If you run AdWords advertising campaigns, you probably know that you can target customers based on the searches (or keywords) they type into Google. But did you know that you can also target customers based on their demographics?
Let’s look at one type of demographic targeting: age & gender targeting.
Age and gender targeting allows you to increase or lower your bids based on those demographic distinctives. When Google’s customer base signs up for a Gmail account or other Google products, they enter in their genders and ages, which is how Google targets people in these demographics. If someone uses Google without using other Google products that require providing that information, then those are marked as “unknown” in the demographic targeting options. The good news for you is that you can target or block any age group or gender that makes sense for your business, including “unknowns”.
Why would a business want to use age & gender targeting?
Age & gender targeting increases your likelihood of curating your target audience and getting clicks and calls from your truly ideal customers.
Suppose you are a knee doctor who doesn’t take Medicare. Age targeting allows you to lower bids on people over the ages of 65, since they are more likely to have Medicare.
Or if you are a moving company, and your ideal moving job is a large house with many rooms and possessions, you may want to lower bids on people aged 18-24, since they are more likely to have a small apartment or dorm than to have a large house.
Finally, if you are a car dealership specializing in selling trucks, you may want to increase your bids on men and lower them on women, since statistically speaking, men are more likely to be interested and eager to purchase a big truck than women.
What exactly does income targeting look like?
For more tips and in-depth instructions on how to apply demographic targeting to your campaigns and ad groups, we recommend the following Google resources:
- About Demographic Targeting – Google Support
- Instructions to Add Demographic Targeting to an Ad Group – Google Support
Remember, age and gender targeting allows you to fine tune your keyword targeting and achieve higher levels of search relevance, which will ultimately help you attract more profitable leads.
