By specifying a location, or series of locations, you can make sure that your ads are only being seen by people who are actually physically near your business. This ensures that your money is always going to the right place.

This guide will show you how to do that in Google Ads. We’ll cover:

• Why and how to use geotargeting (other than just to save money!)
• How to set up a geotargeting campaign in Google Ads
• 10 tips on how to maximize your local PPC performance.

Let’s get started!

Why & how to use geotargeting for local PPC

Google Ads defaults to all countries and regions when a campaign is first created. At least some form of geotargeting is necessary for businesses – even if it is only broad targetting. There are also other benefits to geotargeting that we should consider.

Save money

One of the main advantages of geotargeting is that it can help you to avoid wasting money on advertising to people who might be interested in your products or services, but who live outside of the area you serve. You can target a wide or narrow range of people with your ads. For example:

• An online retailer might target the entire US, or only states with major cities.
• A chain of nursing homes in New England can target only those states.
• A home service business can target the specific neighborhoods they serve.

You can also exclude locations dominated by a competitor.

The Google Ads Performance Grader can help you save money by finding ways to improve your campaign performance.

Deliver super-personalized experiences

You can make your PPC more relevant to a local audience by tailoring it to local events or using language that is familiar to them. An example of this would be if you are aware of an upcoming concert in your town, you could create a special promotion for your restaurant that is close by.

Segment to reach the right person

If you are a landscaper whose ideal customers are wealthy estate owners, then you are in the right market. Geotargeting allows you to target specific areas, like affluent neighborhoods, when advertising. Some industries may not be able to use both demographic and location targeting together.

Get your timing right

Geotargeting can be used to improve the timing of your ads. Geofencing refers to the practice of serving particular ads to people based on their location. Typically, this is done by serving ads to people when they enter or exit a geographic boundary. This could be useful if there is a week-long conference going on near your business.

Test out new markets

Try running cheaper campaigns in new areas and see how well you do. If you end up doing well, then create more ads that focus on the bottom of the funnel. Geotargeting is only available to be used as a campaign setting, meaning it can only be changed or set at the campaign level and not at the ad set or ad level. You can learn about how you would do in a new market by separating your locations into campaigns.

Align with consumer trends

Geotargeting is a win-win. You’ll not only save money, but this is also what consumers want! According to research:

• 80% percent of consumers say that they would like to get location-based alerts from businesses.
• 70% of consumers say that they are willing to share their location if they get something valuable in return.
• 61% of smartphone owners prefer to buy from sites that customize information for their location.

You can improve your PPC strategy by making it more personalized and focused on local consumers. This can help you save money while providing a better experience for your customers.

10 Tips to Maximize Your Advertising ROI with Geotargeting

Geotargeting can help improve your Quality Score, the percentage of times your ad is shown, and the number of clicks on your ad. Here are 10 of my top geotargeting tips to improve your performance across the board.

1. Double-check your location options

There is one thing to be aware of when you are configuring your geotargeting. The blue Location options tab allows you to target by Presence (people in or regularly in your targeted locations), Search interest (people searching for your targeted locations) or both.

If you’re not careful, Google can easily make your ads show to people who are in, or have show interest in, your target locations.

For some businesses, this is ideal. A senior living facility can for example show ads to adults who don’t live in, but frequent a particular area to visit their parents.

This can lead to locations appearing in your locations report that you don’t want to target.

This means that you would want to target people who live in Miami. If the first option is selected, your ad may be shown to someone in Boston who is frequently looking up attractions in Miami, indicating that they may be planning a vacation to the city.

2. Keep an eye on granular location metrics

To see which locations are generating the most web traffic, click on the “Locations” tab in the second navigation column. Here you can view clicks, impressions, average CPC, and average position for each of your specified locations.

It is important to understand where you will get the greatest return on investment.

3. Seek out and implement location-based negatives

You can use the Search Terms Report to see which keywords searches triggered your ads. If you see that keywords from outside of your target locations are causing your ads to show up, you can exclude those keywords by selecting the checkbox next to them, then clicking “Add as a negative keyword.”

If you want to stop your ads from being shown when someone searches for “new cars Boston,” add “Boston” to your list of negative keywords. To view the Search Terms Report, go to the Campaigns tab, click Keywords, select Details, then choose All from the drop-down menu.

4. Target competitors

If you have a lot of competitors, it’s a good idea to stay in front of customers who are considering other options. You need to identify your main competitors and figure out where they are located.

The theory:

The campaigns are designed to attract new customers who are interested in your product or service and who are located near a competitor that could cause you to lose that sale.

