Today I want to talk about a subtle and controversial option - advanced geographic targeting. Let's see what it is, how it works, when to leave it, and where to turn it off.
Nuances of geotargeting
Correctly specifying the region in the advertising campaign settings helps us limit impressions to only the target location. But after all, often the offer may be of interest to those who are now in another region, but, for example, they can order delivery, they are going here themselves, etc. Or the reverse situation: someone came to another region, say, on vacation and may well be interested in something from your city.
How to catch such users? If you expand geo-targeting, for example, to the whole country, then there will be a bunch of inappropriate clicks, budget drain, CTR drop, etc. Do separate campaigns? There may be hundreds of them, and according to the well-known Pareto principle, all these troubles will take more time and effort than they will bring benefits.
For this, Yandex.Direct made advanced geotargeting, which is enabled by default in all created campaigns.
How the option works
The point is that if the query contains the same city that is selected for geotargeting, then the ad will be shown even if the user is in a different region.
When a user enters a request, the Yandex.Direct system checks whether the region in the phrase matches the region specified in the campaign settings. If yes, then there will be a show.
Consider this principle of operation with examples:
- the campaign targets Moscow, uses a key phrase, such as "wholesale seeds". A user from Perm writes a query "seeds in bulk Moscow" and sees this advertisement, just like the residents of Moscow;
- if a separate campaign for Perm is created for the same ad, and the key phrase "seeds in bulk Moscow" is specified, then with this option enabled, the user will NOT see an ad for this query, because the regions do not match. To start impressions in this case, you need to disable the function.
If the typical task is to reach the audience from the area by queries with the name of its center, you need to disable the geotargeting extension.
What about networks? Here the principle is different. The setting allows you to show ads to those who have been in the specified region for 90 days, but are now in another.
Advanced geo-targeting does NOT work in some topics:
- on the search - tourism and recreation (tickets, excursions, etc.);
- on search and in networks - everything that requires permits (medicine, insurance, medicines, etc.).
This is checked automatically by analyzing ads and landing pages.
To be or not to be?
The question of whether or not to use advanced geographic targeting in Yandex.Direct is often acute.
On the one hand, this is the possibility of additional coverage of the audience with minimal time and effort for implementation. If the service can be provided regardless of location or the goods will definitely be delivered, the default setting can be left.
On the other hand, they may be interested in proposals from other regions for various reasons, including the desire to simply see “how they are doing there”, which will not bring benefits, but will waste the budget. There may also be many impressions with no clicks, which will affect the overall CTR of the campaign.
Here is an illustration. 
What mistakes does a local business make when setting up geo-targeting search advertising campaigns? What causes them and how to fix them?
Offline location-based business advertising has a limited geography of impressions. It is important for an advertiser to show ads in the territory within which his business operates, with the exception of the tourism or hotel business. The service is provided at a specific address, so users often use the name of a city, district, street or metro station in search queries.
Very often I come across ads on Yandex and Google searches that contain errors specifically for the region where ads are displayed. Inaccuracies in geotargeting settings lead to misappropriation of funds.
Geotargeting in practice
Let's take a look at specific examples in which cases Moscow advertisers drain the budget by showing their ads in the regions, and in which cases they may not.
Situation 1. Suppose a resident of Samara is looking for a "beauty salon in Samara." It would seem that only ads from Samara beauty salons should be shown to her.
But, we see in the second ad - Manicure Salon in Moscow. This is 100% budget waste! If a person is in a certain region and is looking in his region, what is the point of a Moscow salon showing him advertising?
At best, the beauty from Samara will not click on this ad. But the shows are on. When there are impressions, but no clicks, the CTR decreases, and this increases the cost per click. If the girl does not notice “Moscow” in the ad and goes to the site, the advertiser will be charged money. The probability that she will come to Moscow for a manicure tends to zero, because she was looking for a salon in Samara. There can be many such requests in an advertising campaign, which ultimately results in significant amounts.
- the display region is set incorrectly (most likely, all of Russia, but it would be worth limiting only to Moscow).
— big cities Russia is not included in the list of negative keywords.
