Presentation covering how to use geographic bid modifiers in Google AdWords. Includes how-to, potential pitfalls, and best practices. Presented by Shawn Livengood at Hero Conf 2014.

1. Using Geographic Bid
Modifiers In Google AdWords
Shawn Livengood
Director of Inbound Marketing, GPO Inbound

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 between
Image credit: https://flic.kr/p/5NH22D

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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:

10. Viewing Geographic Reports – MCC
Report type: Dimensions > Geographic Performance

11. Viewing Geographic Reports – Account Level
Dimensions Tab: Select “Geographic” from the View drop-down:

12. Viewing Geographic Reports – AdWords Editor
Targeting > Locations shows performance by target

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.”

16. 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.

17. 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)