Multiple County Targeting in Google LSA and Local PMAX

[jerufoxxr]

We're trying to run Google Local Service ads and Local PMAX. Can we target multiple counties at once? What are the pros and cons?
For example:

Florida South East

• Palm Beach County
• Broward County
• Miami-Dade County

Florida West Coast

• Hillsborough County
• Pasco County
• Manatee County
• Sarasota County
• Pinellas County

Thanks in advance!

 

[Chris Barnard]

Greetings! Yes, you can target multiple counties in both LSAs and PPC PMax campaigns. Maybe it's just my OCD, but I also tend to target cities and even zip/postal codes.

I don't think there are cons to targeting counties, cities, zip/postal codes. I tend to think the layered targeting works best, even if the cities and zips get marked as duplicates. We have seen in the somewhat distant past that if an account is not targeting a desired city (while targeting the zip + county), it may not get impressions for explicit searches (service + city).

The pro is that with this strategy, you are covering every level of your service area(s). Those counties look great for the areas you mentioned, I would simply add the most highly desirable cities and zip codes, even if it's redundant.

As with everything in LSAs, test and see what moves the needle to dial in an effective strategy.

For PPC/PMax I'd follow the same layered location hierarchy - counties, cities, zips.

 

[jerufoxxr]

Hi Chris, thanks! That makes sense.

We'll update our ads accordingly and monitor the results in the next 15-30 days.

Follow-up question: How about targeting multiple states? Would it be advisable to run a separate campaign or target them in one?

 

[Chris Barnard]

Yes, I would use different campaigns for different locations, if they're generally more than 15-30 miles apart, depending on the industry. I generally use location and budget as the determining factors when considering multiple campaigns vs a single campaign.