Standard geo-targeting using city, state or Zip code declined from 64% to just 13% in 2012, but campaigns that leveraged precise geo-targeting increased to 55%*
Geo-targeting in PPC advertising is, and will continue to be, an effective way for a company to pinpoint the best leads. I don’t want to teach people to suck eggs, but for those of you who aren’t using geo-targeting; Google AdWords provides you with the ability to focus your campaign by specifying:
· City, Country, Region
· Designated Market Area (DMA)
· Post Code
· Radius around a point
· Location extension targeting
Even if your PPC campaigns are showing results, as a marketer aren’t you always looking for ways to improve your performance and ROI?
Here are some geo-targeting techniques you can use which promise to do just that;
1) Exclude Locations
Not all locations will be relevant to all companies, and AdWords allows advertisers to exclude these locations so ads won’t show there. You run a report to see which locations clicks are coming from, and limit activities in areas with poor lead generation.
2) Use Location Based Bid Adjustments
Optimise performance by increasing or decreasing bids in different locations. Depending on how effective different locations prove to be, bids can be increased or decreased accordingly.
3) Geo-Target an Area With Only Keywords
Some businesses, with a local presence, may find it more beneficial to limit targeting by keyword, as opposed to the location setting. Google AdWords enables companies to create separate campaigns in order to target people searching for a type of company in a specific area, in order to drive more traffic.
4) Have a Mobile Focus
On-the-move audiences are not hard to target thanks to Adwords. Many B2B companies are finding it particularly effective, for instance when targeting buyers at Trade Shows or Events.
5) Weather Permitting
Not as fast as it sounds for B2B companies, but it’s nice to know you can. Using Google scripts, bid adjustments can now be made depending on the weather, and is particularly useful when the weather could impact an audiences searching and purchasing decisions, i.e. business buying additional air-conditioning units in a heat wave.
Hopefully these techniques have given you some insight into how geo-targeting with AdWords can be used more effectively, and hopefully in turn boost your ROI on your marketing efforts.
*http://www.fiercecmo.com/story/mobile-location-targeting-use-increasing/2013-03-08