Optimize your Google Ads campaigns with geo-targeting
With Google Ads, you can target your advertising to specific geographical areas and save money on wasted traffic in areas where you don’t offer your services anyway. With a few of these tips for your Ads campaign, you can save some valuable advertising dollars.
Depending on your target audience and type of business, you can choose which customer segments you want your ads to appear to when they search on Google for one of your chosen keywords.
Let’s imagine you have a carpentry business and you only want to get new customers in your local area. The city you operate in is Hillerød. Under your campaign settings in your Ads account, you have the option to specify the cities you want your ads to appear in. You can either choose to specify the cities you want to advertise in or choose radius location, i.e. how far away from Hillerød you want your ads to appear.
Unfortunately, Google’s systems are not always accurate, which means that sometimes your ads will appear in areas you don’t want them to. As people have gradually become better at conducting local searches when they need a carpenter, for example, let’s assume the search is “carpenter aarhus”, it may result in your ad being shown anyway, even if you only want your Ads ads to be shown in North Zealand. I see this error all the time.
This is where negative keywords come in handy. By adding all the cities under negative keywords you don’t want your AdWords ads to appear in and using this method, you can avoid spending valuable ad dollars on areas you don’t drive in anyway.
There are two ways to use geo-targeting in Google Ads:
- Targeted location: You can select specific countries, regions, cities or postcodes where you want your ads to appear.
- Excluded location: You can select specific countries, regions, cities or postcodes where you don’t want your ads to appear.
Once you have selected your geo-targeting criteria, your ads will only be shown to users located in the selected areas.
Benefits of geo-targeting
There are several benefits to using geo-targeting in Google Ads:
- Increased relevance: By targeting users who are located near your business or your target audience, you can ensure your ads are more relevant to them. This can lead to a higher click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate.
- Reduced cost: By limiting where your ads appear, you can reduce your costs. You only pay for clicks from users who are in your targeting areas.
- Improved customer service: By targeting users in your own region or city, you can provide them with a better customer service experience. Your ads can be displayed in the user’s local language and you can offer them local offers and discounts.
Tips for geo-targeting
Here are some tips for using geo-targeting in Google Ads:
- Start with a broad target: When you first start using geo-targeting, you can start with a broad target, such as a country or region. This will allow you to get an idea of how your ads are performing in different areas.
- Try different targeting criteria: Try testing different geo-targeting criteria to see what works best for your business. For example, you could try targeting a specific city or postcode.
- Use exclusion to improve relevance: If you want to focus on certain areas, you can use exclusion to exclude other areas. This can help you ensure that your ads are only shown to the users that are most relevant to your business.
