Disclaimer: now may not be the time to run Local Campaigns, but something to consider after restrictions ease. Just remember to be safe and follow social distancing rules.
Google Local campaigns are a campaign type that you don’t hear about often. However, if you’re looking to bring customers to your physical shop front, this campaign type is something you should look at running. This blog will first and foremost explain what are Local campaigns, how it works and then show you how it may appear across the Google network.
What are Google Local Campaigns?
Local campaigns allow you to promote your physical shops across Google’s properties, including the Google Search network, Google Maps, Youtube and on the Google Display Network. The goal of the campaign is to drive your offline goals, whether this is foot traffic or sales.
By adding in your store location (you can do this by linking your Google Ads account with Google My Business account), budget, a few lines of ad copy, a bid, and assets, Google will automatically put together ad placements and asset combinations to show across Google’s properties.
It’s difficult to explain what the ads look like, so below are examples of where your ads can appear and how they might look.
Where Local Campaigns Can Appear
As mentioned above, these ads have the ability to show across multiple Google properties, including:
- Google Maps
- Google Display Network
- Youtube
- Google Search Network
What do Local Campaigns Look Like?
Google Maps
According to Google, when searchers search for locations like yours or explore a local area within Google Maps, Google matches these actions to your business location. Therefore, customers who are in or plan to be near your store front may see your ad.
Google Search Network
Your local ad may match out to a search term that is relevant to your business or it’s location.
Youtube
Local ads can show on Youtube as videos. Google works to show your ads where it will most likely get clicked.
Google Display Network
Lastly, Local campaigns can appear on the Google display network. Like Youtube, Google will optimise where your ads show to get your physical shop the most attention.
How do I track the success of my Local campaigns?
“Store Visit Conversions” is an Google automated conversion which will populate in your Google Ads account. It allows you to see how much foot traffic your local campaigns are driving to the store. It works using the searcher’s phone location history (through GPS) to determine if a customer has visited your store location after seeing an ad.
In Summary…
Local campaigns are just one of many different Google Ads campaign types (learn more about other Google campaign types). However, the goal of Local campaign is to drive foot traffic into your store. They show across many different properties on Google and allow you, the advertiser, to take advantage of machine learning to show ads to relevant users around your physical store.
