Short answer: Location targeting decides where your Google Ads can show: a country, a city, a ZIP code or a radius around your business. By default, Google also shows your ads to people elsewhere who have shown interest in your area. If you only want people who are in your area, Google says to consider the Presence option. Add an ad schedule so your ads run in the hours you answer.
Where your ads can show
For most campaign types, you choose the locations: entire countries, areas within a country, a radius around a location, or your Business Profile locations. You can also exclude regions where you don’t want your ads to show.
| Target | When it fits |
|---|---|
| A whole country | You sell to the whole country |
| Areas within a country: regions, cities or postal codes | You serve only some areas |
| A country minus a few areas | You serve almost everywhere, with a few exceptions you exclude |
| A radius around a location, from 1 km | You deliver within a distance, or your customers live near your business |
| Your Business Profile locations | Your customers come to your locations |
Google sets a minimum: no radius under 1 km. Very small targets may show your ads only now and then, or not at all.
From Google Ads Help, “Location targeting” and “Target ads to geographic locations”, read November 2, 2026.
Presence or interest: who counts as being in your area
The default option reaches people in, regularly in, or who’ve shown interest in your targeted locations. The other option, Presence, reaches only people in or regularly in them.
Interest can come from searches that name a place, past searches, past physical locations or searches on Google Maps. Google recommends the broad option for Search. It suggests Presence when you only want people in specific locations, not people elsewhere who are interested.
Exclusions work by presence: they keep your ads from people likely to be in the areas you exclude. People outside those areas may still see your ads.
From Google Ads Help, “About targeting geographic locations” and “About advanced location options”.
How to set it up
- Write down the areas you serve: the ZIP codes, the cities or the distance you travel.
- In your campaign settings, open the Locations panel and enter those areas, or a radius around your address.
- Exclude the places inside that area that you don’t serve.
- Under location options, choose Presence if you only want people who are in your area.
- Add an ad schedule with the days and hours you can answer customers.
- Set your daily budget knowing that, with a schedule, Google paces toward 30.4 times that budget a month.
- After a few weeks, check your results by location and adjust what doesn’t pay off.
Google bases location targeting on signals like settings, devices and behavior, and says 100% accuracy isn’t guaranteed. Checking your results by location is how you catch the gaps.
From Google Ads Help, “Target ads to geographic locations” and “About Ad Scheduling”.
When your ads show
New campaigns show ads all day by default. An ad schedule limits them to certain hours or days, and can raise or lower your bids for specific days and times. If no one searches for your keywords in those hours, your ads won’t show. A campaign that runs only on weekdays still paces toward the full monthly amount of 30.4 daily budgets.
From Google Ads Help, “About Ad Scheduling”.
What our own numbers show
On November 2, 2026, we checked five searches that local businesses live on in Keyword Planner. “ac repair” gets about 368,000 searches a month in the US and 8,100 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area.
“plumber” gets 673,000 in the US and 12,100 in that area. In all five, the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area holds between 1% and 2.5% of the US searches. For a business that only works there, the national number isn’t its market.
On our Miami page we explain how we set this up by ZIP code and hour.
Before you turn on a campaign
- Your locations match the areas you serve.
- Places inside or next to your area that you don’t serve are excluded.
- Location options say Presence if you only want people in your area.
- Your ad schedule matches the hours you answer.
- If you use an ad schedule, your daily budget accounts for the 30.4 pacing.
- You check results by location every month.
RememberTarget the areas you serve, choose Presence if you only want people who are there, and run your ads in the hours you can answer.
To improve the quality of the ads themselves, read our guide to Quality Score. Prefer that we set up your areas and hours? That is part of our Google Ads service.
Quick answers about location targeting
What is location targeting in Google Ads?
It is the setting that decides where your ads can show: whole countries, areas within a country such as cities, a radius around a location, or your Business Profile locations. You can also exclude places you don’t serve.
Is Presence different from Presence or Interest?
Yes. Presence reaches people who are in or regularly in your locations. Presence or Interest, the default, also reaches people elsewhere who have shown interest in those locations, for example by searching for them.
Can I target a ZIP code in Google Ads?
Yes, in countries where Google offers it. Depending on the country, you can target regions, cities or postal codes, and you can also set a radius around a location of at least 1 kilometer.
Is Google Ads location targeting accurate?
Not completely. Google bases it on signals such as people’s settings, devices and behavior, and says 100% accuracy isn’t guaranteed. That is why it advises checking your results and changing your settings as needed.
Does an ad schedule lower my monthly budget?
No. Google says that with an ad schedule, your campaign paces toward a monthly spend of 30.4 times your average daily budget, however many days it runs in the month. Set the daily budget with that in mind.
Sources
Read on November 2, 2026, all from Google Ads Help: Target ads to geographic locations, About targeting geographic locations, About advanced location options and About Ad Scheduling. Our own case: our Keyword Planner read for five local searches, US and Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, on November 2, 2026.