By Lisa McCreary, Search Marketing Account Manager
When I discovered Income Level demographic targeting options available in Google Adwords I was instantly intrigued. As best practice we optimize our campaigns using geographic targeting, device targeting and keyword targeting options available in AdWords but to be able to target based on demographic data offers another layer of targeting that is highly desirable to many of our clients. You’ll see from the screenshot below this targeting option is hidden within the “advanced” search within location targeting.
My first step to understanding its potential is to test it. My immediate thought was that this would be incredibly valuable to my luxury hotel clients. To be able to narrow down who our Google text ads display to based on the hotel clientele past guest data, specifically, income level, should improve our overall campaign performance and conversion rate.
First, I added every income level available as “bid only” within my top converting campaigns to start tracking how each separate income level was performing. This allows us to track the performance before taking any action with bid adjustments or excluding any income tiers. I let this run for 3 months in order to get enough data to take action. See performance breakdown below:
After reviewing data from the past 3 months I was able to draw the following conclusions:
- My initial theory that higher income levels convert better for this client was true
- The top 3 income levels produced 85% of the total conversions
Next Steps:
Based on these conclusions I decided to take action and add the top 3 income levels as an additional layer of targeting within each geographic area I’m currently targeting in my top of funnel campaigns. In order to only target the income demographic levels I want to reach, I need to add only those income levels within each Adwords campaign, leaving out the undesired income levels completely.
Check back in a few months for follow up with results and findings!
Have you used income demographic targeting in Google Adwords? Please share any questions/comments/experience on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn!
*It is important to understand that Google’s income demographic targeting is by geographic region (obtained from IRS info) – not by user information. So really you’re just narrowing your targeting down to regions based on the average income for people that live in that area.
Contact GCommerce to learn more about Income Level Demographic Targeting on Google Adwords.
