Campaign Settings and Location Targeting in Google Ads

Doing the proper campaign settings is crucial for the success of your ad campaign and optimizing its performance. To edit the settings, log in to the AdWords account and click on the campaign you want to edit. Now, click on the Settings option. 

It will show you all the options in rows, such as Goal, Locations, Languages, Bidding, etc. Here is how to set things suitable for each setting.

• Networks

The Networks tab is to select whether you want the ad to appear on Search Network or Display Network, or both. It is recommended not to use both for a single campaign because the outcome will be decent. Moreover, you will not be able to see individual graphs for CTR and impressions. 

• Locations

Try to select specific geographical locations instead of targeting extensive regions. For example, if you want to target customers in India, then decide the particular states where your potential customers exist. If there are some states that won’t benefit you, you can exclude them specifically. Use the features and optimize the location targeting.

• Languages

Along with English, you can also enter the regional languages that may benefit you. 

• Bidding

You can choose from three bidding options: 

1. Manual CPC bidding

2. Enhanced CPC Bidding

3. Automated Bidding

Which one is the right for you depends on your industry, campaign size, experience, etc. 

Enhanced CPC Bidding: If you are looking to manage the bid on your own while getting some assistance from Google, you can choose Enhanced CPC Bidding. It is similar to Manual Bidding, but Google will enhance its performance by setting bids based explicitly on search queries. 

Manual CPC Bidding: Manual CPC Bidding gives complete control of the ad where you can set every bid on your own. You can analyze the performance of campaigns and make changes accordingly. But this is generally the right option for experienced advertisers. 

Automated Bidding: Automated bidding comes with a number of additional features that you can choose and leave things to be done to Google. For example, if you want Google to bring you maximum clicks, then select Maximize Clicks.

For maximum conversions, you can choose Maximize Conversions. The Target ROAS option helps you to get the optimal return on ad spending. 

Whereas, Target Page Location is to optimize your ad position in SERP. 

• Start and end dates

To set the time and date to start the ad and end it. It has many more features, such as you can define particular hours when you don’t want the ad to appear. 

• Ad rotation

This feature helps in understanding the performance of metrics and then rotating the ad accordingly. By default, it is set to “Optimize: Prefer best performing ads”. 

• IP Exclusions

If there are specific IP addresses to which you don’t want to show your ads, enter those IP addresses. 

Location targeting is important because no business wants to show the ad to the entire world. In most cases, it is more likely that your products or services are meant for limited countries, states, cities, or even specific areas in a city. 

By using location targeting or geotargeting, you can show the ads only to the audience who is interested or eligible for the purchase. 

For example, a restaurant running in a specific city wouldn’t want to show the ad to people in other cities. A grocery delivering in the range of 15 km wouldn’t want to show the ad to people living outside their delivery range. 

If the ad is shown to irrelevant people, it will be a waste of budget when people click on it. 

Here is how you can set the right geotargeting for your business:

In the Search tab, enter your preferred location and select it. You can enter the name of the country, states, districts, cities, towns, postal code, and any area. When you choose the location, it will show the number of people available for reach. 

When a location appears, you can do three things with it: 

• Add it to targeted audiences

• Exclude it

• Generate nearby areas for suggestions

Furthermore, Google Ads also shows you the targeted locations highlighted on the map. There are a number of advanced options as well, such as radius and bulk locations.

The radius option is used to define a distance radius around your preferred location. It is also known as proximity targeting. The example of the grocery store delivering within 15 km of areas fits this well. The grocery store can define the radius to 15 km from his store. Their ads will show up only to his potential audience. 

The bulk locations option is useful when you want to paste multiple locations and then choose whether to add or exclude. 

For example, if you have names of 500 cities that you want to target, then copying them from a document or sheet and pasting them in Google Ads is a convenient way to get things done faster.