It should come as no surprise that one of the most common uses for a mobile phone these days is to search for local information. In the US, nearly 95% of smartphone users have reported that they’ve used their phone in such a way.

In an effort to enable advertisers to connect with potential customers through mobile search more efficiently, Google has redone the local ads formats on their mobile Maps application. So far, the testing on these new formats has increased CTR by up to 100%.

Some of the improvements made include, making the “get directions” and “click to call” calls to action more prominent within advertisements, a marker to show how close the searcher is to the advertisers business, and allowing for clicks to open the website within the Maps application instead of opening up a new browser app.

The update is being rolled out starting today on Android devices only (as Apple is dropping Google Maps on future iOs releases). For more information, click here.