Location Targeting, explained properly.
What is location targeting?
Location targeting in Google Ads determines where your ads appear geographically. Options include countries, regions, cities, postcodes or a radius around a specific address. It is fundamental for any business serving specific areas that wants to spend budget efficiently.
Types of location targeting
- **Country targeting:** for national or international businesses. - **Region or county:** narrower, good for service-area businesses. - **City or postcode:** precise, ideal for local businesses with specific service zones, for example Bristol or Bath. - **Radius targeting:** a circle around a specific address, powerful for single-location businesses. - **Custom maps:** draw your own service area for unusual coverage shapes.
The most important setting people get wrong
Google offers three location options: - **Presence or interest:** shows to people in, or searching about, your target location. This is the default and is usually too broad. - **Presence:** shows only to people physically in your target location. Recommended for most local campaigns. - **Interest:** shows to people searching about your target location, even if they are elsewhere. The default setting frequently wastes budget by showing ads to people outside your service area, so switch to presence only for most local campaigns.
How location targeting works
You set targeting at campaign level: include the locations you want and exclude the ones you do not. Google works out user location through IP address, device location and inferred behaviour signals.
Location Targeting: common questions.
How do I set up radius targeting?
In your campaign's Locations settings, choose Radius instead of city or country. Enter your address and the radius in miles or kilometres. You can then layer bid adjustments inside the radius for different distances from the centre.
Should I exclude locations or just not target them?
For most accounts, just not targeting them is enough. Excluding is for cases where someone outside your target area might still trigger your ads, for example people travelling under the 'presence or interest' setting.
Why are my ads showing outside my target area?
The most common reasons are the 'presence or interest' setting, broad search queries that match your keywords from anywhere, or device location signals Google has misclassified. Switching to presence only usually fixes it.
Can I bid more for specific locations?
Yes. Location bid adjustments let you raise or lower bids by location, which is useful when one area converts far better than another. A common pattern is plus 20% to 30% in your highest-converting town and minus 50% in neighbouring areas.
What clients say about working with us.
“I've had the pleasure of working with Chris on several SEO projects for my websites in the health field. He was definitely been able to demystify things so that I felt able to make decisions with him and feel confident they were the right ones. For a non-techie, that is worth gold! I look forward to working with Chris again and warmly recommend him to anyone who - like me - is unsure about all things SEO.”
“I was recommended by my branding partner to use Chris and his team last year. I can’t recommend them highly enough. They are very responsive , easy to communicate with and great at translating techy stuff when needed. They are now an essential part of my business model”
“We've been working closely with Chris, Hannah and the team for over 12 months now. As a small company with ambitious growth plans, it was incredibly important that we made the right choice on who to trust with our SEO. 18 months later, we're totally thrilled with our experience so far and our growing online presence within our market. We'd happily recommend BTT and their services to other SMEs. Drop them an enquiry!”
Real people on your account, not a faceless agency.
You work directly with the senior people who do the work, a small Bristol team you will actually get to know, not a call centre or an account manager relaying messages.
Meet the team →
