Imagine you are looking for a local restaurant on Google where you can go and eat your favourite dish. You search for ‘’restaurants in (your locality)” on Google, and a list of search results will appear on the screen. You decide where you wish to go and eat from the list that opens up. This is an application of the principle of geo-targeting. But what is the meaning of geo-targeting, and what is its relevance in digital marketing? Let’s explore geo-targeting in detail in this blog post.
What is the meaning of geo-targeting?
Geo-targeting refers to targeting a brand’s audience based on their location. Hence, a business will appear in the search results whenever an individual who resides in or travels to the area looks up companies offering specific products/services. Through geo-targeting, the user experience is enhanced as they quickly discover a local business fulfilling their need/want, and since the target audience lives nearby, the probability of them opting for the company’s offerings increases, in contrast to other people in the brand’s target group.
How does geo-targeting work?
Every device, whether it is a mobile phone, personal computer, laptop, and so on, has a specific IP address. The first three digits refer to the country code, and the last three digits refer to the location of a particular locality or region within the country. Marketers use the IP address to target users within a specific location.
Importance of geo-targeting in digital marketing
Now that you’ve read about geo-targeting, it’s also essential to understand the importance of geo-targeting in digital marketing in digital marketing. We’ve discussed why you should consider geo-targeting for your business.
Strengthens company’s branding: A business may be regarded as one of the best companies offering a specific product/service in a specific country or city. Through geo-targeting, it can strengthen its branding and become a well-reputed store in a specific region. This reputation will help it attract more qualified leads and customers. For example, the Amrik Sukhdev Dhaba is famous in Murthal, India.
Help promote local events: By geo-targeting, businesses can promote specific local events within an area. For example, a hotel may be opening rooms to visitors before and on the occasion of Holi and hence launch advertisements only targeting people who live within or nearby the location of the resort.
Common examples of geo-targeting
Here are some common examples of geo-targeting that take place in day-to-day life.
Google My Business: People can add the name of a city, country, and street/locality in Google My Business; hence people are more likely to discover a company if they specify a locality in Google.
Google My Business also provides businesses with the opportunity to run local search advertisements, helping companies increase visibility in local search results and hence improving local SEO efforts.
Google My Business helps marketers capture performance data regarding the number of clicks it takes to obtain details about a specific country, city, or any other location. Moreover, UTM links can be added to the Google My Business profile to help understand the number of visits people make to a website after viewing the company profile on Google. This helps brands create marketing campaigns based on the information provided to them.
Advertising campaigns
In advertising campaigns, marketers can target their audience by specifying people who live in a specific country, city, and region. This helps increase the effectiveness of advertising campaigns and helps businesses utilize their advertising budgets. Brands can run advertising campaigns on platforms like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.
i. Remarketing in advertising campaigns: While advertising is essential for businesses who wish to obtain new leads, remarketing is also important. Remarketing means targeting users who have already taken some form of action on the website, like viewing a piece of content, adding a product to a cart, etc. You can use remarketing advertisements to specifically target users who visited your website from a particular location.
Location-specific keywords in content marketing
Content marketing is important for businesses to increase their visibility in the online space. Location-specific keywords, like ‘’digital marketing agency in Delhi’’ or ‘’restaurant in Saket’’ are examples of location-specific keywords that are also an application of geo-targeting.
Geofencing
Geofencing refers to location-based marketing where a specific boundary is placed in a certain region. Hence, a notification is triggered as soon as an individual enters an area with a mobile device in their hand. For example, a person may be browsing a shoe store in a mall, and they get notifications about discounts in the store through SMS messages when they enter it.
Conclusion
Effective geo-targeting will help you boost your brand presence in the online space. We hope you have been able to enhance your knowledge about the meaning and relevance of geo-targeting through this blog post.
Let’s Build Brands is a marketing agency in New Delhi helping firms create marketing strategies to attract its target audience. If you wish to learn more about the services offered by Let’s Build Brands, click on this page.