Targeting is the difference between paying to reach a homeowner who needs you this week and paying to reach someone two counties over who was just curious. Every platform gives you the tools to aim. Most businesses just never adjust the defaults.
Start with your best customer
Before touching any settings, write down who your most profitable customers are. Where do they live? What jobs do they hire you for? How do they usually find you? Your targeting should be built to find more of those people, not everyone who might possibly need your service someday.
Location: be specific
A simple radius around your shop is a start, but it often includes areas you don’t want to drive to and misses towns you’d love to work in. ZIP code or city targeting gives you more control, and you can exclude areas that bring low-quality leads.
There’s also a little-known location setting in Google Ads that can quietly send your ads to people outside your area. We find it set wrong in a surprising number of the accounts we review.
Keywords: target buyers, not browsers
Some searches signal someone ready to hire. Others signal someone doing research or looking for a job. Build your campaigns around the first group and block the second with negative keywords.
Ready to hire
Searches that signal urgency, a specific service, or a local location.
Usually not buying
Searches that signal research, do-it-yourself projects or job hunting.
Telling the two apart isn’t always obvious, and the right keyword and negative keyword lists look different for every business. Building them takes real research, and it’s a core part of how we set up every account.
Timing: run ads when you can answer
A lead that goes to voicemail often calls the next business on the list. Your ad schedule should match when someone can actually pick up, and your budget should lean toward the times your best leads come in. Finding those patterns takes data, which is why we review them for every client.
Social: reach people before they search
Facebook and Instagram let you reach people by location, age range and interests, which is useful for building awareness in the neighborhoods you serve.
Heads up
Ads for housing, employment, credit and certain other categories fall under Meta’s special ad category rules, which limit targeting options like age, gender and detailed location. Plan your campaigns with those limits in mind.
Remarketing: your warmest audience
People who already visited your website or engaged with your page are far more likely to call than strangers. Remarketing keeps you in front of them while they decide. You can also reach past customers with uploaded customer lists, as long as you follow each platform’s privacy and consent rules.
The bottom line
Better targeting usually beats a bigger budget. Tighten your location, aim your keywords at buyers, run ads when you can answer, and spend more on the people who already know you.