It is easy to take advantage of Google’s geographic targeting options to lower your CPC and increase conversions. Here is how.
Getting started
Click on the campaign you want to use for geographic targeting and then the Settings tab.
Underneath “Targeted locations” click on “Edit”
Here you can either start typing…
Or you can click on “Show map”.
Either way you’ll still have the same options to choose from. I’m going to click on “show map”. If you originally chose to target all countries and territories or all of the UK, delete them from the list. Because the antiques stores are based in Derby and Nottingham, those are the first two places I am going to add.
Although the stores are based in the city centres, that doesn’t mean only people who live within the city boundaries will want to come. Looking at the map, there is a massive catchment area nearby as well. Click on “Nearby” to get suggestions on more areas you can target.
Alternatively, you can choose to target a radius.
Type in the central point and then how far out you want to reach. E.g.
Once you are happy with everything, click on “Done”.
Additionally, Google has three targeting methods and two exclusion methods. To see these, in “Settings” click on “Advanced location options”.
The default setting is, in my opinion, the best one. Here people using your target keywords within your specified location AND using it in their search will be shown your advert. For example, if I bid on the keyword “Antiques store” and have targeted Nottingham, someone in London searching for “Nottingham antiques store” will see my advert.
If you want to just show adverts to a geographic region regardless of the keywords used, choose “Target using physical location: Device-based location signal”. If you want it to be based exclusively on the keywords used, choose “Target using search intent: Location terms in user queries”.
My campaign is now set-up to only show adverts to people searching for my products within reach of my stores, or who are searching specifically for the products I sell in the area I am based.