AdWords Geotargeting Keys

One of the most powerful parts of Google is that it allows you target specific countries, regions, states, or even a specific neighborhood.  

Here's are some ads that appears when you type-in "Restaurants NYC:"

 

Notice that the first ad has a specific street address at the bottom.  This ad has targeted a specific neighborhood/area.  The second ad has targeted New York City and the final ad is not using local geotargeting.

In addition, I am not in New York City or anywhere close to it.  Yet, I was able to trigger local ads.  This is because Google doesn't always follow geotargeting guidelines.  They're most interested in serving relevant ads.

Since I typed in "NYC," in my search query, Google figured I wanted local ads.  

If I were traveling to New York City, this could be a good thing for merchants.  If not, this could be a waste of money for the advertiser.

And, even if I were traveling to New York City and looking for restaurants to eat at, it's not going to be right away and so I could easily change my mind.  As a local business, you need to be aware of this and address this concern in your landing page.  You must have reasons or systems in place to capture outside visitors and encourage them to follow-through.  Be aware that not all visitors are looking for an immediate solution.

At the same time, if you just type in "Restaurants," then only local ads appear.  Although the geotargeting can still be off to a small degree, it largely works as directed. 

If you don't want your ads to show in a specific area within an area you targeted, Google allows you to exclude them:

 

So, if I wanted my ads to show in the United States, but not Alaska, I can specify this.

This then leads to the question, who exactly should be using geotargeting?

Just about everybody will probably want to target specific countries.  

A tool Google provides to help you decide what countries or regions you want to target is at:

• http://www.google.com/insights/search/#

For more specific region or local targeting, Google's most interested in serving relevant ads to local searchers.

If you don't have a local business or local solution, then you might cater to them by creating specific landing pages targeted for a state or cities.  For instance, if you sell an e-book on dog training, then your landing page might incorporate local information about local solutions on it.

Finally, it's also may be a good idea to separate the different areas you're targeting into separate campaigns so you can more easily track the response.  For instance, if you get lots of traffic from the U.S. and Canada, then you may create separate campaigns for each.