Local Businesses and the Power of Online Marketing
Local businesses often face the challenge of reaching more potential customers and building trust in their brand. The answer? Local online marketing. Whether searching for a restaurant or the nearest auto repair shop, consumers increasingly turn to online sources for information. Additionally, a significant portion of search queries are regional. Businesses can leverage local online advertising to target potential customers with geographic precision.
But in which cities do businesses and franchises actively use these strategies? This question was explored by Localyzer. Our analysis found that local online marketing is widely utilized in Siegen, while in Salzgitter, its potential remains largely untapped. For this study, we analyzed over 9,600 local online marketing campaigns across Germany from 2018 to 2023, focusing on their number of impressions.
Siegen Leads in Local Online Advertising
The number of impressions—also known as ad views—indicates how often advertisements appear on a screen. This metric provides insight into the actual reach of a campaign. Siegen tops the list, with nearly 9.3 million impressions recorded. This means that, on average, each resident in Siegen saw an ad 90.8 times over the past five years via Localyzer, securing the city the first-place ranking in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Trier follows at a significant distance, with an average of 73 impressions per resident (a total of 8.1 million impressions). Neuss ranks third, with 65.3 impressions per capita and a total of 10.1 million impressions.
Oldenburg and Münster also rank high in local online advertising. In Oldenburg, residents saw an average of 64.3 ads, totaling 11.1 million impressions since 2018. Münster follows in fifth place, with 60 impressions per capita and a total of 19.3 million impressions.
Minimal Use of Local Online Advertising in Salzgitter, Bottrop, and Frankfurt
Despite high click-through rate potential, location-based advertising is rarely used in Salzgitter. The city in Lower Saxony ranks last, with just 1.7 impressions per resident (a total of 176,932 impressions). The situation is similar in Bottrop and Frankfurt am Main, where businesses use local online ads sparingly. Bottrop records 1.8 impressions per capita (a total of 215,000 impressions), while Frankfurt sees 1.9 impressions per capita (a total of 1.5 million impressions).
Münster Leads the Ranking Among Germany’s Largest Cities
Münster not only tops the overall ranking but also leads among Germany’s 20 largest cities. With approximately 60 ad impressions per resident (a total of 19.3 million impressions), Münster claims first place.
Wuppertal also sees widespread use of location-based online advertising, ranking second with 47.5 impressions per capita (a total of 17 million impressions). Essen follows in third place with 39.5 impressions per capita (a total of 23.1 million impressions). Notably, the top three cities in this ranking are all located in North Rhine-Westphalia.
About the Study
The analysis examined 9,619 local online marketing campaigns conducted by Localyzer clients between 2018 and 2023, with data collected as of June 11, 2023. The dataset was sourced from Localyzer’s internal database. To ensure comparability, the study focused exclusively on Germany’s 20 largest cities and cities with at least 100,000 residents. The research specifically analyzed local Google Ads and social media campaigns (Facebook and Instagram).
To calculate city rankings, the total number of ad impressions per city was divided by its population. Since the database only includes campaigns from Localyzer clients, Erfurt and Reutlingen were excluded as statistical outliers due to an exceptionally high or low number of campaigns.