How do location targeting options work?
Want the full playbook? Read A Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads Campaign Options in 2026 — Learn the 9 Google Ads campaign types, when to use each one, budget benchmarks, setup steps, and practical optimization tips for stronger results.
Expert take from Dmytro Snihur
Most advertisers assume that choosing a city or zip code means their ads only show to people physically standing in those spots. In reality, Google Ads defaults to a much broader net that often catches irrelevant traffic from across the globe.
The Core Problem
The default setting in Google Ads location targeting is Presence or Interest. This means your ads are eligible to show to people in your target location, people who regularly visit that location, and people who have simply searched for terms related to that location. If you are a plumber in Chicago, your ads might trigger for someone in London searching for Chicago plumbing trends or a student researching local infrastructure. While Google frames this as a way to reach more potential customers, it frequently results in clicks from users who have zero capability of visiting your storefront or utilizing your local service.
The Targeting Gap
When you leave the default settings active, you are essentially bidding on intent rather than geography. This creates three primary issues for your budget:
- Click waste: You pay for engagement from users who are researching a location rather than trying to buy from it. - Signal noise: Your conversion data becomes muddled, making it difficult to tell if your local SEO and landing pages are actually resonating with the neighborhood. - Competition inflation: You end up competing in auctions against national brands because your targeting criteria are too broad, driving up your average cost-per-click.
Without manual intervention, the system prioritizes reach over relevance, which is rarely the goal for businesses with fixed service areas.
What to Do Instead
To regain control, navigate to the Location Options under your campaign settings. You must change the target from Presence or Interest to Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations. This ensures that the user is actually physically located in your area or frequents it often enough to be a viable lead.
Additionally, pay close attention to the Exclusion settings. The default for exclusions is also set to Presence or Interest. Change this to Presence: People in your excluded locations. This prevents your ads from showing to anyone currently standing in a zip code or country you have specifically blacklisted.
Refine your strategy further by:
- Using radius targeting for service-based businesses to capture a specific drive-time. - Reviewing the User Location Report to see exactly where your clicks originated, rather than just which targeted location they were attributed to. - Layering location bid adjustments on specific high-value neighborhoods instead of treating an entire city as a monolith.
The Bottom Line
Location targeting is not a set-it-and-forget-it feature. The difference between Presence or Interest and Presence alone can be the difference between a profitable local campaign and a wasted budget. Audit your campaign settings today to ensure you are paying for actual local traffic, not just global curiosity.