Google says the goal of the Place Pages is to “organize all the relevant info” about a specific place—be it a restaurant, local landmark, or even an entire neighborhood—but the pages also create more inventory for the company to run text and display ads, not to mention increase time spent on Google Maps, vs. review sites like Yelp. The Place Pages also include contact info, so searchers can even bypass going to a point of interest’s site itself, if they just want to get driving directions or call for a reservation.

In a related map-based ad development, Google is testing embedding sponsored images right in the maps themselves (via the SMH). The company added landmark and business icons to its maps a few months ago, but they were never sponsored; a spokesperson said the image ads will only be shown to a “small subset of users” in Australia.