Geo-targeting FAQ

1. Can a US account target across US and UK markets?

   US account holders can only geo-target the US market.

2. How does geo-targeting impact the marketplace?

   Geo-targeting is a filter to improve targeting. Geo-targeted offers will only be shown to end users who are located in the geo-targeted area or to users who express an interest in the geo-targeted area.

3. What is the list of geo target strings accepted by the system?

   Our geographic targeting feature can accept any geographic string as an input. Submit your geographic strings using the setGeographicLocationForCampaign method of the CampaignService.

   Use setGeographicLocationResponse to identify successfully set strings, to identify and resolve ambiguous strings and to identify strings with no matches.

4. Is there a service to look up geo-target strings (e.g. metro area/state) by zip code?

   If you submit a zip code, you'll get back the corresponding City/Surrounding area string in the response object.

5. How do the various geoString inputs works with the geo-targeting commands?

   Let's look at the 'setGeographicLocationForCampaign' operation as an example. Here are valid geoString inputs in the United States:

   zip codes (e.g. 91504):
   Only valid if the zip code describes one geographic area. If the supplied zip code results in an ambiguous match, the operation fails and provides a list of possible matches in the XML response.

   City, State (e.g. Burbank, CA):
   This will work when you use the city name and the state abbreviation.

   State (e.g. CA, United States):
   This generally works as long as the state abbreviation cannot be confused for a city abbreviation (e.g. LA).

   State (e.g. California):
   The full state name works as long as there isn't a city by the same name (e.g. New York).

6. What is the best way to add states to geo-targeting without running into ambiguous matches?

   Use the 'State of' argument to add states with no ambiguity. Please see the example below.

   ...
   <setGeographicLocationForCampaign xmlns="http://marketing.ews.yahooapis.com/V3">
      <campaignID>3035001</campaignID>
      <geoStrings>
         <string>State of Alabama, United States</string>
         <string>State of Alaska, United States</string>
         <string>State of Arizona, United States</string>
         <string>State of Arkansas, United States</string>
         <string>State of California, United States</string>
         <string>State of Colorado, United States</string>
         <string>State of Connecticut, United States</string>
         <string>State of Delaware, United States</string>
         <string>State of District of Columbia, United States</string>
         <string>State of Florida, United States</string>
         <string>State of Georgia, United States</string>
         <string>State of Hawaii, United States</string>
         <string>State of Idaho, United States</string>
         <string>State of Illinois, United States</string>
         <string>State of Indiana, United States</string>
         <string>State of Iowa, United States</string>
         <string>State of Kansas, United States</string>
         <string>State of Kentucky, United States</string>
         <string>State of Louisiana, United States</string>
         <string>State of Maine, United States</string>
         <string>State of Maryland, United States</string>
         <string>State of Massachusetts, United States</string>
         <string>State of Michigan, United States</string>
         <string>State of Minnesota, United States</string>
         <string>State of Mississippi, United States</string>
         <string>State of Missouri, United States</string>
         <string>State of Montana, United States</string>
         <string>State of Nebraska, United States</string>
         <string>State of Nevada, United States</string>
         <string>State of New Hampshire, United States</string>
         <string>State of New Jersey, United States</string>
         <string>State of New Mexico, United States</string>
         <string>State of New York, United States</string>
         <string>State of North Carolina, United States</string>
         <string>State of North Dakota, United States</string>
         <string>State of Ohio, United States</string>
         <string>State of Oklahoma, United States</string>
         <string>State of Oregon, United States</string>
         <string>State of Pennsylvania, United States</string>
         <string>State of Rhode Island, United States</string>
         <string>State of South Carolina, United States</string>
         <string>State of South Dakota, United States</string>
         <string>State of Tennessee, United States</string>
         <string>State of Texas, United States</string>
         <string>State of Utah, United States</string>
         <string>State of Vermont, United States</string>
         <string>State of Virginia, United States</string>
         <string>State of Washington, United States</string>
         <string>State of West Virginia, United States</string>
         <string>State of Wisconsin, United States</string>
         <string>State of Wyoming, United States</string>
      </geoStrings>
   </setGeographicLocationForCampaign>
   ...