With AdWords, you can target your ads to countries or territories, or to specific regions and cities. When someone enters your keyword on Google, the AdWords system uses several factors to determine whether to show your ad:
- We consider the Google domain being used (.fr, .de, .kr, etc.). If a user visits www.google.fr, the Google domain for France, she'll see ads targeted to France, regardless of her current location.
- We analyze the actual search term the user submits on Google to determine when to show ads targeted to a specific region or city. If someone enters a search query that contains a recognizable city or region, we may show appropriate regional or custom-targeted ads. For example, if someone searches for 'New York plumbers,' we may show relevant ads targeted to New York, regardless of the user's physical location.
- When possible, we determine the user's general physical location based upon their computer's Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address is a unique number assigned by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to each computer connected to the Internet. This applies to regionally or custom-targeted ads as well as all ads shown on Google.com.
- Regional and custom-targeted ads: If someone searches for 'plumbers' from a New York area IP address, we may display ads targeted to New York, even though 'New York' wasn't in the search query.
- Any ads shown on Google.com: While country-specific Google domains (such as Google.fr) don't use IP address to target ads, Google.com does. For example, if a user with an Australian IP address visits Google.com, we'll display ads targeted to Australia, even though the user isn't accessing Google.com.au.
Additionally, a user's language setting will determine which ads they can see. The 'Preferences' link on the Google homepage lets users choose the language in which they want to search. When the user sets the language preference, Google only displays ads that are targeted to the chosen language. For example, users who choose Spanish as their language preference see ads targeted to Spanish speakers. If the user doesn't specify a language preference, the Google domain (like Google.fr) determines the default language preference (in this case, French).
