Using Geographic Bid

Modifiers In Google AdWords

Shawn Livengood

Director of Inbound Marketing, GPO Inbound

About Me

6+ years of PPC experience at agencies, freelance,

and in-house

MS in Information Studies – University of Texas at

Austin

Director of Inbound Marketing at GPO Inbound

Blogs at www.ppcwithoutpity.com

On Twitter - @slivengood

Agenda

What are geographic bid multipliers?

Why should you use them?

Setting up modifiers in the AdWords web interface

Setting up modifiers in AdWords Editor

Viewing geographic performance reports

Potential pitfalls

Key takeaways

What are geographic bid multipliers?

Introduced as part of AdWords Enhanced

Campaigns rollout in Q1 2013

Allows you to increase or lower bids for

specific geographic areas by multiplying

your usual bid by a percentage (i.e. +20%

or -50%)

Can modify any location target enabled in

AdWords, from postal code to country

and everything in betweenImage credit: https://flic.kr/p/5NH22D

How are they useful?

Allow advertisers to adjust bids up and down by location target to improve

ROI by area

Better control over individual geographic performance within a single

campaign

Very important for businesses that are trying to target many specific

locations within a state/country with different ROI and revenue goals

Old Campaign Structure

NYC Campaign – Bids set to $4.00

LA Campaign – Bids set to $3.00

Austin Campaign – Bids set to $2.00

Boise Campaign – Bids set to $1.00

New Campaign Structure

Cities Campaign – all bids set to $2.00

NYC +100% multiplier

LA +50% multiplier

Austin 0% multiplier

Boise -50% multiplier

Instead of changing bids in every campaign, you

only need to change one variable (the modifier)

to adjust performance at the geo level.

Setting Up Modifiers – Web Interface

Choose campaign > Settings tab > Locations

Select multiplier by clicking on the “bid adj.” column next to the location you

want to change.

Setting Up Modifiers – AdWords Editor

Choose campaign > Targeting tab > Locations

Choose a location (or select several) and expand the “Edit selected location”

section near the bottom of the screen. Add in your bid multiplier here:

Viewing Geographic Reports – MCC

Report type: Dimensions > Geographic Performance

Viewing Geographic Reports – Account Level

Dimensions Tab: Select “Geographic” from the View drop-down:

Viewing Geographic Reports – AdWords Editor

Targeting > Locations shows performance by target

Potential Pitfalls

User intent vs. user physical location

Geos don’t always match up as you might expect

Some geographic areas (like certain ZIP codes) can’t be targeted in

AdWords

Potential Pitfalls – Intent vs. Location

Location of interest = user is searching

about this location

Physical location = user’s device is in this

location

These types of targeting could have very

different conversion behavior, so make

sure you’re making this distinction in your

reporting and adjusting bid modifiers

accordingly

You can choose to target location of

interest only, physical location only, or both

within your campaign settings

Potential Pitfalls – Geo Matching

Geo reports don’t always line up locations in the way you might expect…

Ok, I get that it’s close to

Idaho, but you couldn’t just

guess that Spokane, WA is

in Washington?

Your results may vary, but anecdotally I’ve seen about 10-15% of clear city-

metro matches have one of those variables “unspecified.”

Potential Pitfalls – Locations Unavailable

Not every location can be targeted in AdWords. This is particularly a

problem with zip codes. Certain low-population zip codes are too small for

Google to target accurately, so the option to target them is not present. This

can be an issue if you have a large list of zip codes you need to target and

are trying to do a bulk import/export.

Key Takeaways

Geographic bid multipliers allow you to fine-tune your ROI by location

They allow for a more compact and manageable account structure for

accounts that need to be more or less aggressive in certain geographic

areas.

Can be changed in the web interface or Editor, but Editor is easier.

Use geographic reports to monitor performance of modifiers.

Be aware of the following pitfalls:

• User intent vs. physical location

• Geos don’t always match up in the most obvious way

• Certain location targets don’t exist in AdWords targeting (especially

zips)