Google Ads Location Targeting [Explained]

Presence targets only people who are physically in or regularly located in your specified area. Presence or interest also includes people who have searched for or shown interest in that location — even if they are currently elsewhere. For most local businesses, Presence is the better choice as it avoids wasted spend on users who are researching the location remotely.

Yes. You can add multiple locations at different granularity levels within the same campaign — for example, targeting two cities and a radius around a third address all at once. You can also exclude specific locations to prevent your ads from showing in certain areas within your broader target.

For most local businesses, radius targeting or city-level targeting gives the best results. Radius targeting is ideal if you have a physical service area (e.g. delivery, home services) — set the radius to match how far you realistically serve customers. City-level works well for businesses that serve the whole metro area. Combine with the Presence location option to ensure you reach people who are actually nearby.

Location targeting itself doesn't directly change Quality Score or CPC, but the competition level in your targeted area does. High-demand cities (e.g. London, New York) typically have higher CPCs than smaller towns. You can use location bid adjustments to increase or decrease bids for specific areas — useful if certain locations convert better than others.

Radius targeting lets you draw a circle around any address or map point and target everyone within that distance. It's the most flexible geotargeting option for businesses with a physical service area. Use it for restaurants, clinics, gyms, home-service providers, or any business where proximity to customers is critical. You can set the radius in kilometres or miles depending on your account's unit preference.

Yes. After setting your targeted locations, you can apply bid adjustments (from -90% to +900%) to individual locations. This lets you bid more aggressively in your best-converting areas and less in underperforming ones — without splitting them into separate campaigns. Location bid adjustments are set in the campaign's Locations tab.