• Choosing keywords to reach out to local customers
f
• Additional guidelines for creating keywords
• Use geo-targeting
• Organize keywords into campaigns and ad groups

Choosing keywords to reach out to local customers

• Bid on phrases containing geographic information (“San Diego plumber,” “Visalia bike store”).
• Select a range of keywords that encompass your geographic area, from general to specific (“Los Angeles real estate,” “Pasadena real estate,” “Bungalow Heaven real estate”).
• If potential customers can only contact you by phone or in person, we suggest that you avoid using keywords containing words like “online” or “Internet.”

Additional guidelines for creating keywords

1. Try to predict what your customers will type in when searching for what you sell.
2. Choose more keywords than less to improve your chances of being found.
3. Generate keywords with multiple words (“custom fabric roman shades”).
4. Periodically add new keywords and remove the non-performers to keep your account administration at a manageable level.
5. Use the Find Keywords panel in the Choose Keywords page.

Use geo-targeting

Geo-targeting is a feature that allows you to target your ads to customers based on their geographic location or geographical interest. (e.g. the United States and English-speaking Canada), state or province, or designated market area (DMA®).¹

Your ads are then displayed to customers who are either located in or interested in the geographic regions you have targeted.² This mean that, in addition to having your ads displayed to customers physically located in the targeted regions you select, your ads may also be displayed to customers located elsewhere if these customers search for information related to your targeted regions.

Click to enlarge

Learn more about geo-targeting.

Organize keywords into ad groups and campaigns

To keep your account organized, you can pool your keywords into ad groups and your ad groups into campaigns. An ad group contains a set of keywords that apply to a single ad (title, description and URL).

Example: How to organize keywords into ad groups and campaigns

Example: How to associate keywords with ads (title, description and URL)

Ad groups can improve efficiency by enabling you to manage only one ad for multiple keywords. You can even start testing multiple ads within an ad group to determine which message attracts the most leads and/or converts at the highest rate. Learn more about ad testing.

Determining how many campaigns and ad groups you need depends on the size and complexity of your business. Consider the following divisions when organizing your account:

• Service or delivery areas (downtown, residential, office buildings).
• Product variations (mp3 video player, mini mp3-player, color display mp3-player).
• Product class or family (e.g. books, hardcover, paperback, thriller, sci-fi)
• Products (shoes) vs. services (shoe repair)
• Products that have one attribute in common (price, discount).
• Trials of new keywords
• Seasonal keywords (Christmas, summer clearance)

¹DMA® is a registered service mark of Nielsen Media Research, Inc., and is used pursuant to a license from Nielsen Media Research, Inc., all rights reserved.

²Please note that geo-targeting accuracy is not guaranteed and may vary depending on the level of targeting selected, as well as other factors.