Eighty percent of shoppers surveyed by DMI used their mobile phones while inside of a physical store to do things like look up product reviews, compare prices, or find alternative store locations. When you are creating your own strategy for where your competitors are located, you are looking to satisfy the last two searches.

The build:

You will have a greater chance of being seen by your competitors when they are low in your search funnel if you target them with a radius.

Use the most successful non-branded keywords for this campaign, and use promotional or price-competitive copy if it is available. This audience is the one to appeal to if you have online coupons.

5. High-competition cities and regions

If you’re not sure about using aggressive tactics, you can try targeting your competitor’s city or region. This way, you can focus on your branded terms, as well as other important keywords.

The theory:

This approach may appeal to:

1. those customers who have brand awareness of your competitors (and not you);
2. customers who know you, but are inundated with competitor awareness; and/or
3. customers who are searching for products/services you offer, but due to the competitor’s close range, may just as easily turn to them instead of you.

The build:

You may want to conduct your own market research to find out where the competition is the most intense. If that is the case, base your decision more on what the numbers are telling you as they are likely to take into account more than just paid search. Even if you don’t usually analyze your campaigns in this way, you can still use geographic targeting to improve your campaigns. For example, you could use geographic targeting for a New York search campaign.

Auction insights reports can show you which competitors might be taking your customers in a given region. Pushing for more branded and non-branded coverage will allow you to prioritize where you want your product to be seen.

6. Target complementary behavior

You can also use geographic targeting to improve your chances of being found by prospects who are looking for goods and services like yours. Geographic targeting can help you not only find customers, but also improve your chances of being found by prospects. As your business grows, part of your strategy should be to incorporate your product or service into a broader view. This means finding complementary offers by using behavior (or more so, location).

The theory:

Your potential customer does not operate in a vacuum. The implication is that when they go get coffee in the morning, they might also want to get a snack. When someone is shopping for birthday party supplies, it is quite likely they may also need plates, napkins and even a piñata. You can target new locations by thinking about how your product or service can be complemented by another.

The build:

Visitors to home improvement stores may need the services of a plumbing and electric company. You can target regions near your businesses and stores where shower bases are being purchased in a campaign targeting “shower base installation.”

If you focus on providing the services that your business offers to people within a certain radius target, you will be able to appeal to customers who are interested in what you have to offer and are more likely to use your services.

7. Retargeting to the max

One last way to use geotargeting is to target your audience using lists from previous tactics. Retargeting lists allow you to engage with past visitors and improve conversion rates. By adding retargeting lists to competitor locations and complementary behavior targets, you can reduce CPAs.

The theory:

A good time to remind your users that you’re still in business and ready to provide the service they’re interested in is when they’re considering using another company.

The first five strategies can all help with your branding and getting new customers, but for people who have already been to your site, the investment is more likely to pay off: They’ve seen your site and might be interested in your product or service.

This additional layer of interest in your offerings can be the last piece to drive conversion.

The build:

You can start to see data about your past visitors in different groups by adding remarketing audiences to your strategies. After you identify the areas where top performance lies, you may want to adjust your bid modifiers to increase or decrease traffic from these sources.

The goals and performance may mean that a different campaign would work better, with different messages, ads, and budgeting, for these users.

8. Include regional terms in your keyword lists

Think of this as icing on the geotargeting cake. Geotargeting will target customers based on their location, but adding location-based keywords will make it more effective. This will be in addition to your ad copy and will likely match the searcher’s query.

If you include regional terms in your keywords, you will improve your quality score, since your keywords will be more relevant. If you want to make sure that your website appears in local search results, try using a term that includes your location. For example, instead of just searching for “best contractors,” try searching for “contractors in Boston.” People who are searching for local businesses are likely to include their location in their search query.

9. Include the name of your target location in your ad copy

It is considered best practice to use local PPC so your viewers instantly know that you cater to their location. If you can manage to fit this text into a headline, it would be a bonus, because the ad text that accompanies it will appear in bold. The ad is more likely to be noticed by locals if it is designed to look like a listing from a local source.

Most people who are searching for something online are looking for items that are near them. If you use geotargeted keywords in your ad, it will be more relevant to your audience. This is because you are using a best practice by including the keyword in the headline. Increasing your relevancy will make your ad appear higher on the search engine results page.

10. Use location extensions and call extensions

Ads that include location extensions display the business’ address, while ads with call extensions show a phone number. Including ad extensions in your search ad strategy is beneficial because they take up more space on the SERP and are more likely to catch your audience’s attention.

People searching for local information are looking for immediate information while they are on the go in your targeted location. Adding these two types of ad extensions specifically designed for local businesses will make it easier for customers in the area to find and contact your business.

Final thoughts

Geo-targeting your marketing strategy lets you approach new and returning customers in a different way.