Google Ads Location Targeting: 10 Smart Tips + 5 Big Mistakes to Avoid

Location targeting is one of the most effective tools for businesses to use when running digital advertising campaigns. By using geographic and location-based targeting, you can more accurately target your chosen audiences, resulting in higher click-through rates and conversions.

With Google Ads, this efficient method is easy to implement; however, optimizing it for increased performance can be tricky.

In this blog post, we will provide ten smart tips on how to make the most of Location Targeting with Google Ads alongside five big mistakes that should be avoided—so don’t miss out!

What Is Location Targeting in Google Ads and How Does It Work?

Location targeting in Google Ads is a feature that enables advertisers to specify the geographic areas where their ads should be shown. It can be as broad as a whole country, as specific as a particular city, or even a certain radius around a location.

It works by using the IP address of a user's device to determine their geographic location. When a user searches, Google Ads checks if the location of the user matches any of the areas specified by the advertiser. If there is a match, the ad is eligible to be displayed to that user.

It ensures that businesses are focusing their advertising efforts and resources on audiences that are most likely to patronize their business, thereby improving efficiency and return on investment.

Top 10 Tips to Maximize Your Google Ads Location Targeting

With Google Ads, location targeting can be a powerful tool for reaching the right audience at the right time. But simply setting your location preferences and letting your campaigns run is not enough to guarantee success.

To truly maximize your location targeting, follow these top 10 tips. By employing these tips, you'll be well on your way to maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads location targeting.

1. Understand What Kind of Locations You Want to Target

As a first step, it's crucial to identify the locations you want to target in your Google Ads campaigns. It isn't just about targeting any location; it's about targeting the right locations that align with your business goals and customer demographics.

Analyze your customer data, understand where your potential customers are located, and identify key areas where there is a high concentration of your target audience. This could be a specific city, a country, or even a specific neighborhood. Remember, the more specific you are with your location targeting, the more focused your ad campaigns will be.

Image Source: Adamant

It will increase the likelihood of reaching customers who are likely to be interested in your product or service.

2. Make Sure to Use the Right Location Targeting Settings

Google Ads provides a variety of settings to fine-tune your location targeting. It's essential to understand how these settings work to ensure you're targeting the right audience. You can target people who are physically in your chosen location, people who have shown interest in your location, or both.

Additionally, you can choose to exclude certain areas where you don't want your ads to appear. Spend time familiarizing yourself with these settings and adjusting them according to your business needs.

Remember, well-configured location targeting can lead to more relevant traffic, improved click-through rates, and increased conversions.

3. Utilize Geo-Targeting for Specific Areas or Neighborhoods

Geo-Targeting is a fantastic feature in Google Ads that allows you to dial in your location targeting specific areas or even neighborhoods. It is particularly useful for local businesses or for businesses aiming to target a select demographic concentrated in a specific area.

To utilize this feature, you can select the 'radius targeting' option in Google Ads. It allows you to set a precise radius around your chosen area, ensuring your ads are displayed only to users within that location.

By doing so, you are not just reaching more of your target audience, but also optimizing your ad spend, as every click is more likely to be from a potential customer within your service area or target market. Remember, the success of geo-targeting requires a solid understanding of your customer demographics and their geographical distribution.

4. Use Zip Code Targeting for Higher Accuracy Levels

Another potent feature of Google Ads is the capability to target specific zip codes. If your business caters to a very specific area, or if you have identified certain zip codes where your target audience is highly concentrated, this feature can be extremely beneficial.

By targeting specific zip codes, you can ensure your ads are only shown to users in those areas, leading to higher accuracy in your campaigns. This kind of precise targeting can result in better conversion rates as the visibility of your ads is limited to users who are most likely to be interested in your products or services.

However, a word of caution: while zip code targeting can be very effective, it needs to be used judiciously. Overuse or misuse could lead to overly narrow targeting, potentially missing out on prospective customers. Always use data-driven decisions when applying zip code targeting in your Google Ads campaigns.

5. Experiment with Different Radius Size Settings

Playing around with radius size in your Google Ads targeting can offer insightful data on your ad's performance within specific areas. Google Ads allow you to target a custom radius around your chosen location, providing flexibility to adjust the range depending on your business needs.

For instance, if you own a brick-and-mortar store, you might want to begin by targeting a small radius around your location and then gradually expand it to see how ad performance varies. Monitoring the results of different radius sizes could help you identify the optimal targeting radius for your business.

However, be cautious not to set a radius too large, as it could dilute your targeting effectiveness and lead to irrelevant impressions and clicks. In essence, experimenting with different radius size settings can provide a strategic advantage in refining your location-targeting strategy.

6. Consider Overlapping Multiple Radii for Better Coverage

Overlapping multiple radii can be a strategic approach to ensure better coverage of your target areas. Google Ads allows for multiple radius targets within a single campaign. By utilizing this feature, you can ensure that your ads reach potential customers in different areas, increasing the likelihood of attracting more customers.

For instance, if your business has multiple branches in a city, you can set different radii for each branch to ensure optimal coverage. Moreover, if there are certain areas where you expect a higher concentration of your target audience, you can overlap radii to increase the frequency of your ad displays in those areas.

Image Source: 9Clouds

Keep in mind that overlapping should be used judiciously and based on a thorough understanding of your audience demographics and their geographical distribution. Ultimately, overlapping multiple radii can lead to more comprehensive campaign coverage, potentially boosting your click-through rates and conversions.

7. Exclude Locations Where Your Ads Don’t Perform Well

It's just as important to know where not to show your ads as it is to know where to place them. Google Ads allows you to exclude certain locations from your campaigns. It can be particularly beneficial if you notice that certain locations are consistently underperforming or providing low-quality traffic.

