive format that could coexist naturally alongside AI-generated search results without feeling intrusive. It’s advertising that functions as utility — giving users information they actually want in a format that’s easy to consume.
Search marketers who spoke about the test on X noted that the format could significantly change how location-based bidding strategies work. If multiple locations are surfaced in a single ad impression, how does Google attribute a click? Does each location card count as a separate interaction? These are granular but critical questions for campaign managers optimizing toward store visit conversions.
Google hasn’t provided answers yet. Which is itself telling — the company tends to stay quiet about attribution mechanics until a format is closer to broad rollout.
For agencies managing large franchise accounts, the carousel also raises questions about creative control and location prioritization. Will advertisers be able to choose which locations appear in the carousel? Will Google’s algorithm decide based on proximity, store ratings, or some other signal? The answers will determine whether this format is a boon for sophisticated advertisers or a black box that limits their control.
What Comes Next
History suggests Google will iterate on this test for weeks or months before making a decision. Some experimental formats — like the scrollable product carousel in Shopping ads — have become permanent fixtures. Others quietly disappear.
But the direction is clear. Google is betting that richer, more interactive ad formats will keep both users and advertisers engaged. The swipeable location carousel is a small piece of a much larger effort to make search ads feel less like ads and more like answers.
For multi-location brands, the advice from search marketing professionals is straightforward: make sure your Google Business Profile data is clean, your location extensions are properly configured, and your store information is accurate and up to date. If the carousel rolls out broadly, the brands with the best location data will benefit the most. Garbage in, garbage out — that principle hasn’t changed in twenty years of search marketing.
And for the rest of the industry? Pay attention. The small tests are where Google tips its hand. A swipeable carousel today could be the default local ad format tomorrow. The companies that prepare early will have an edge. The ones that wait for the official announcement will be playing catch-up.
That’s how it always works with Google. By the time something is official, the smart money has already moved.
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