Geotargeting Strategies to Increase Your Google Ads ROI

I have both good and bad news.
The bad news is that every advertising has a budget that they must adhere to.
The good news is that you can stick to your budget by being picky about where your money goes Literally.
We’re talking about geotargeting.
Geotargeting is a type of location-based targeting that allows your adverts to appear exclusively to customers in a specific physical area,
or group of locations, that you designate.
That way, your money is always going to the appropriate location.
In this post, I’ll teach you how to do just that in Google Ads. We’ll go over:
Why and how to use geotargeting (apart from saving money!)
How to Create a Google Ads Geotargeting Campaign
advice on how to improve your local PPC performance
Let’s get this party started!
Why and how to use geotargeting for local PPC

When you first establish a campaign in Google Ads, it is set to all countries and regions by default.
Last time I checked, no business was a good fit for every single person on the planet,
so you should choose at least some type of geotargeting—even if it’s as broad as it can go.
However, there are some additional advantages to geotargeting that we’d like to discuss.
Save money

The most obvious reason for geotargeting is to prevent spending ad spend
on consumers who may be eligible for your services but do not live in an area you serve.
And this targeting can be as broad or as specific as you require. As an example:
An online shop may choose to target the entire United States or select states with significant cities.
A nursing facility network in New England can only serve those states.
A home service company might focus on the specific neighborhoods that they serve.
Locations controlled by a competitor can also excluded.
Deliver super-personalized experiences

You can tie your product to local events or use language that resonates with that audience by using geotargeting for local PPC.
For example, if you are aware of a concert in your town, you may like to conduct a special promotion for your neighbouring restaurant.
Segment to reach the right person

Assume you’re a landscaper with a target market of affluent estate owners.
You may use geo-targeting to target the more affluent sections of a specific region.
(Please keep in mind that some industries may be unable to combine demographic and geographical targeting.)
Get your timing right

When it comes to timing, you might think about ad scheduling, but geotargeting can also help.
You can offer specific adverts to consumers when they enter or exit a geographic boundary, which is known as geofencing.
This could be handy if a week-long conference is taking place near your place of business.
Test out new markets

Run low-budget campaigns in new places to test the waters, and if you do well, generate more lower-funnel advertising.
It’s important to remember that geotargeting is only available at the campaign level.
So, if you want to see how you would perform in a new market, divide your locations by campaign.
Align with consumer trends

Geotargeting is a win-win situation.
You not only save money, but this is also what customers want! According to studies:
80% of consumers say they would want to get location-based alerts from businesses.
70% of consumers are willing to give their location provided they receive something beneficial in return.

61 percent of smart-phone owners prefer to buy from websites that provide personalized information based on their location.
In short, you’re taking your local PPC campaign to the next level to provide consumers with a personalized,
local-friendly experience while also saving money!
How to set up geotargeting in Google Ads

To use geotargeting in Google Ads,
first select the campaign you want to target,
then go to the Settings page and scroll down to the Locations section.
Click the Search bar, begin typing your chosen location, then choose it from the drop-down menu of appropriate matches.
Country, region , city, postal code, and even specific airports are all options.
If you select Advanced Search, taken to a separate pop-out box with three more options:
Add: this location added to your list of targeted locations.
Exclude: This option stops your advertising from appearing in this location.
Nearby & Related Locations: creates a list of nearby regions that you may want to include.
When you choose a region, Google Ads will show you a map with the targeted area highlighted.

If you choose numerous regions, they will all display on a list, and you may zoom out the map to see them all.
Tips to maximize your local advertising ROI with geotargeting

Geotargeting helps improve KPIs such as your Quality Score, impression share, and click-through rate.
Here are some of my favourite geotargeting suggestions to help you increase your overall performance.
Double-check your location options

There is one detail to keep in mind when configuring your geotargeting.
When you click on the blue Location choices tab, you can target people based on the Presence
Search interest or both.
Google can be sly by defaulting to the top option:
showing to persons in, regularly in, OR expressing interest in your targeting places.
This is perfect for some firms.
For example, a senior living facility may show advertisements to adults
who do not reside in the region but frequently visit their parents.
However, in some situations, this can result in areas that you don’t want to target appearing in your location’s report.
Assume you simply want to reach out to Miami locals.
If the first option is selected, your ad may appear for someone in Boston who is planning a trip to Miami.
2. Keep an eye on granular location metrics

