The digital world allows us to reach people far and wide, but what happens when we want to target local customers?
PPC can be costly with not a lot of return if done incorrectly, it’s very easy for Google to run away with your budget if you don’t know what you’re doing. In this article we are going to discuss 5 optimisation techniques you can easily implement into your PPC campaigns to get great local results.
Location Targeting
It sounds like an obvious step with the amount of settings in Google AdWords you would be surprised how many webmasters forget to set this up. Google AdWords allows you to accurately define who you show your ads to based on their location. You have the functionality to target by country, town, city or even post code. Depending on your service and demographic data you already know about your audience, you can easily define which location targeting is best for you.
Location-Specific Ads
Did you know that according to a Google study, 4 out of 5 consumers want ads tailored to their city or post code? With such a large portion of customers wanting ads that are specifically relevant to them rather than country-wide, writing geographic ads will encourage users to call your business or drop by your shop.
Ad Scheduling
It is always best practise to schedule your ads during business hours, which may seem like common sense but stats say otherwise. A study by DialogTech reports that almost 1 out of 5 calls from paid search goes to voicemail; can you afford to miss out on these enquiries because your ad schedule isn’t limited? As a local business with set working hours, for example 9-5, showing your ads 24/7 is not only confusing to customers who think they can contact you at all hours of the day and night but also is wasteful of budget.
Go Mobile
People are more on the go today than ever before; the days of having to sit down at a desktop computer to research are gone. Due to this, we recommend that you increase your bids for mobile devices as these are the searches that drive people to your store. Another Google study found that 75% of users who use their mobile phones to search for a local business actually visit within a day. Whilst desktop isn’t dead, if you are a local business then you need to think mobile.
Call Extensions
Are calls more valuable to your business than clicks? Google has a function for that! You can prominently place your phone number in every ad but using Call Extensions so users can call you directly from the search results. If you’re really not looking for website traffic at all, there are also Call-Only ads.
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