What is location targeting in Google Ads?
Location targeting is just one of many levers to consider when utilising your PPC budget. Geographic targeting allows you to target entire countries, specific regions, cities & postcodes to ensure you are bidding exactly where your customer demographic is. Location targeting is just one of many levers a PPC manager will utilise to ensure that your PPC strategy works for you, and over time, you may witness increases in sales volume or leads, and a reduction in wasted spend.
What does geographic targeting mean in PPC?
Geographic targeting refers to the action of targeting or even excluding specific locations within your Google Ads campaigns, to ensure you are bidding on locations that align with your customers.
Types of locations you can target in Google Ads
In Google Ads, a PPC manager can target countries, cities, regions & postcodes. It’s best to understand your customer’s geographic location and review existing location data before making changes, but once you are informed, you can choose to either target whole locations or simply a radius in miles or kilometres around your chosen locations.
It’s best to understand your business goals before optimising location goals. An e-commerce retailer may choose to target countries, whereas a local clinic may choose to target specific postcodes with a 15-mile radius target set for a super-tight location bidding strategy, targeting their demographic on their doorstep.
Why location targeting is important for PPC campaigns
Having the correct Google Ads location targeting settings can not only supercharge conversion rates in high-performing areas but also improve your account’s profitability and efficiency.
Reduced ad spend
By targeting only locations relevant to your customers, you direct the Google Ads bidding system to spend only in those locations. When you review pre and post-change performance, you can expect some reductions in wasted ad spend. Not only that, but you can go one step further by adding location exclusions for those areas that specifically perform badly, or areas that your customer may not reside in. I’ll talk about this point more specifically later in the post.
Reach customers in the right locations
By adding location adjustments that are informed by your customer data & performance data, you can be sure that you are reaching customers in the right locations. Bidding elsewhere may lead to greater inefficiencies and reduced ad spend.
Improve conversion rates with local targeting
Location targets are a great lever to increase your conversion rate, which is a strategic blessing for most PPC managers.
Scenario: A business specialising in industrial roofing uses Google Ads to drive leads, but was previously targeting the UK as a whole, as this would typically be the auto-populated setting for a UK advertiser. If they were to add a location target of say, a 50-mile radius around each of their bases, they would see a direct uplift in qualified leads, as they are only bidding in geographic locations where their customers are searching, but where they can actually service them too.
Step-by-step guide: How to set up location targeting in Google Ads
If you find yourself asking how to target locations in Google Ads, below is a step-by-step guide to enhance your PPC bid strategy by adding location targeting in Google Ads.
1. Open your Google Ads campaign settings
Head into your Google Ads interface and open your account. Next, click the ‘cog’ next to your desired campaign to open up campaign settings.
Scroll down until you reach ‘other settings’ and expand the locations menu.
3. Add countries, cities, towns or postcodes
Add the countries, cities, towns or postcodes relevant to your business’s targeting strategy.
4. Google Ads radius targeting set up
Don’t forget that you can add in radii around locations, if it’s applicable to your targeting strategy, which is commonly found in local targeting strategies. Within a couple of clicks, you’ve cracked the Google Ads radius targeting setup.
5. Adjust your location options
Be sure to check your location options. Google recommend targeting people in, regularly in or who’ve shown interest in your included locations, but we find that targeting people only in or regularly in your included locations provides better results, with reduced wasted spend.
6. Add location exclusions
If there are locations that your businesses do not want to target, be sure to add exclusions. You can do so by saving your campaign settings and heading back into the usual campaign view, and using the left-hand navigation bar to expand ‘audiences, keywords and locations’. Click through to locations to find location exclusions on the second tab.
Google Ads location targeting best practices
Now you know how to add locations in a Google Ads campaign, let’s take a look at some best practices to ensure your targeting strategy follows best practices.
Use radius targeting for local businesses
For local targeting strategies, it’s typically best to target specific locations nearby to your area of service, and add a radius to include the surrounding areas. Be mindful of the radius size to make sure it aligns with your local competition, for example, if you are running Google Ads activity for a local dentist clinic, think about the distance a person may be willing to travel to get to your practice. It can be best to consult your customer data and make a strategic decision.
Exclude areas you don’t serve
Reduce wasted spend by excluding areas you do not want to serve ads in to improve your overall efficiency.
Example: If you’re selling high-value goods, it might be worth excluding locations with a high number of low demographic social scores.
Review location performance reports
As always with Google Ads PPC optimisations, data is key to making informed decisions. We recommend reviewing your location performance reports before making changes to your strategy to ensure performance improves, and regularly reporting on the data for strengths and weaknesses
Adjust bids based on location performance
Once you’ve reviewed your location data, it’s time to make some changes to your bids. However, it’s best to understand how these signals interact with your bid strategy. Bid modifiers work best with a manual CPC strategy.
Do bid modifiers work with auto bidding strategies?
It’s important to understand your bid strategy and understand the fundamentals of bidding.
Max Clicks: Bid modifiers may work.
Target ROAS/CPA/Max Conversions: Bid modifiers will be ignored.
Common Google Ads targeting mistakes
Watch out for some of the common mistakes that some advertisers make when setting up their location targeting strategy in Google Ads.
Targeting areas that are too broad
Be mindful of targeting areas in a broad manner, especially if you have a limited budget for PPC. For some larger advertisers, it may be acceptable to adopt a broad location targeting strategy, but one must be aware of the product/service offering and ensure it truly aligns with all locations within the broad targeting strategy.
Not excluding irrelevant ocations
By not excluding irrelevant locations, you are at risk of wasting your valuable ad spend, and your top-line KPIs may be missed. Now you know how to exclude locations in Google Ads, it’s best to apply your knowledge.
Ignoring location performance data
As with everything else in the world of PPC, your results are only as good as the data you optimise with. By ignoring your location performance data, you are likely missing out on key opportunities to increase your efficiencies or even spot new location opportunities.
Summary
Now you know how to change location targeting in Google Ads, you have the opportunity to improve your results by reviewing your PPC location targeting. Follow a few simple steps reviewing location data, adding new locations, removing non-performing locations, or even adding bid modifiers if you utilise a manual CPC strategy. Don’t forget to exclude those locations that are irrelevant to your business’s goals, too. Review the data regularly, and make regular optimisations throughout the financial year to help achieve your PPC goals.
