Geo-Parsing - Major Flaw?

[after_hours]

Have you guys heard about this? Apparently if you have campaign targeted to a specific geo, if you run ANY geo-modified keywords in your account containing that geo, it will map to that campaign.

Here's an example:

Campaign A is geo-targeted to SF Metro selling pizza cutters.

Campaign B is geo-targeted nationally selling pizza and contains the keyword "san francisco pizza"

Geo-parsing will serve up a pizza cutter ad to "san francisco pizza".

I noticed a LOT of advertisers are unaware of this issue.

[Channel01]

It sounds more like a broad match issue to me. Sometimes you have to set negatives in a campaign/ad group to force the traffic where you want to go when multiple keywords can match to a query.

[Rehan]

I don't know how many advertisers are aware that geotargeting works this way, but I know I learned about this very soon after I started using AdWords. I'm sure Google mentions it several times on their website as well... For example, at [adwords.google.com...] :

We analyze the actual search term the user submits on Google to determine when to show ads targeted to a specific region or city. If someone enters a search query that contains a recognizable city or region, we may show appropriate regional or custom-targeted ads. For example, if someone searches for 'New York plumbers,' we may show relevant ads targeted to New York, regardless of the user's physical location.

And it's on other help pages as well, like this one [adwords.google.com].

[after_hours]

It sounds more like a broad match issue to me. Sometimes you have to set negatives in a campaign/ad group to force the traffic where you want to go when multiple keywords can match to a query.

It goes beyond broad match. Google's argument for doing this is added relevancy in local search, but they're doing it at the expense of those trying to use geo-targeting + geo-modified keywords. There needs to be an opt-out feature for geo-parsing.

[Rehan]

There needs to be an opt-out feature for geo-parsing.

In your example above, you could add -"san francisco" as a negative keyword in Campaign A. It's not a perfect solution, but it can be better than leaving it as is.

[after_hours]

Adding -san francisco wouldn't help because AdWords will map you to the next keyword within the geotargeted account even if it has nothing to do with "san francisco pizza"

This is a lot more serious than people realize.

[Hope_Fowl]

They are doing the right thing, as they do need to include people outside the area who are searching inside the area.

When you're in Tulsa and will be going to Las Vegas, a search for "Las Vegas rental cars" should return rental car ads which are geo-targeted to Las Vegas. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to shop properly in a distant region.