Yahoo Geo-targeting | Designated Marketing Area (DMA)

Sep 20, 2009 local search, yahoo
Author: Steve Dooley

We have had some questions from clients on exactly how Yahoo’s DMA (Designated Marketing Area) and Geo-Targeting works exactly. To clarify the matter, we asked our representative at Yahoo to address the issue in a format that we can distribute to our clients.

Geo-targeting allows you to target your ads to potential customers located in particular geographic areas within the market selected for an account. It looks at factors, such as the user?s search query or Internet Protocol (IP) address and other proprietary user information, to determine when to display your geo-targeted ads.

Example: If your business sells real estate within the state of California and you select California as a geo-targeted region, your ads will be shown to potential customers located in California, as well as to search users that may be located outside of California but enter search terms such as ?California Real Estate.?

Geo-Targeting allows you to target on the country, state, DMA, city or zip code levels.

To target prospective customers by country, state or province, DMA, city, or ZIP/Postal Code, follow these steps:
1. Click the Campaigns tab. The Campaigns page opens.
2. Identify a campaign and click its link. The Campaign Details page opens.
3. Click the Campaign Settings link. The Campaign Settings page opens.
4. In the Campaign Geo-Targeting box, click the edit button. The Campaign Geo-Targeting page opens.
5. Select ?Entire Market? or ?Specific Regions?. The Target By drop-down list is displayed when you select ?Specific Regions.
6. Choose ?Country? to target either the U.S. or Canada, ?State/Province/Territory? to target by state, province or territory, ?Designated Marketing Areas (DMA)? to target by general metropolitan areas, ?City? to target by specific cities, or ?ZIP/Postal Code? to target by specific ZIP or Postal Codes.
7. Select the areas you wish to target.
8. Click Save Changes.

Please note that geo-targeting accuracy is not guaranteed, and may vary depending on the level of targeting selected, as well as other factors. Also, the United States and Canada market does not include French-language ads.

DMA® is a registered service mark of Nielsen Media Research, Inc., and is used pursuant to a license from Nielsen Media Research, Inc., all rights reserved.

We hope that you found this helpful.

Tags: Designated Marketing Area, dma, Geo-targeting, yahoo