Situation 2. A resident of Samara is looking for a "beauty salon in Moscow." Perhaps she wants to go to the capital and visit the salon.
Here all three announcements are Moscow salons. If you attract residents of the regions who come to Moscow to visit your salon, check how well search queries in the regions convert. Are they bringing real customers? You spend money to attract a client, but will he become yours? regular customer? Probably not. Consider whether it is profitable for your business to show ads to users from other regions?
In what cases is it appropriate? Of course, if you are a hotel, taxi or tourism business. Of course, you are interested in attracting an audience from other regions. If you have a small beauty salon in a residential area, you should target the residents of your city and turn off shows in other regions.
— Advanced geotargeting is enabled (if impressions go to Yandex.Direct) or People from target locations and people who are interested in them are set (if they are in Google Ads).
— display region is set incorrectly (all of Russia).
Geotargeting in Yandex.Direct: how to check which regions ads are shown in
2. On the page My campaigns follow this link Statistics for all campaigns.
3. Go to the tab Report Wizard.
4. Set the period.
5. Choose a slice Campaigns to see information for each campaign individually.
6. Choose a slice Targeting region and slice Location region.
7. Press the button Show.
Yandex.Direct will generate a report.
In the Targeting region column, we see that ad impressions are set to Moscow. The Location Region column reflects the regions in which the ad was clicked. In this example, the targeting region and location are the same. This means Advanced geotargeting in campaigns is disabled, and impressions were only in Moscow.
If you want to advertise only to residents of your city, but you see other regions in the report, or the data in the Targeting region column differs from the data in the Location region column, then you need to change the advertising campaign settings.
How to fix geo-targeting errors in Yandex.Direct
1. Sign in to your Yandex.Direct account.
2. On the My Campaigns page, select the desired advertising campaign, click Options.
3. In the block Geography press the button Change.
4. Check the box next to the required region.
6. If you want to show ads only to people in your city and do NOT want to show ads to people who are in another region but are looking for services in your city, disableExpanded geographic targeting. This option is enabled by default in Yandex.Direct, so this error often occurs in the display geography settings.
With these campaign settings, ads will be shown only to those users who are located in Moscow. People who live in other cities, but are looking for services in Moscow, will not see your ad. Ad serving will not depend on the region in the search query.
Geotargeting in Google Ads: how to check which regions your ads are showing
1. Sign inGoogle Ads.
2. In the page selection menu on the left, select the desired advertising campaign.
3. In the upper right corner, click the iconReports.
4. Select Standard reports ("Quick statistics").
5. Then selectLocations.
6. Click on reportGeography.
The Geography report shows you where your potential clients and what places they are interested in.
In this example, we see that ad impressions go to all of Russia. The Location Type column is defined as "Physical Location". This means that the people who clicked on the ad are located in the specified regions.
If your report also shows "Location of Interest", then your ad was clicked by people who were interested in your location but were not in it. In this case, the ad campaign targeting is set toPeople from target locations and interested in them. Decide if you need users who are located in other regions, or should you disable ads for them?
How to fix geotargeting errors in Google Ads
1. Sign inGoogle Ads.
3. In the page selection menu on the left, pressSettings.
4. In Settings, go to the section Locations.
5. Select Specify a different location.
6. Specify the required city or region.
7. Select your city or region from the drop-down list.
8. Click Turn on.
10. By default, Google Ads is set toPeople from target locations and interested in them. This means that advertising will be shown to those who are in Moscow and those who are, for example, in Yekaterinburg, but are looking for services in Moscow. This parameter is easy to overlook, hence the problems for the local business with impressions.
Allows you to customize contextual advertising taking into account geolocation. Before today, this was one of the points on which Direct was inferior to targeting in in social networks(now still remains sex and age).
Now for small fitness clubs, restaurants and other establishments that have one branch in the city, it is possible to show exactly who is nearby. In this regard, we decided to "wash down" a small instructions for setting up contextual advertising based on geolocation.
How to create an audience based on geolocation?
Geotargeting in networks
Starting April 27, 2017, advanced geo-targeting works not only for search campaigns, but also for YAN, thanks to which advertisers can attract even more really interested users.
