Mar

AdWords Language and Location targeting

Google AdWords offers several options for those who want to target their pay-per-click campaigns to specific regions or languages.

First, Google needs to know where the user’s location is before it can target the specific campaigns. Google uses a combination of several criteria to determine the geographic location of the searcher.

Google Domains – Google uses multiple extensions on their domains to represent various countries. If a user queries from www.google.de, for example, that user will only see ads targeted to Germany.
Query Specific – Google also analyzes the search query for information that would indicate where they are from. If a user searches for “Nashville pizza”, Google is smart enough to know to show ads that target the Nashville area.
IP Address – Google also uses the user’s IP address, when possible, to determine their location. Using the same example above, just searching for “pizza” may show the same results. Although, IP addresses are not always reliable, so this only one factor in deciding the user’s location.

That leaves the advertiser with two options: Location and Language targeting, or a combination of both.

Language Targeting
With language targeting, PPC advertisers can target up to 40 different languages. Below are some general guidelines for language targeting:

If you are targeting a specific language spoken by a customer, then obviously those text ads should be written in that language. There are automated translation tools available (not through AdWords), but they are not a substitute for first-hand knowledge. If you are serious about targeting ads in a certain language then consult with someone who speaks that language.
Some East Asian languages use double-byte characters. This gets a little tricky when creating text ads. Some of the standard Google text ad policies don’t apply. In fact, when creating these ads within the English interface, it’s not uncommon to see several user errors and wrong information.

Location Targeting
adwords polygon
Location targeting allows advertisers to target a various combination of countries, territories, states, and even cities. Plus with GPS & Longitude/Latitude tracking, marketers can customize their own region.

Targeting cities and regions is extremely handy if your business only caters to a specific area. For example, if you are a local coffee house it may not make sense to target outside of your town. However, it you ship coffee across the country there may be a specific need. This is where a combination of targeting comes in handy. Certain keywords may get targeted to the nation, like “mail order coffee”, but other words like “coffee with wi-fi access” may be targeted to a city.

Testing your ads in other locations can be tricky. For that, Google has provided an Ad Preview Tool.