mwoolgar
06-13-2008, 05:54 AM
For many years now I have been using MSN Ad Center as a method of ensuring I am reaching as many people as possible. It would appear however that I have been missing a large number of people when trying to target audiences outside of the UK.
My ignorance is in part due to the fact that like many people I don’t use AdCenter that often but it is also due to the fact that I get p***ed off with Microsoft’s use of the term “American English” or in this case “English – United States”. As most people in the world would testify there is only one version of the English language – English. It’s not our fault the Americans are incapable of pronunciation and spelling. The point is that when setting up an ad group you need to state the language you wish to use. The default is set to “English – United States” so just as I do with other Microsoft products I reset the default to European English… or English English :D
View of language settings: http://sem-insight.blogspot.com/2008/06/microsoft-adcenters-language-settings.html
Unfortunately the Yanks have a certain logic to their madness. If you look there is also Canadian English and Singapore English. What this means is that if you want to target English speakers on www.live.com in the US you need to set your language setting to US English. If you fail to do this and set your language to UK English your ads will still appear but only on www.live.co.uk in the UK, eventhough your geolocation is in the USA. Complicated? Yes! Unlike Google this is way too complex to second guess and will trip up many beginners.
My ignorance is in part due to the fact that like many people I don’t use AdCenter that often but it is also due to the fact that I get p***ed off with Microsoft’s use of the term “American English” or in this case “English – United States”. As most people in the world would testify there is only one version of the English language – English. It’s not our fault the Americans are incapable of pronunciation and spelling. The point is that when setting up an ad group you need to state the language you wish to use. The default is set to “English – United States” so just as I do with other Microsoft products I reset the default to European English… or English English :D
View of language settings: http://sem-insight.blogspot.com/2008/06/microsoft-adcenters-language-settings.html
Unfortunately the Yanks have a certain logic to their madness. If you look there is also Canadian English and Singapore English. What this means is that if you want to target English speakers on www.live.com in the US you need to set your language setting to US English. If you fail to do this and set your language to UK English your ads will still appear but only on www.live.co.uk in the UK, eventhough your geolocation is in the USA. Complicated? Yes! Unlike Google this is way too complex to second guess and will trip up many beginners.