Google contextual advertising in the Philippines

The Philippines is a unique state located on 7 thousand islands in Southeast Asia, the coast of which is washed by several seas. The authentic culture of the country was influenced by both East and West.

The number of local residents using the Internet allows the Philippines to hold the second place in the regional rankings. And in Asia as a whole, the country ranks sixth (according to the Asian Internet Marketing Association).

Southeast Asia has huge potential in the digital sphere. The region is considered one of the fastest growing in the world. Locals spend an average of 10 hours online every day. That is why contextual advertising in the Philippines is quite a profitable investment.

Features of setting contextual advertising in the Philippines

When setting up an advertising campaign, it is necessary to pay attention to general information about the region, the habits and traditions of the population, mentality, the most effective traffic channels and other important points.

Target audience

Population of the Philippines is quite young. The average age is just over 22 years old. The older generation (65+) is only 4%, while 36% of Filipinos are not yet 15 years old. The income of an average resident ranges from 400-600 US dollars.

This is a rapidly developing state with a young population – over the past five years, the number of Internet users has increased by 5.3 times. The high social activity of the inhabitants of the Asian region and the favorable geolocation of the country contribute to the rapid development and implementation of digital technologies.

Currently, the incomes of the population are still at a low level, while they are steadily increasing, which is why the country is experiencing an increase in consumer demand. Therefore, taking into account the dynamics of market expansion, the Philippines is becoming one of the leading promising locations.

Language targeting

Residents of the country communicate in 13 dialects of the Filipino language, which are very similar to each other. In Google AdWords advertising, it is best to choose the Batanian branch for the northern regions, and the South Mindora branch for the southern regions.

Filipinos often find work abroad and speak English quite well. Moreover, this language has the status of a second official language, so English can also be used when promoting goods and services.

It is important to keep in mind that for a PPC specialist, running advertising campaigns in two languages is equivalent to setting up two independent advertising campaigns in terms of labor costs, since semantics are collected and ads are generated separately for each language. This affects the cost of promotion.

Geo targeting

Shopping behavior in the Philippines is largely related to the way of life in a particular province. For example, in Manila, the capital of the country, a large number of residents actually live on the street. Such slums are not the most attractive place to openly use a smartphone – the risk of attack is high.

As you move away from the metropolitan metropolis, the crime rate decreases. The lower the population density, the lower the crime rate, so advertising on the islands is often more effective. When setting up Google Ads in the Philippines, pay attention to this feature when choosing geotargeting.

Low competition

Internet marketing in the country is in its infancy, the activity of advertisers is low, so users are not yet subject to the so-called “banner blindness”. As a result, almost any high-quality product with proper contextual advertising in the Philippines can become a source of high profits.

Promotion tools

1. YouTube video ad. A large number of Internet users are active consumers of video content. Filipinos spend quite a lot of time on the platform, so YouTube is a very promising promotion channel.
2. Shopping ads. Local residents respond better to the visual component of advertising, therefore they will more actively click on ads with a product image than on dry text.
3. Social networks. As soon as the Internet in the country became more or less stable, due to their high social activity, Filipinos quickly mastered Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
4. Teaser advertisement. Digitalization in the Philippines is still gaining momentum, so users here do not yet have banner blindness.

What can’t be advertised in the Philippines?

Digital marketing regulation in the Philippines is handled by the ASC Advertising Standards Board. The requirements of the law of ethics applicable to online advertising are not the most stringent, but important points should not be forgotten:

• It is forbidden to mention or show in advertising any tobacco products, alcoholic beverages and gambling;
• advertising messages containing knowingly false information, which includes the mention of “the best”;
• It is forbidden to promote narcotic substances in any form;
• Promotion of unhealthy lifestyles is prohibited.

Philippines advertising legislation is loyal – you can not mislead potential customers and not make deliberately inorganic offers, and this will be enough. Otherwise, it is allowed to advertise any products that do not cause harm.

Cost of contextual advertising Google Ads in the Philippines

Since the online advertising market in this region is still developing, and the incomes of the local population are not yet high enough, the cost per click on contextual advertising in the Philippines is not very high.

Here is an example of the cost per click from Google Ads in the Philippines for common niches:

• Washing machine maintenance – $0.68;
• ventilation cleaning – $0.20;
• Plumbing – $1.20;
• manicure – $0.65;
• carpet cleaning – $0.38;
• make-up services – $0.62;
• dentist – $0.65;
• refrigerators – $0.35;
• cosmetics from Korea – $0.41;
• cat toys – $0.23;
• dog food – $0.26;
• fertilizers for plants – $0.21.

In addition, the price of contextual advertising for the Philippines will be affected by the number of advertising tools used by an Internet marketer, keyword groups for which ads are configured, competition in topics, etc.

Google share of total search traffic in the Philippines

The vast majority of users from the Philippines choose Google as their search engine. Its competitor, Bing, which ranks second, is in demand only by about 3% of local residents. Other search engines have less than 1% market share.

This opens up a wide range of opportunities for an advertiser who decides to set up an advertising campaign in Google AdWords for the Philippines, because among the visitors of this search engine there is definitely a target audience for any business area.