Geo-Targets

A geo-target is a geographic area where you want an ad to run. It can be based on such geographic types as country (where you specify an entire country), state (where you specify one or more states within a country), or (in the United States) Designated Market Area (DMA). Google campaigns can also target by city and by a geographic radius from a specified location.

A campaign that targets an entire country is a nationally-targeted campaign, while the other geo-targets reflect a locally-targeted campaign. One main difference between the two types (besides the geographic area covered) is that locally-targeted campaigns may use geo-modifiers with root keywords to form the campaign’s keywords, while nationally-targeted campaigns do not include the geo-modifiers. This is a consideration when creating keywords for businesses that are based on location (such as hotels, real estate, or travel), for whom you might want to include the location in the root keyword.