A technology that filters out non-U.S. traffic to focus on U.S.-based leads for search advertisers is helping some search engine marketers to better target ads and avoid paying for useless clicks, reports DM News. Search marketer SearchAdNetwork is using PPC advertising company Searchfeed's geotargeting tool to filter out traffic to its clients' websites, allowing clients to receive traffic and leads only from countries from which they want leads. Searchfeed is also evaluating technology to narrow geotargeting to target individual U.S. states.

"We no longer have to charge clients for foreign clicks and leads, which have a negative effect on the overall campaign performance," Samantha Pope, campaign manager at SearchAdNetwork, is quoted as saying.

Most smaller search engines don't offer geotargeting, Pope said, though major engines such as Google and Yahoo do provide more localized leads for marketers.