A lot of online marketing specialists are looking for innovative ways to boost the efficiency of their ad campaigns. For instance, companies that have limited budgets make the most out of their PPC activities to ensure that they are not merely flushing money and resources down the drain.
So, although targeting a broad audience might feel a bit tempting, the reality is that your ads do not have to reach everyone in all corners of the world.
All you need to have is a well-planned PPC strategy that will allow you to put your message out the right kind of people.
What is Geo-Targeting?
Local targeting, also known as geo-targeting, is a paid advertising strategy tailored to target an audience in a particular area.
This strategy plays a crucial role when creating highly targeted, highly customized ad campaigns.
Utilizing geo-targeting strategies along with your Google Ads helps you deliver your message much more efficiently to your prospects based on their geographical location.
Why does it matter?
A pay-per-click campaign that is geo-targeted can be a powerful tool that you can add in your digital marketing arsenal.
There are two primary reasons local PPC is advantageous and why it is worth your time and effort:
When crafting your ad copy, you’re taking into account location-specific aspects. For instance, it may contain location-specific terms and keywords that the locals know, which helps resonates with your audience more. Meaning, your message will more likely grab your target audience’s attention.
If your ad is appealing to users, then it will look better in the eyes of Google. As a result, boosting the quality score of your ad because it is one of the primary factors that influence the score through the expected click-through rate.
The higher your quality score will be, the lower your cost-per-click (CPC).
Now, we will move on to the actionable PPC geo-targeting tips that can increase your conversions:
1. Use Google Trends to gain local customer insights
If you are new to digital marketing in general, Google Trends gives you a snapshot of a term’s popularity over the last 12 months.
As an advertiser, you can utilize Google Trends to know when is the best time to run an ad using your target keywords, as well as the locations where your product could click. You will even know which specific keyword is popular by city or region.
Also follow local news, holiday celebrations, and events in your area that can boost the demand for your products and services, and therefore, improve your sales.
Having these insights will let you create ads that are relevant and effective, which results in a better response from your customers.
2. Exclude locations where your prospects are less likely to be
Picking the ideal target location is important, but take note that location exclusion is important to the overall success of your campaign as well.
It helps you make use of your budget wisely. That way, you are not showing your ads with the wrong target audience. It is also an extremely efficient way to avoid high ad rates in high demand target locations.
This exclusion option allows you to prevent your ads from being viewed in particular parts of your target areas, like a city or region within a country.
3. Enable your ad extensions
Ad extensions give a lot of benefits to your advertising campaign. However, for local strategy, these are indispensable.
Here are two of the most popular ad extension types:
Location extensions: Lets you showcase your business, add your phone number, as well as a map of your current location.
Ensure that your account in Google My Business is accurate and concise, and linked to AdWords because location extensions are linked to your Google My Business profile.
Call extensions: Lets you place a phone number on your ad. Whenever your ad shows up, call extensions will give users a phone number that is clickable so that they can contact your company directly. You can also set a schedule to only show your phone number during business hours.
4. Include location-specific landing page on your ads
Beyond geo-specific keywords, AdWords extensions, geo-targeting localized ad messaging, you need to also consider placing custom landing pages on your local PPC campaigns.
Although you have already made the effort of putting your ads out to the right people with the right message, your landing page is where you will convert them.
Therefore, you need to make sure that you add any relevant information on your pages. For instance, a restaurant business may want to show their local address, phone numbers, and other relevant data depending on where a user is located.
5. Speak your prospects’ own language
To be able to effectively target local prospects, you need to be able to speak their language.
By placing words and phrases on your ads that only your local audience knows, it is highly likely that you will be creating a type of messaging that is highly relevant and specific.
So do your research on what local people are talking about and how they are doing it. Start using their language, and write ads that perfectly resonates with them.
6. Test and optimize the campaign
So, now that your ads are up and running, how can you ensure that these will deliver your desired results?
Well, the vital elements of having a successful campaign are testing your ads, measuring the results, and optimizing them.
You can even utilize A/B testing to know which ads perform better, and make necessary changes to your overall campaign.
Final Thoughts
If you are targeting prospects through paid search campaigns, you must ensure that you are not wasting money on unqualified clicks.
Local PPC is a simple and convenient way to decrease inefficient ad spend, making your messaging more relevant to your audience within the specific areas that you target to improve your marketing performance.
So, it is time to go local and boost your marketing results! Keep these tips in mind, and as always, remember to start with the right strategy.
About the Author – Kevin Urrutia is the founder of Voy Media, an ads agency in New York City. Voy Media believes in the power of Facebook advertising in helping businesses to boost their sales and improve their conversions. Voy Media aids businesses to push the right message to the right audience in order to deliver the right outcomes.