When displayed on partner sites, the option will respond not to the inclusion of the region name in the request, but based on last places visited by the user. A special algorithm takes into account all locations and determines where a person spends the most time (home, work). Geotargeting in networks is configured according to the same principle as for search campaigns.
Setting up Yandex Direct based on geotargeting
For whom will ads in Yandex Direct be useful, taking into account geolocation? Lots of people! Taxi, food delivery, fitness clubs, restaurants and more. It is possible for each individual region, create a unique advertisement.
For example, for food delivery, a good option would be an ad: “Pizza delivery to the Mitinsky Park area is free.”
Taxi, can show ads: "Now there are free cars in the Mitinsky Park area - order a taxi."
In general, turn on your imagination, share your ideas in the comments and go ahead to conquer new heights using the new geolocation functionality in Yandex Direct called " Hyperlocal targeting».
Usually people are interested in goods and services in the regions where they live or where they plan to go. For example, choose medical Center in your city or looking for where to buy a sofa. So thanks to targeting, you can find your audience and save on impressions to non-target customers.
Who should use this tool?
- Local companies - thanks to targeting, it is easier for them to compete with large companies within the boundaries of the region.
- Large enterprises having points of sale in different cities. For example, thanks to advanced geotargeting, a user can see ads for the query “hotel in Moscow” while in another city and book a place.
How does geotargeting work?
The geolocation of the user is determined using IP, information about mobile networks, GPS and Wi-Fi. Targeting of people registered on the site is based on the data they entered. The remaining users are determined by the regional affiliation of the IP. It is necessary to target only those territorial points that are useful for business. Ads will be viewed by those users who either live in one of the specified locations, or are interested in this place.
If Google manages to determine it, then it is taken into account when selecting ads. The user's interest in a particular geolocation is determined by queries that include geographic names: "buy a guitar in Moscow", "book a hotel in Thailand", etc. In addition, Google takes into account the user's past searches related to location.
How does targeting help in advertising?
Targeting tasks
- Find your target audience. People use services and buy goods near their work or home. Therefore, you need to advertise the product to users who live near points of sale. For example, hyperlocal targeting allows you to work with the target audience within a radius of 500 meters.
- Local targeting allows you to save the budget on impressions to uninterested users. Thanks to this, the effectiveness of the campaign increases, sales increase. Interested users will see ads on social networks, search results, mobile devices and computers.
- Targeting allows you to optimize costs. If a company operates in different cities and conducts one advertising campaign, then ads are placed on maximum price. To save money, you can use geographic targeting. It allows you to place contextual advertising at lower regional rates.
Types of targeting
- Local targeting- demonstration of advertising within the same region. Aimed at the target audience who are looking for a product or service in their city within a radius of several kilometers.
- Hyperlocal targeting- issuance of announcements within a radius of 500 meters. You can select the territory of certain areas, metro stations, shopping centers, airports, parks, etc.
- Advanced Geographic Targeting- demonstration of advertising on requests that include the name of the display region. It is visible to users from any region.
Learn more about advanced targeting
First, let's explain how local targeting works. For example, a Moscow cafe launches an ad and selects the appropriate city to display. Ads are seen only by those who are in the capital.
How is advanced geotargeting different? Let's say the same cafe runs ads again. But now it is seen not only in Moscow. It is shown to users from any city if they enter a geo-query: “where to go to Moscow time”, “Moscow cafe”, etc. Thanks to this, it is possible to increase the reach of the audience. We find potential buyers not only in their own region, but also in neighboring ones. In the case of a cafe, future customers may be those who plan to come to Moscow for vacations or business trips.
How to setup?
When you launch a campaign, advanced geo-targeting will be enabled by default.
You also need to take into account 2 points:
- Advanced targeting works only in the Yandex search engine and does not affect impressions on YAN sites, including when searching Yandex.Maps and Yandex.Market.
- It is ignored for ads in the field of tourism and recreation and in topics that cannot be advertised without certain documents (medicines, dietary supplements, medical services, insurance, finance, etc.).
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