Local PPC is near and dear to my heart: helping members of the community profit by contributing to their communities is both satisfying and scalable.
From SMBs driving leads to their owner-operated shop to a national brand channeling the trends of an individual location, and everything in between, there are decidedly right and wrong ways to leverage a PPC budget.
Here are my top 10 ways to win at local PPC.
1. Claim Your Local Listings!
Google My Business (GMB) has evolved a lot over the years.
Leaving your brand’s local listing open for a malcontent to wreak havoc on your brand is not only is bad branding, but it also deprives you of a powerful SEO/PPC marketing channel.
GMB allows you to:
- Monitor and respond to reviews about your business.
- Share promotions.
- Unlock placements on the search engine result page (SERP).
The data from GMB helps inform ad placements, as well as provide reviews.
Unfortunately, GMBs do require a physical address (no P.O. boxes) – some businesses opt to use their home address or main office, while others forgo GMB.
Claiming your location requires requesting a post-card with a unique code (usually arrives in 10-15 days).
It’s worth noting that Microsoft Advertising does not require a claimed listing to include location extensions.
2. Set Campaigns Up by Location vs. Service
There are pros and cons to each, but the structural choice ultimately boils down to the following:
- Are all of your service areas the same?
- Are there distinct market indicators that require more budget allocation control?
If different locations you serve represent drastically different market opportunity (due to affluence, demand, and other factors), you’ll want to make the campaigns oriented around your local market, and the ad groups as your services.
If the services you offer represent drastically different margins, volume, and other factors that influence your ability to service your customers, you’ll want to make campaigns service focused.
The ad groups will be the different ways those services can be sought after/allow you to layer on audiences for ad copy. In this scenario, all locations would be lumped into one campaign.
A major deciding factor is whether you have your GMB claimed for each location (and if it’s possible to have one per location).
As mentioned earlier, GMB opens up additional ad placements, extensions, and ways to engage with your audience.
You can’t tell Google which location to serve, so ideally you’ll only have one GMB listing per campaign. – Read more
