Location Targeting
Local service businesses by definition have a defined service area, so it’s vital to utilize the Google Ads feature to target specific geographic locations. As a local business looking to reach customers within a targeted area, understanding the location targeting options is essential to your campaign’s success.
- Geo-targeting: Focus on the regions where you want your ads to appear by selecting specific states, cities, or zip codes, or by using a radius setting around your business. For example, if your business serves a local area, you can limit your ads to appear within a 10-mile radius of your location.
- Location exclusions: Another useful tool is excluding certain areas where your products or services aren’t offered, or in areas that in your experience haven’t been fertile ground for generating new leads. You can also target say a 15 mile radius, but exclude certain zip codes within that radius to refine your targeting.
- Location options: Targeting can be further refined by indicating if you want your searchers to be physically present in your targeted area, or both in and for those showing an interest in your targeted location. For example, businesses that target tourists or perhaps business travelers who will travel to your targeted city, county or zip code locations, may wish to have the setting which will have your ads show to people physically outside your local area but who are showing interest in your city. Each service business can determine the best setting based on its customer profiles.
If certain locations are performing better over time, you can allocate more budget there or adjust your bids accordingly.
Demographic Targeting to Reach the Right Audience
An existing business should have a pretty well developed profile of the customers they want to target and reach, so reaching the right audience with demographic targeting in Google Ads is a powerful options for driving conversions. Google Ads offers robust demographic targeting options that allow you to tailor your ads based on user characteristics such as age, gender, household income, and parental status. Note that while this data is not 100% accurate, as there is an ‘unknown’ category for each demographic, is can significantly improve targeting and conversion rates, as well as providing valuable data and insight.
- Age targeting: If your product or service appeals to a specific age group, you can target your ads to people who fall within within that demographic. For example, a business selling retirement planning or home remodeling services would generally benefit from targeting older users, as they are more likely to be considering their financial future or more likely to own their home.
- Gender targeting: If your services or products are more likely to be gender-specific, such as men’s grooming products or women’s fashion, targeting users by gender, or increasing or decreasing bids by gender, can help you deliver more relevant ads to the right potential customers.
- Income targeting: Google Ads also allows you to target users based on their household income by income brackets. This is especially useful for businesses offering premium products or luxury services, or for those selling higher dollar figure services, as higher-income households are more likely to be interested in those offerings.
The key to successful demographic targeting is leveraging the knowledge you have about your targeted customers or audiences, and setting those demographic parameters in your Google ads campaigns.
Optimal Ad Scheduling
Many business owners mistakenly believe that their Google Ads campaigns should run 24/7. However, this isn’t always the most cost-effective strategy. In reality, your potential customers may be more likely to search for your products or services during specific days or times, or you may wish to have your ads run in line with your office house. Ad scheduling allows you to ensure your ads are shown during the most opportune moments, maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
- Ad scheduling basics: With Google Ads, you can choose the exact days and times you want your ads to run. Additionally, you can break your times into blocks, so you can measure performance during early mornings, afternoons, evenings, etc. After a period of time you can measure performance by these blocks, and it may make sense to turn off ads during certain times, like weekends or late nights when fewer people are searching.
- Increase/Decrease bidding by time blocks: As you gather data by day and time, you’ll begin to see patterns in when your ads perform best. This is where you can take advantage of selective bidding. For instance, if you notice that your ads perform well on Monday & Thursday afternoons, you can increase your bids during those times to drive more traffic. Conversely, if say Fridays generally underperform, you can either reduce bids or pause your ads during that day. Learn your search patterns and optimize accordingly.
Incorporating ad scheduling into your strategy not only saves money but also ensures your ads are reaching people when they are most likely to convert
Ongoing Learning & Optimization is Key to Better Performance, and Gazz Digital Can Help
Optimizing your Google & Bing Ads campaigns with the right location & demographic targeting and scheduling strategies can significantly improve your campaign performance. Regularly reviewing and adjusting these settings based on performance data is the key to ongoing campaign success.
As a certified partner with Google & Bing Ads, the team at Gazz Digital can help get you better ROI from your ad campaigns. To learn more, schedule a consultation today.
