Google Ads Location targeting lets you to choose the exact geographic locations where you wish to serve your ads. This functionality ensures that your ads are only visible to individuals within those chosen locations.
With Google Ads location targeting, you have the flexibility to both include and exclude locations based on your own preferences and goals.
Google Ads Location Targeting Settings – Common Mistakes To Avoid
Once you’ve chosen your target location, Google Ads unveils the following target options within the location settings dropdown arrow.
Location Settings
- Presence or interest – People in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations (recommended)
- Presence – People in or regularly in your targeted locations
If you select Option 1 – Presence or interest – People in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations, your ads could extend their reach beyond your target location and show to users in many different locations.
Option 2: Target people in or regularly in your specified locations. This choice is a precision tool, ensuring your ads hit your intended areas.
Google Ads Location Targeting Options:
Precisely reach your desired audience by tailoring ad visibility based on specific countries, cities, regions, postcodes or custom radius settings.
- Countries: Target your ads to specific countries or a combination of countries.
- Cities: Focus your ads on specific cities where your audience is located or where you want to promote your products/services.
- Region: Target a county or state to cover a number of towns & cities and their surrounds.
- Postcode: Precise targeting down to the outward code of a postcode, for example SW11.
- Radius Targeting: Specify a radius around a particular address to target users within that distance.
When Selecting Locations, Keep These Factors in Mind:
- Countries: When targeting multiple countries, separating out locations into their own campaigns has many benefits such as localised messaging, budget control and ease of granular reporting and analysis.
- Cities: Bulk-adding cities within a country allows advertisers to utilise bid adjustments where appropriate and also makes it easier to analyse performance metrics.
- Radius: Increasing the radius of a city allows you to reach a wider audience of potential customers who will be willing to travel to you or are within your delivery range.
Excluding Locations in Google Ads
Location exclusions are essential for optimising your ad targeting and budget. By excluding certain locations, you can focus your ads on the most relevant and profitable audience. For example, if your business only operates in specific regions or if you’ve found that certain locations have lower conversion rates, excluding them can help improve your overall campaign performance.
Google Ads Location Targeting – Matched Locations Report
Google simplified their location reporting in 2020 – The matched locations report provides advertisers with insights into the performance of their ads based on the geographic locations where they are shown.
Where to find the report
- In your Google ads account, select “Insights and reports” then “When and where ads showed” on the left hand navigation bar
- Select Matched locations
- Clicking on the country will allow you to Narrow by the following levels.
- Provinces
- Counties
- Municipalities
- Cities
- Postcodes
- TV regions
- Local areas
- Districts
To Conclude…
By regularly monitoring performance by location in Google Ads, advertisers can make data-driven decisions to optimise their campaigns. This may involve adjusting bid strategies, refining targeting settings, or allocating budget more effectively to locations that drive the best results.
By strategically using location exclusions, you can enhance the efficiency of your ad spend and increase the likelihood of reaching users who are more likely to convert. It’s all about reaching the right people in the right place at the right time!
If you’re looking for any further information on redefining your location targeting strategy in your Google Ads Account, get in touch with our expert team.