One of your customers is Robert, a long-time homeowner in Cleveland. Another is Anna, a first-time homeowner in Mayfield Heights. Robert and Anna differ significantly—in their city, age, gender, and careers. So, how can you create personalized ads for both customers?
One word: geotargeting. It’s time to say goodbye to blanket ad experiences to your entire target audience. To stand out in today’s competitive landscape, you need to create a personalized experience based on your customer’s location. Geotargeting uses location data to serve ads to customers in specific locations, meaning you’ll serve relevant ads that resonate with potential leads based on their location.
If you don’t already have a location-based targeting strategy in place, you could be losing out on mountains of missed opportunities. Here’s how to step up your local PPC strategy and gain a competitive edge with geotargeting.
Geotargeting, or geotargeted advertising, is a type of advertising that uses location data to serve ads to customers within a specific region. For example, you might run a campaign to advertise drain cleaning services to homeowners within 10 miles of your physical location.
Geotargeting is one of the most effective digital marketing strategies today—and for good reason. It’s one of the easiest ways to hyper-target potential customers in your service area. When you set up location targeting through Google Ads, you can engage local homeowners with ultra-relevant ads.
It might seem fairly new, but location-based advertising has been around for a long time. Since the beginning of the internet, websites have used IP addresses to serve personalized content to users. If you’ve ever been served ads for local businesses, then you’ve already seen location targeting in action.
Of course, there’s a drawback to geotargeting. IP addresses aren’t always 100 percent accurate, and they’ll only give you the general location of your consumer. As a result, it’s not always easy to target hyper-specific locations (think: streets) with just an IP address.
If you’ve set up a Google Ads campaign before, you’ve probably already glanced over the platform’s location settings. If you don’t choose a specific location for your ad campaign, Google Ads will automatically serve your ads to everyone (yes, everyone).
Last we checked, plumbers serve specific areas. You’re not trying to serve ads to every single person who searches for plumber near me, so you need at least some form of location-based targeting—even if it’s broad. This way, you won’t have to worry about paying for clicks that will never convert.
Sounds simple enough, right? Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or Google Ads newbie, here’s how geotargeting can take your ad campaigns to the next level.
Ready to amplify your PPC strategy with geotargeting? There’s good news: You’ll only need to follow a few steps to add geotargeting to your Google Ads campaign. To start, choose an existing Google Ads campaign. Then, click Settings, and select Locations.
Next, type in the location you want to target. If you choose Advanced Search, you’ll open a separate box with three additional targeting options:
Now that you’ve set up location-based targeting, it’s time to make geotargeting work for you. Most marketers think that geotargeting is just a “one and done” strategy, but that’s not the case. In fact, poor targeting options can make or break your campaign (and your advertising budget).
The good news? You’re going to be different. Instead of following a cookie-cutter PPC plan, you’re going to run toward the fire with data-driven marketing strategies. Here’s how to create a winning PPC strategy.
Google Ads can be tricky, especially if you’re a PPC newbie. When you’re implementing location targeting, there’s one key setting to keep an eye on. When you click Location options, you can serve ads based on Presence, Search interest, or Both.
Here, Google defaults to the Presence and interest option. For some contractors, this is the best choice. For example, auto repair shops might serve ads to people who don’t live in, but frequent, specific areas.
Unfortunately, for plumbers, you’ll only end up serving ads to homeowners that don’t live in your service area. Imagine that you want to target Chicago residents. If you choose the default option, you might serve ads to Denver homeowners planning a trip to Chicago (who are researching Chicago attractions). So, instead of sticking with the default, you’ll want to tick the Presence box so you only serve ads to Chicago homeowners.
Want to do PPC like the pros? You’ll need to tap into granular metrics to guide your strategy. To determine which locations are driving the most web traffic, click Locations. Here, you can check out key metrics, including clicks, impressions, and CPC.
These metrics can help you pinpoint what’s working (and what isn’t). If you’re paying a higher CPC for a location that isn’t driving traffic, it’s probably time to tweak your strategy. On the other hand, if you’re getting clicks and impressions for specific neighborhoods, try creating personalized landing pages to ignite your conversions.
When it comes to geotargeting, negative keywords are non-negotiable. If your ads are showing up for searches outside your target locations, you can use negative keywords to exclude search terms from your campaigns.
Our clients use negative keywords to get their ads in front of the right people at the right time. Instead of worrying about wasted ad spend, negative keywords can help you make the most of your targeting options. At the same time, you’ll increase your return on investment and drive quality leads to your website.
If you’re using manual bidding, you can implement bid adjustments to tweak your spending when you serve ads to users within a specific location. In Locations, use the adjustment column to apply a positive or negative percentage on top of your original bids.
So, when should you spend more? Well, if you’re more likely to get a higher ROI from customers within a specific city, those clicks might be more valuable to you.
For example, if a segment of your service area was just hit with freezing temperatures, you might adjust your bid and ramp up emergency plumbing services ads in that area. With the right strategy, weather-based marketing can take your local PPC strategy to the next level—and you’ll make sure your plumbing company is found online before anyone else.
Congratulations! You’re serving ads to the right people at the right time. Now, you need to put the finishing touches on your ads to drive qualified leads to your plumbing website. That’s where personalized ad copy can be your marketing MVP.
When you write hyper-relevant, local-friendly ad copy, you’ll show local homeowners that you cater to their location before they even click on your ad. For the best results, squeeze specific locations into your ad headlines (think: “Emergency Plumbing Services in Denver”). Then, the matching ad text will appear in bold.
No matter what your marketing goals look like, geotargeting is a win-win. It’s the PPC strategy you need to slash ad spend, reach the right audiences, and drive more qualified leads to your website.
The best part? It’s what your customers want. In 2020, 93 percent of consumers used online searches to find local businesses, and local searches contributed to 22.6 percent of all website traffic. In short, you’re upgrading your local PPC strategy to give leads a hyper-personalized, local-friendly experience—all while saving money.
Have any questions about local PPC? We’re here to help. Contact us today to grow your plumbing business with powerful digital marketing solutions.
