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Last week I started talking about what AdWords beginners should look out for when first setting up their campaigns and mentioned that targeting both search and display network is a very bad idea. This time, I will move on to another common mistake: targeting all countries & regions using a single campaign.

It’s logical to want to expose your ads to as many regions as possible, and by all means, you should do that. But the proper way of doing it is to target each region or country with separate campaigns. For example, if your target market is North America, it’s better to target US and Canada with separate campaigns. If your target market is Canada, then it’s better to target each province with separate campaigns.

The reason behind this is that each country and region behaves differently from another. No one would argue that US and Canada are two very different countries. A keyword that works well in one country might not work well in others. With everything under one campaign, changing ads and the bid for keywords will affect their performance in all regions.

For example, an online pharmacy selling discounted prescription drugs to residents in US and Canada would obviously have the keyword “discount prescription drugs” in its keyword list. Due to the higher cost for prescription drugs in the States, the keywords would definitely have a higher conversion rate and lower CPA in the States than in Canada.

Two problems arise from this scenario if both regions are targeted under one campaign:

1. Advertisers can’t easily figure out in which country the keyword is actually performing well without running a report
2. The bid of the keyword can’t be changed without effecting the its position in the better performing country

This makes campaign management difficult and inefficient. Also, having separate campaigns allows advertisers to have targeted ads catered to each individual region, such as promotional offers or clearance sale.

Of course, there are more than one ways of doing things and what I’ve mentioned are just guidelines for beginners. But the important thing is to plan ahead when setting up your campaigns so you don’t end up crippling yourself when it comes time for expansion.

Pitstop Media offers ROI based internet marketing services. If you need help with PPC management or PPC optimization please contact us for a free, no obligation quote. We’ve helped companies reduce their paid advertising cost by as much as 48% and increase AdWords conversion rates by as much as 410%. See our internet marketing case studies.