Radius Targeting in Google Ads

Radius targeting (also called proximity targeting) lets you show your ads to people within a set distance from a specific address or point on a map. You define the centre point (e.g., your business address) and the radius (e.g., 10 km), and Google will only serve your ads to users located — or regularly in — that zone. It's ideal for local businesses that want to reach nearby customers.

Google Ads allows a minimum radius of 1 km (or 1 mile) and a maximum of 500 miles (approximately 800 km). For very local businesses like restaurants or clinics, a radius of 5–20 km is typically most effective. Larger radii are better for service-area businesses or businesses that serve a wider geographic region.

Yes. You can add as many radius targets as needed — for example, targeting a 10 km radius around each of your store locations. You can also mix radius targeting with city or region targeting within the same campaign. Each location target is additive: your ads will show to users in any of the defined areas.

City targeting targets an entire city or metropolitan area as defined by Google — the boundary follows administrative lines and can be much larger than expected. Radius targeting is a precise circle around a specific address, regardless of administrative boundaries. Radius targeting gives you more control over the exact coverage area, which is especially useful in dense urban areas where a city-level target might be too broad.

It depends on your Location Options setting. The default is Presence or interest, which can include users who are searching for your targeted area even if they're physically elsewhere (e.g., someone in another city searching for restaurants in your area). If you only want to reach people physically present in the radius, change the setting to Presence only in Campaign Settings → Locations → Location Options.

Yes. Once a radius target is added to your campaign, you can apply a bid adjustment (increase or decrease) to increase or reduce how aggressively you bid for users within that radius. For example, you could add a +20% bid adjustment for users within 2 km of your store. This is useful when you have both a tight local radius and a broader city or country target and want to prioritise the most relevant zone.