You will often find that your business does better in particular areas over others, this can be down to a many number of reasons but the important thing is that you know where to target your advertising efforts and budget. The distance report in Adwords can help you do exactly that; it provides a comprehensive view of your geographic data. It can deepen your understanding of your business by highlighting how distance from a location affects search and performance. Knowledge is power, and in this instance using this information correctly can help you fine-tune your advertising campaigns, implement new strategies and get more bang for your buck when it comes to your ads.
Although not as widely championed as other PPC tools this report provides invaluable information to help grow your business and save money. If you are using location extensions then you definitely need to be using this report. It’s also particularly great for businesses that offer local services, which is why we love it, and for businesses with multiple locations.
What Is The Distance Report?
According to PPC Hero, the distance report ‘provides data segmented by the distance from your location extensions.’ By using this data you can track visits and discover a person’s geographical location and proximity to your business when they began their initial search. The beauty of this is that you can then focus your advertising to those particular areas where your store visits are showing highest. For example, if you were getting a large portion of your business from people within one particular radius you can then target those specific areas. This gives you the advantage of being able to adjust your campaigns accordingly to help save money and increase your ROI.
As well as allowing you to see how your location extensions have performed based on the distance from your business, this report also gives you all of the data that you would normally get in your reports including key metrics such as conversion rate, cost per click and cost per conversion.
Performance data can help you decide as a business owner or digital marketer where to put more of your efforts, focus and advertising budget to maximise the total sales of your product / services. Therefore, allowing you to allocate more of the budget to the most profitable areas and less of the budget to less profitable areas, which makes perfect financial sense.
Why Does The Number Of Clicks Matter?
Establishing exactly where your clicks are coming from allows you to focus in on your strategy and target your ads. Without doing so it’s impossible to know whether your targeted area is too large, too small or bang on the money. By calculating the percentage of a metric by radius you are able to determine the most effective range specific to your business. This inevitably increases ROI and saves time and money invested in areas that are less beneficial.
By using the distance report you can see a breakdown of performance for each targeted radius interval and Adwords campaign. With that data you can then determine the percentage of clicks within each radius thus, knowing where to increase your targeted campaigns and where to reduce spend. To achieve this, all you need to do is divide the clicks at a given distance by the total clicks for a location or campaign, and just like that you have a number for the percentage of clicks within that particular radius / area.
How Does Distance Impact Performance?
By using the distance report you’ll be able to see exactly when click through rates and conversion rates start to decline, which means any ads in those areas are less effective. Without doubt, distance has a direct effect on performance so it’s important to understand your data and make it work for your business. It makes no sense to keep investing money blindly into PPC when there are so many tools on hand to deliver data on a tailored level. Using this information you can make informed decisions on your Ad reach.
Will I Benefit From Using The Distance Report?
In short, if you have a local business or a business with multiple locations then the simple answer is yes, you will benefit from using the this report. Taking advantage of the report gives you instant access to data, which will help focus your radius for better performance. Plus, you can tailor it to meet your exact business requirements.
How Do I Get Started?
To get started, you may want to have several radius targets per campaign in order to figure out what works best for your business. For example, you could target 5 miles to begin with, then 7 then 10 until you find the golden number.
Conclusion
The distance report allows you to comprehensively analyse the performance of your Adwords and provides invaluable information such as the distance the searcher was from your locations, which in turns allows you to make more informed decisions when it comes to advertising.
A Helping Hand
If this all sounds a little too complicated then do not worry, we are here to lend a helping hand. At AIM we can help set up your reporting and get you on the road to maximising your campaigns. If you want to know more on how you can use the distance report to manage your PPC advertising performance, or if you’re interested in working with our AIM Marketing experts, give us a call on 0870 062 8760 or send us an email at at info@aiminternet.co.uk.
