Look at the screenshot of my search for Sacramento LASIK and notice that Google has listed some locations below the ad. I can only assume these locations are coming from the geo-targeted or radius campaigns that I run for one of the websites listed here, but the strange thing is I was searching from half-way across the country. In other words, the listing that you see in the screen shot is from a national-level campaign! This is the first I have ever seen or heard of this. Any comments or input will be appreciated.
When you mention an specific region keyword on your own country in google search it will trigger this sponsored ads geo-targeting like you noticed. If you are in USA try these 2 different Google search: pizza san francisco pizza Seattle with luck you will see some geotargeting ads for these cities even you are outside the targeted area.
Sorry, but I don't see it on either of those searches. Can you attach a screenshot? I think this info is coming from Google Maps (formerly Google Local) listings. I have compared the listings across about twenty clients and the only ones that seem to show the extra line of locations at the bottom of their PPC listings are those which have had their site indexed by Google Maps. I have not yet determined (if indeed this theory is correct) whether that requires the Google Maps listing to be verified (they will call you or send a post card) For more information see the bottom of this blog entry. The reason I have not checked to see if it requires the Google Maps listing to be verified is that all of my clients have been verified so...
Are you outside US like me? If so Try this time using a proxy: pizza san francisco pizza Seattle Google maps has nothing to do with sponsored listings results in Google Search.
Thanks Micromag. I see that you get this on your search. But tell me, why is it that www.r-u-i.com/plo (the last PPC listing on the page this time) doesn't have a localization line below it when the restaurant is clearly located in San Francisco? Some listings have it and some don’t, which is what confuses me. I thought Google Maps might have something to do with it for the following reasons: 1. All sites listed in PPC results that have "Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto, CA" listed under the ad were also in Google Local 2. NONE of the national sites that show in those PPC results have "Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto, CA" under the listing, even though they have "Sacramento" in the title and the search was for Sacramento LASIK. So Google obviously knows which sites are local and which are national and chooses to show "Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto, CA" under the listing ONLY if the site is local. 3. The ad I see for my client comes from his national campaign and was set up in my account on an IP address in Colorado. Now you can't say it's just because of the keyword "Sacramento" because otherwise those national sites would be showing up the same way since they are obviously bidding on the same term. So if it's not the keyword, how in is Google connecting this domain to that area? Yet, when I look at the San Francisco pizza listings, I see some sites that aren’t indexed in Google Maps have the localization text below and some do. So my theory doesn’t make any sense now. I know people have been seeing this for a long time, about a year or so in larger cities, but it is the first time I’ve seen it and I am just wondering how Google determines on the San Fran listing whether to show “San Francisco, CA†as they do with www.Delivery.com, or “San Francisco – Oakland – San Jose, CA†as they do with sanfran.grubhub.com OR nothing at all, as they do with www.r-u-i.com. It would be one thing if these were radius listings or if I were searching from within the area, but I was searching for a California keyword from Colorado and the result was coming form a national campaign. Just curious if anyone knows where the data comes from because, if so, it might be possible to expand or contract the areas listed, depending on your goals. And it might be possible to get that localized line if you don't have it - like poor old www.r-u-i.com .