Effective use of Geo Targeting in Adwords

As discussed in my last post, although adwords location targeting (Geo Targeting) does have some accuracy issues, there is a definite place for it, if you are on a tight budget and have a product or service which is tied to a specific location. e.g boat trips on the Thames.

But how do you ensure you don’t miss out on the people who, are not in your geographic area at the time of the search but, plan to be in the near future and are researching before their trip?

Geo targeting can be applied at a campaign level which means you can set up complimentary campaigns to target different areas of a country with different keywords and adverts. This is something that we have done with a number of clients to great effect. Reducing their budget significantly while maintaining high sales levels.

This can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. For this example I will explain a simple way of targeting your core market, while not excluding your potential market.

Let’s say that you run a Thames boat trip company and you primarily get business from London residents, but also from UK based tourists coming to the area.

You will need to set up 2 campaigns:

1. London campaign (select the London area within campaign geo targeting settings)

2.UK campaign (Select the whole of the UK)

In campaign 1 you should use terms like “boat trip”, “tourist boat trips” “boat trips on the Thames” as this will only be targeted in the London area.

Campaign 2 should use terms like “London boat trip” “boat trips London”. The key is to remember not to include any references which don’t include the term “London” within the UK campaign and to use non location specific terms in the London campaign.

Again, you can use the adverts copy to better appeal to the different groups as they are likely to have different motivations and needs which will need to be considered.

That is the basic principle of how to target your campaigns to the specific areas without a huge budget. If you have a business with multiple locations then the principles still apply, but the set up will have to be a bit more complex.

Let me know if you have any questions or have examples of good use of this?