So the big question is: What is Geo-Targeting in regards to Pay-Per-Click? Well, Geo-targeting allows you to advertise in specific locations that speak directly to your clientele, or are more interested in a specific product that you sell. This helps you to focus your online marketing efforts on what works for your offering and is a key in maximizing your return on investment. The settings I’ll walk you through today is based on Google, but this works for all search engines. In each search engine, you are also able to exclude specific location to even further define your market and ensure that your online investment is allocated appropriately.

So here’s an example. Say you are a lawyer in a city. For your scenario, it makes sense to advertise only in the particular city where your firm resides. I’ll choose Boston for the city and through Google, I am able to select Boston as my city of choice and apply a surrounding radius to capture anyone in the Boston area looking for a lawyer.

This is also incredibly helpful e-commerce. In an e-commerce example, if you sell beach supplies it makes sense in the winter months to limit your advertising to those areas where there is a demand for your products such as the West Coast & Florida. This allows you to control how effectively your PPC budget is being spent.

Login to your PPC account and select a campaign. Within the campaign settings there will be a section to edit your location settings. Next you will want to select the locations that you wish to target. You can do this by selecting a specific state, city, or an area measured by a radius surrounding a town/city. Here is where you are also able to select areas to exclude within the locations that you have chosen to target. Lastly, make sure you save your settings!

1. Login to your account
2. Campaign settings
3. Locations
4. Select Locations to target or exclude
5. Save your settings