Google Adwords has Powerful New Targeting Options
Dec 10, 2007 Google Adwords
Google’s Q4 product development schedule included a major upgrade to the campaign geo-targeting options that went live sometime last week. Aside from an actual map overlay using the powerful Google Maps API, it also includes a new exclusion feature that lets the advertiser decide whether they want to target a big territory, but exclude individual towns or regions that may not convert. Christmas just came early!
I’m sure there are a bevy of new features that I may be missing in this post, but the most significant changes in my opinion are those that enable advertisers to fine tune their campaigns that have been running for some time. Regardless of the analytics suite you’re using to track site traffic and/or search campaigns, one thing is certain, if you dig deep enough there are going to be ways to track users that do not, and will not convert on your site regardless of landing pages or promotions.
I won’t make the mistake of going so far as to label certain low-quality traffic as being click fraud, but I will say that advertisers using Adwords will love to cut out certain cities that look suspect, even if it means sacrificing the possibility of conversion and revenue some day. Sometimes it just isn’t worth it to advertise in low-quality clicks for several reasons, one of them being low search volume as a function of population.
So what are some of the more notable new and exciting geo-targeting options available within Adwords?
- An interface borrowed from Google Maps with interactive overlays.
- An actual list of regions that advertisers can target with auto-complete inputs.
- Exclusions of regions and/or cities from your larger macro-geographical selection.
- Poly-line region targeting! Need a custom region? Just draw it over the map! (very sexy)
These changes just about complete my most wanted list for geo-targeting options. But there is one last “nice to have” feature that has not been included yet, and that is customized bids per region. Sure, you can technically work around this omission by creating a new campaign with unique targeting and bid options. Microsoft does it, so why not Google?
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