Location (PPC) 7

Google Ads location targeting allows your ads to appear in the geographic locations that you choose: countries, areas within a country, a radius around a location, or location groups, which can include places of interest, your business locations, or tiered demographics.

Location targeting helps you focus your advertising to help find the right customers for your business. This specific type of targeting could help increase your return on investment (ROI) as a result.

Note: Hotel Ads campaigns can’t be targeted by radius at this time.

Keep in mind

Location targeting is based on a variety of signals, including users’ settings, devices, and behavior on our platform, and is Google’s best effort to serve ads to users who meet your location settings. Because these signals vary, 100% accuracy is not guaranteed in every situation.

As always, you should check your overall performance metrics to help ensure your settings are meeting your advertising goals and change them accordingly.

When to Use Google Ads Location Targeting (and When Not to)

✅ You sell in local retail outlets or have a storefront
✅ Your product or service can capitalize on geo hotspots
❌ You aren’t mobile optimized

Targeting the right locations for your business

Location target	Description	Types of businesses that could benefit	Types of businesses that might not benefit
Countries	Targeting your ads to a country or multiple countries can be a good idea if you provide products and services to those large areas. Targeting entire countries allows you to receive more ad exposure than you would by targeting a few individual cities or regions within a country.	A national business serving an entire countryAn online retailer shipping worldwideAn international business selling to several countries	A business that doesn’t serve all regions or cities. In this case, you might target individual regions or cities instead.
Areas within a country	Consider using more precise targeting if your business doesn’t serve all regions or cities, or you’d like to focus your advertising efforts on certain areas within a country. Depending on the country, you can target regions, cities, or postal codes.	A business that serves a local neighborhoodA business with special offers in selected locationsA business selling products in selected regions or cities	A business that is trying to reach most of the regions in a country, with just a few exceptions (say, all of the U.S. except for Alaska). In this case, it might be better to target the whole country, and then exclude the other areas.
Radius around a location	Radius targeting (also known as proximity targeting or “Target a radius”) allows you to choose to show your ads to customers within a certain distance from your business, rather than choosing individual cities, regions, or countries.	A business that delivers within a selected radiusA local business whose customer base is within a radius around the business	A business that only wants to reach specific cities, regions, or countries.

Tips for choosing the right locations for your business

What to consider when choosing your location targets:

• Be sure to target the locations where you can find your customers—which isn’t necessarily the same place that your business is located. For example, if you own an e-commerce company, target all the locations you ship to, not just where your business is physically located.
• If you target an area where your business isn’t located, you won’t be able to see your ad when you search on Google.com. However, you can use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool to find your ad.
• If you target a small radius or very small location, your ads might only show intermittently or not at all. That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria.
• It’s also a good idea to keep your language and location targeting settings consistent. For example, if you’re targeting English-speaking users in England, remember to target the English language, and be sure that your ads are written in English.

Example

Adrian wants to advertise his hotel in Spain to English-speaking customers who live in England. He targets his ads to England and writes his ads in English.

How to reach audiences in entire countries

1. From the page menu on the left, click Campaigns.
2. Click the name of the campaign that you’d like to edit.
3. From the page menu on the left, click Settings.
4. Click the drop-down arrow next to “Locations.”
5. Enter the name of the country that you’d like to target.
6. Click Save to add the location.

How to reach audiences in areas within a country

It’s worth keeping in mind that selecting a small location could mean that your ads might only show intermittently or not at all. That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria.

1. From the page menu on the left, click Locations.
2. Click the name of the campaign that you’d like to edit.
3. Click the blue pencil icon.
4. Enter the name of the location that you’d like to target. If you’re entering a city name, add the country name as well. You don’t want to target Paris, France, if you’re trying to sell cowboy hats to customers in Paris, Texas.
5. Click Save to add the location.

Set location targeting for multiple campaigns at once

Here’s how to set location targeting for multiple campaigns at the same time:

1. From the page menu on the left, click Campaigns, then Settings.
2. Check the box next to any campaigns that you want to change.
3. Click the Edit drop-down menu, then choose Change locations.
4. In the box that appears, choose whether you would like to set new locations for the selected campaigns or add new, additional locations to those campaigns.
5. Type a location in the text field. After you select a location, additional text fields will appear where you can add more locations.
6. Optional: We recommend you click Preview to see how your campaigns’ location will change.
7. Click Apply.

How to target a radius around a location

To increase the bids within a selected radius of storefront you can create an ad group with higher bids, targeted to that geographical region.

When you target a radius, it’s worth keeping in mind that selecting a small radius could mean that your ads might only show intermittently or not at all. That’s because small targets might not meet our targeting criteria. 

1. From the page menu on the left, click Locations. 
2. Click the name of the campaign you wish to edit.
3. Click the blue pencil icon, then select Radius.
4. In the search box, enter the address of the location you’d like to use for the center of the radius. Enter the radius that you’d like to target and select a unit of measurement from the drop-down menu. 
5. Check the map to make sure you’re targeting the correct area. When you’re ready, click Save to add the radius target.
6. Click Save.