For most websites, the targeted demographic is evident, for example;
A webshop from Germany in the native language that does not send their products internationally. Accidental visitors might happen from other German-speaking countries, but are not targeted as the purpose of the website is restricted to Germany only.
A US manufacturer of products that are distributed in the USA & Canada. If the company decides to generate leads from overseas as well to expand their business, they will need to be prepared before any leads are acquired.
A Canadian advertising agency that services clients in their region. Based on your subregion in Canada you might need to configure per these guidelines.
A blog, or news website without proper specification of the targeted region, for example, a blog about products that are available worldwide. if the website is in Norwegian, you can specify this to Norwegian guidelines, but if the language is not a target by itself, say Spanish or English you will need to cover at least all regions that have English or Spanish as a native language.
What happens if you change some variables?
A webshop from Germany in German, and also available in English. The webshop sends their products internationally.
In this case, we need a more detailed look:
- Why do they support English as a language?
- And do they send internationally, without restrictions?
- Do they have targeted advertising on a specific demographic?
Question 1
Did they choose English to support non-German speakers in Germany, e.g., expats, or did they purposefully broaden the demographic outside of Germany?
Question 2
Do they send internationally, but in the EU only?
Question 3
Do they specifically target residents of the UK with advertising?
Let’s say the answers are 1. They are broadening the scope, 2. No, and 3. Yes.
It looks like the webshop added English to service residents from the United Kingdom, outside of the EU, and purposefully targets them with display advertising.
In this case, the webshop should prepare for the GDPR & DSGVO and select the United Kingdom as a region with its specific privacy laws.
What if there are no specific variables?
In some cases, the variables are less clear or too broad, for example;
A blog in English with a wide variety of topics that don’t relate to any specific demographic or region. This blog advertises its articles based on the user’s interests or personalized advertising and remarketing.
Based on organic search and without specific targeting, this website has visitors from around the world.
This would suggest the targeted regions are broad because the visitors’ demographic is unknown. However, this is not necessarily true. If you have a website without any specific variables or targeting, you can keep the country origin of your blog or website as a region.
The main reasoning is; it depends on your active targeting, not on the passive reach of your blog.
NB. All websites are different, and there could be more variables than shown above. Just remember, passive reach is less important than active targeting.
