New! Enhance your U.S. targeting.
With Google AdWords regional targeting (beta), you can focus your ads even more. If you're marketing products or services to customers in a specific U.S. state or region, you should explore this feature.
Example: I have ads for keywords "widget los angeles". Should I make a new regional campaign with the same keywords, but targeted to that specific area?
If someone searches from a state I don't regional target, my normal ads will show up, if someone searches from a state I do target, will my regional ad show up, and then my older ads not be shown - does G have this all in place?
A bit of clarification on the subject:
If we assume you are running a 'national' campaign, and a 'regional' campaign, and the two campaigns have the same keywords, then the ads from the regional campaign and the national campaign will compete with each other for a user who is in the regional target location.
The one with higher ad rank (Max CPC x CTR) will show.
On the other hand, if the user is not in the target location, only the national ads will show.
It also seems that the top 2 slots may be reserved for national campaigns.
I'll double check for you on this point, and post again on Tuesday. I am almost certain, however, that this is not the case. I usually quantify when I am not 100% sure. In this case, I have 95% certainty. ;)
More tomorrow.
BTW, like GoogleGuy, I am delighted to see all the positive feedback for this new tool. I have truly been looking forward to the beta release of Regional Targeting, because it is a feature that so many advertiser have asked for.
Also, AWA wrote that the higher CTR ad will get shown between regional and national ads. What is the initial CTR given to the regional ads so they will be shown for a while before the national ones take over?
Thanks for checking on this.
Our regional ads are getting great clickthrough. With our max CPC's we would expect to be coming up in slots 1-2, like our national campaigns do. Instead we're consistently in slot 3, presumably top spot for regional ads.
See, originally, I wanted to target people local to me by using the name of my city as a keyword. But that failed miserably.
Bidding on keywords in my industry was prohibitively expensive, especially for clicks where people weren't local - because they have to physically come to us to buy.
I tried geo-targeted ads, and I'm having no problems maintaining a high click through rate now, but my impressions are WAY down. And with fewer clicks come fewer conversions. I'm glad I'm no longer paying to have people from outside my state (or on the other end of it) come to my site and fill out our form, but it still ain't making us filthy rich. :)
Ah well, I'm sure it's just a matter of time. I'm happier so far, the upshot of less clicks is less money spent. :)
Does anybody else see the possiblity of price inflation from people piling in - sort of like the whole ebay / overture phenomenon?
In truth, I actually think it is fabulous addition, opening the market to those that should but didn't (and this is a HUGE market.)
Subsequently it will improve Google's top and bottom lines.
This could even cause the regular SERPs to be less commercial, eh?
It could also mean a relative price decrease as well.
I am just trying to chime in to try to learn if anyone sees any negatives here.
Just my $0.02,
GG
The local newspaper online ad is getting similar results, though, so maybe these customers are calling in.
I think we can check us or UK related Ads using &gl=us or &gl=uk
But how do I check regional targeting adwords , is there any small piece of information to share :)
Aravind
It looks like behavior might have changed yesterday - our regional ads are now showing up in the top slot when viewed from an IP-identifiable browser.
The regional tag isn't there, but it's definitely our regional ad.
We appreciate the continued help,
ReRun
If we assume you are running a 'national' campaign, and a 'regional' campaign, and the two campaigns have the same keywords, then the ads from the regional campaign and the national campaign will compete with each other for a user who is in the regional target location.The one with higher ad rank (Max CPC x CTR) will show.
I've run into a big problem with this. I have several national ads that have very high CTR rates (at least I think so for their number of impressions), and I have to bid 5 times my national CPC to get my regional ads into the number one spot, which is more than I'm really willing to pay. Therefore, my regional ads will never be shown to get the CTR necessary to be displayed.
If I pause my national campaign, I only have to pay double my national CPC to be in the number one spot for regional, but that's really not an option as regional isn't shown on partner sites, nor other areas I'd like to target.
Yet the way regional works, it seems if I could get them shown, I think I'd have a higher CTR rate for the regionals, but it'll take some time to get there.
I think making a feature available in G that if you have both a national and a regional campaign, the advertiser could choose not to display national and go with regional instead for those particular searches would greatly enhance regional targeting.
If someone were to skim the page, the gray words under the ad are not very noticeable. I added our city to the title of the ad but an icon would make the ad quicker to acquire, especially if someone was looking specifically for local ads only.
It also seems that the top 2 slots may be reserved for national campaigns.
And later added:
It looks like behavior might have changed yesterday - our regional ads are now showing up in the top slot when viewed from an IP-identifiable browser.The regional tag isn't there, but it's definitely our regional ad.
Well, you've gotten it exactly right.
I've gotten top level confirmation that Regionally Targeted ads may certainly show at the top. When they do, however, they will appear minus the regional tags - in the same way that other AdWords ads appear minus their Interest Bar when 'promoted'.
Thanks for your patience while I got confirmation, and for your accurate observations as well.
eWhisper, and mahlon: I have noted your comments, and will pass them on. Thank you!
We've been pleased with the results to date from our regionally targeted ads. We get a vast amount of traffic from AOL, so we're not yet ready to do away with our national campaigns, but we do appreciate the flexibility.
Perhaps uniquely, our distribution is limited to areas where we've found suitable delivery partners, so it's critical that we limit impressions to regions we can serve.
Previously, we loaded up our national campaigns with geography clues, which unfortunately left little room for other benefits. Regional ad CTR are now 3-4 x those of our national campaigns, probably because the audience is deliverable, and the message can be more compelling.
will a regional ad trump a national ad if only at the same price?
will it trump if lower, and if so, by how much?
It seems that ctr would be higher for the regional over the national ad so that might actually be feasible, right?
Does this work for sidebar ads and top level ads?
Please please please - I've been competing with a national competitor over my own local market - they're top level - and there's no way I could beat with trying to outspend them them because they buy nationally.
But by rights, as I am local, I should get the priority, right? (I can hope!)
c.
