Many marketers want to know more about geo-targets and how geo-targeting works within Microsoft adCenter.
In Microsoft adCenter, geo-targeting is done by the city and state level for a particular market. Microsoft adCenter does not support designated market area (DMA) targeting, although the cities and states roughly map to DMAs.
Sometimes the borders for cities may cross state boundaries. These city borders are based on the metropolitan area, rather than the state. For example, Cincinnati, Ohio, is located on the border of Kentucky. When an advertiser targets on Cincinnati, they will also be targeting residents of Kentucky who live in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
Microsoft adCenter does geo-targeting based on a reverse-IP lookup of the searcher. This is extremely accurate, especially when the searcher is searching in the same location as their Internet service provider.
If the searcher is mapped to a different location through a corporate Internet service provider, or long-distance Internet service provider, their location may not be accurately represented. What’s more, if the searcher is accessing the Internet from a private IP address, adCenter is unable to target to an unknown location.
Cases where geo-targeting may not be accurate:
- When the searcher is accessing the Internet through a private network. In that case, the customer will see non geo-targeted ads because adCenter cannot target to an unknown address.
- When the searcher is accessing the Internet from a different location. For example, often corporations map all of their IP addresses to a single location which does not necessarily encompass the location of all of the searchers on their network.
Microsoft adCenter can only geo-target on IP addresses that are known; however, in most cases the IP addresses are extremely accurate.
If geo-targeting is enabled internationally, the ad will only show for users who are in the targeted country. For example, if an ad is targeted to Germany, then it will only be shown to users who search on www.msn.de, and not for users in the U.S. who search on www.msn.de. The ad will not show on www.msn.com.
If the ad is selected for all regions, then all users will see the ad, regardless of the domain name or their IP address.
It’s easy to start your Live Search ad campaign—simply provide your contact details to create your Microsoft adCenter account.
Sign up now to see what adCenter can do for you today.
