Relocation is expensive. In today’s market, a lot of employers would rather avoid relocation costs by hiring someone local. However, you’ll have a hard time finding the right local talent if your advertisements are being shown to a national audience, a common problem online. PPC advertising offers a simple solution to this problem.

All the major search engines offer the ability to target ads by location. Called geo-targeting, this feature allows you to show your ads only to searchers who are in the location you choose. Of course, that function is limited by the search engine’s ability to determine the searcher’s location, which isn’t perfect. It is good enough, however, to insure that the vast majority of your traffic is coming from the right place.

Here is a screenshot from the Google AdWords geo-targeting tool to give you an idea of the possibilities:

This view is zoomed in on the Los Angeles metro area (click for full size). As you can see, Google makes it simple to find and select the locations that are most relevant to your campaign, ranging from the entire country, all the way down to individual cities within a metro area. In fact, you can even target your ads to custom areas based on a set radius around a city or a shape that you define.

The flexibility of the system allows it to meet the needs of just about everyone. Campaigns may target multiple cities, states, or regions, or just one. For example, a company with one central office could target the surrounding 50 miles, while a national retailer could target all the cities that contain its stores.

If location, or relocation, is an issue for your company, geo-targeting may be the answer. It certinaly makes it easier to find the right talent in the right place.