Google has recently expanded the option for geo-targeting of ads at the post code level across Australia. This appears to be a good opportunity for localised targeting, but has to be treated with caution.
Geo-targeting in AdWords has become increasingly more sophisticated in recent years, partly from how Google can identify the location of a searcher, and also how AdWords can be targeted down to local areas. Originally this was limited to a country / state / city level of targeting, and with the option for a radius around a location, although the accuracy of this method was variable.
In recent years Google added the option of city regions in the main cities, such as Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs or Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs, but these tended to attract few impressions compared to the more general city level targeting, so that advertisers had to decide whether to target by area or keyword location, or both.
Earlier this year, post code level targeting was made available in Brisbane, and this has now been rolled out across most of Australia so that advertisers now have the opportunity to target at a very localised level. Early indications show that this targeting is working quite well and can be a new way to improve localised targeting and apply bid adjustments at this geographic level.
This local area targeting is only as good as the way that Google can identify the location of a searcher, but this is becoming better, particularly where people are using mobile devices. Google also automatically detects a user’s location using their devices IP address, location history (if it’s turned on), and recent locations that have been searched for.
Post code level targeting can therefore be used for local marketing campaigns and should certainly be tested to see how the impressions, clicks and conversions are generated by these areas, compared to broader geo-targeted areas or radius coverage. Advertisers also have the opportunity of using bid adjustments at all these levels, so that spend can be focused to the areas that perform most effectively.
If you’d like to know more about the new post code level targeting in AdWords, please get in touch for more details.