Google Tags Are No More

After about a year of testing, Google has decided to get rid of its Tag advertising program for Google Places.

The program allowed advertisers to highlight their organic listings with yellow tags showing offers, photos, videos, menus, reservations, etc. for a monthly fee.

"Tags make your organic business listings stand out on the Google and Google Maps search results page with a bright yellow marker that highlights specific attributes such as offers, videos or photos,” said Google Places Senior Strategist Brianna Brekke said in December, noting that it did not affect the organic ranking of a business listing on Google or Google Maps.

"Since that experiment began, tens of thousands of businesses have used Tags to help potential customers make easier, more informed decisions when searching,” said product manager Shalini Agarwalin a Google blog post. "Throughout this period, we monitored Tags closely to learn more about our users’ business needs and how they used the product.”

"We’ve made a decision to shift our efforts toward other present and future product offerings for local businesses, and will be discontinuing this trial,” added Agarwal. "We’ve learned a lot from our Tags trial and will take that knowledge into account as we continue to find the best ways to serve users and local businesses alike.”

Back in July, Google gave businesses the chance to use Tags free for a month.