Targeting
User Location: Not a Targeting Option
Ads follow the market someone is searching, not where they are sitting.
User-location targeting, also called physical-location targeting, would reach property shoppers by where they currently are. Housing Market Ads does not offer it: a campaign appears on portal pages whose address matches its keywords, whoever is reading them and wherever they are. Local services, open houses and licensed service areas are planned around that.
- Delivery follows the page, not the reader
- No restriction by where a reader is
- Plan local offers with location keywords
When proximity is the point
Some advertisers need the audience to be physically local — a branch, a viewing, a removals van, an in-person survey. Name the place in your keywords so the ad appears on the searches for it, and say plainly in the ad where the offer applies, because some of the people searching that place are browsing from far away.
When a licence draws the boundary
Regulated advertisers frequently may not solicit outside an authorised territory at all. Because delivery is not limited by where the reader is, keywords alone cannot keep a campaign inside that territory: the ad and the landing page must state who the offer is for and where you are authorised, and you should take advice on whether that is enough in your market.
What location keywords can and cannot do
Location keywords describe which market someone is shopping. They say nothing about where the shopper is, so a relocation firm cannot select people in one country who are searching another — it can reach everyone searching the destination.
- Local services: name your area in the keywords, and state it in the ad
- Destination sales: name the destination, and leave the rest broad
- Relocation and expat services: target the destination being searched
Common questions
- Can I show ads only to people who are nearby?
- No. Targeting follows the market being searched, not the reader’s own location. Name the place in your keywords to reach the people searching it, and state in the ad where the offer applies.
More answers on the FAQ.