Click on the Locations tab in the second navigation column to see which locations producing the most traffic.
Standard statistics such as clicks, impressions, average cost-per-click (CPC), and average position can viewed here for each of your defined places.
Critical for determining where you will obtain the best ROI.
3. Seek out and implement location-based negatives

To find out which keyword searches triggered your adverts, use the Search Terms Report.
If you discover that keywords from outside your target locations are activating your advertising,
you can exclude them by checking the box next to them and then selecting Add as a negative keyword.
For example,
if you own a car dealership in Chicago but your advertising is being activated by searches for “new cars Boston,”
add the word “Boston” to your negative keyword list to prevent subsequent searches for Boston from triggering your advertisements.
To get the Search Terms Report, navigate to the Campaigns page, then click Terms,
then Details, and then pick All from the drop-down box to view the report for all keywords in the campaign.
4. Use bid adjustments to lower CPA

If you utilize a manual bidding approach,
you can use bid adjustments to pay Google more or less per click when you show to a person in a specified location.
You’ll see a bid adjustment column in the Locations section where you can add a negative
or positive percentage to your original keyword bids for the selected location.
For example, if you know you’re more or less likely to earn a high return from consumers
in a given city or state, clicks from those places may be worth various amounts to you.
Bid modifications allow you to fine-tune your original keyword bid.
This will allow you to get the most bang for your buck
(in other words, lower your CPA)
by avoiding costly clicks from less popular locations your business caters to while still ranking for your priority places.
5. Don’t be afraid to be picky

It’s always a good idea to keep in mind that PPC spending comes out of your own pocket.
So, put in compensated efforts with that in mind at all times.
That instance, if you ship all over the country but only get sales from a few cities,
only geotarget those cities—and let your organic listings handle the less valuable stragglers from the rest of the country.
It can be tempting to “cast a wide net,”
but by taking a step back and prioritizing your top-performing spots, you can reduce costs without sacrificing conversions.
6. Don’t forget to exclude certain locations

You don’t have to go wild omitting every area that is not geotargeted—
that would defeat the purpose!
However, if you have a certain site that is either close to your goal or is a red-flag (or disapproval)
issue if you have ever shown up there, you should cover your butt and exclude it ahead of time.
7. Use Google Trends to inform your geotargeting strategy

Google’s search interests vary all the time.
Furthermore, as a result of the epidemic, consumer preferences and requirements have evolved substantially.
Google Trends is a tool that displays people’s interest in a specific keyword or topic within a specific geographic area.
As a result, you’ll be able to identify which keywords will work best in conjunction with your geotargeting.
8. Include regional terms in your keyword lists

Consider this the icing on the geotargeting cake.
While geotargeting will take care of who you show to depending on location, it never hurts to add some location-based keywords.
This will match your ad copy and (most likely) the searcher’s query.
As a result, using regional terms may increase your quality score because your keywords will be more relevant.
For example, instead of just “best contractors,” try “contractors in Boston,”
because someone searching locally will most likely include their location in the query.
9. Include the name of your target location in your ad copy

This is the best practice for local PPC since it lets your viewers know right away that you cater to their locality.
If you can fit it into a headline, the matching ad text will highlighted in bold.
This makes the ad stand out as a local-friendly listing on the page.
Remember that the searchers are most likely looking up searches that include your target location.
And, as previously said, if you’re also utilizing geo-targeted keywords,
this effort will boost the relevancy of your ad because you’ll be following the recommended practice of adding the keyword in the headline.
A better relevancy score can help your ad rank higher on the SERP.
10. Leverage location extensions and call extensions

Location extensions allow you to display your company’s address alongside the ad, while call extensions display a phone number.
This is a win-win situation because include ad extensions in your search ad strategy is already a best practice,
as they will help you take up more SERP real estate and capture your audience’s attention.
Furthermore, persons searching locally are most often looking for immediate information while they are in your intended place.
As a result of these two local-specific ad extensions, potential customers will be able to find and contact you more easily.
Maximize your local PPC performance and ROI with geotargeting

Geotargeting can not only save you money on local PPC,
but it can also be used for tailored and real-time marketing,
testing out new markets, and targeting personalities in a certain neighbourhood.
Conclusion

Geo-targeting trends, like everything else in digital marketing, shift frequently.
What works now might not work in six months.
If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you must stay up to date on the latest geo-targeting tactics and test and optimize your ads regularly.
You can contact Nummero for the best digital marketing services in Bangalore.
We are the top digital marketing agency in Bangalore.