By excluding these locations, you can optimize your ad spend and focus your budget on areas that yield better results. Review your campaign performance regularly to identify any geographical areas that aren't delivering the desired results.

Bear in mind, that excluding locations should be a data-driven decision based on the performance analysis of your campaigns, not just a hunch. By effectively managing the areas you exclude, you can further finetune your location targeting, enhance your campaign performance, and increase your return on investment.

8. Monitor and Optimize Your Location Bids Regularly

To maximize the effectiveness of your location targeting, it's crucial to monitor and optimize your location bids regularly. Google Ads provides an option to adjust your bids based on location.

It means you can set higher bids for locations where you see better performance and lower bids for less profitable areas. This kind of bid adjustment can significantly enhance your campaign performance by ensuring that you're getting the most out of your ad spend in high-performing locations.

Regular monitoring and optimization of your bids will allow you to stay on top of changes in performance and make necessary adjustments quickly. Remember, successful campaign management is not a set-it-and-forget-it process; it needs ongoing attention and optimization. By keeping a close eye on your location performance and adjusting your bids accordingly, you can drive efficiency and maximize your return on investment.

9. Leverage Location Extensions for More Visibility

One of the underutilized features of Google Ads is the location extension, which can significantly enhance your ad's visibility. Location extensions can display your business address, phone number, and a map marker alongside your ad, providing potential customers with valuable information about your physical location.

This feature is especially beneficial for businesses with brick-and-mortar stores, as it can encourage in-store visits. If a user is searching for a product or service nearby, seeing your ad with a location extension can influence their decision and drive them toward your store.

Therefore, make sure to set up and utilize location extensions in your Google Ads to garner more visibility and attract local customers. Remember, a well-thought-out ad with all the necessary information can significantly improve your click-through rates and conversions.

10. Analyze Your Results with Comprehensive Reports

To truly optimize your Google Ads location targeting, it is vital to constantly analyze your campaign results. Google Ads offers comprehensive reporting features that provide deep insights into your ad performance at the location level.

These reports can show you which geographic areas are generating the most clicks, impressions, and conversions, and which areas are underperforming. By regularly analyzing these reports, you can make data-driven decisions to further refine your location targeting, adjust your bids, and even identify new promising areas to target.

Remember, the power of Google Ads lies in its analytics. Always use these resources to your advantage to continually optimize your campaigns and maximize your return on investment.

5 Common Mistakes to Avoid While Utilizing Location Targeting in Google Ads 

When using Google Ads, location targeting is a powerful tool that can help businesses effectively reach their target audience. However, there are common mistakes that can be made that could defeat the purpose of this strategy. By avoiding these common mistakes and optimizing location targeting, businesses can see a significant increase in their Google Ads campaign success.

A. Failing to Use Mobile Targeting When Possible

In today's digital age, mobile devices have become an integral part of our daily lives, with a significant percentage of online activities being carried out through smartphones and tablets. Ignoring mobile targeting in your Google Ads location targeting strategy can be a serious oversight.

Mobile targeting allows you to reach users based on their mobile device's geographical location, ensuring your ads are seen by potential customers when they are on the move. It is especially crucial for businesses such as restaurants or retail stores, where spur-of-the-moment decisions based on proximity can drive a considerable amount of foot traffic.

To optimize your mobile targeting, ensure you adjust your bid adjustments for mobile devices and utilize mobile-preferred ads. By doing this, you can increase your ad visibility among mobile users and potentially boost your campaign's effectiveness.

B. Not Creating Separate Campaigns or Ad Groups for Each Location Type

One common mistake advertisers often make when setting up location targeting in Google Ads is failing to create separate campaigns or ad groups for different location types. By lumping together various locations into a single campaign or ad group, you lose control over individual location performance.

This misstep can lead to inefficiencies in budget allocation and ineffective bid adjustment strategies. Therefore, it's best practice to create separate campaigns or ad groups for each location type, such as city, region, or even zip code.

It ensures that you can monitor the performance of each location type individually, make precise bid adjustments, and optimize your ad spend for each specific location. Remember, the key to successful location targeting lies in granularity and control. By segregating campaigns or ad groups based on location types, you can gain better control over your location-targeting strategy and improve the efficiency of your Google Ads campaigns.

C. Targeting Irrelevant Locations Due to Incorrect Keywords Used in Campaigns

A common pitfall in location targeting is tying up irrelevant locations due to the use of incorrect or overly broad keywords in your campaigns. This error can lead to your ads being displayed to users in locations where your business either doesn't operate or isn't relevant.

For instance, a local restaurant in New York would not benefit from clicks originating from California. Such discrepancies can arise when campaigns deploy broad or generic keywords that don't specify the intended location. To avoid this, it's crucial to incorporate geo-specific keywords in your campaigns and ensure they align closely with your business operations and target locations.

By doing so, you can enhance the relevance of your location targeting, improve your ad performance, and avoid unnecessary ad spend in locations that don't contribute to your business goals.

D. Neglecting to Monitor the Performance of Individual Locations

A common misstep in location targeting strategy is the lack of ongoing monitoring and assessment of the performance of individual locations. Google Ads provides numerous metrics and tools that allow advertisers to track and analyze the performance of each targeted location.

These insights can help identify high-performing locations that could benefit from increased ad spend and underperforming ones where budgets could be redirected. Neglecting to perform this performance analysis can result in wasteful spending on non-profitable locations and missed opportunities in areas with the potential for higher returns.

To avoid this, ensure you regularly review your location performance reports and make necessary bid adjustments and budget allocations based on the data. It will allow you to optimize your location targeting for maximum effectiveness and return on investment.

Image Source: Search Engine Land

E. Ignoring the Option of Excluding Certain Locations from Targeting

Ignoring the option to exclude certain locations from your Google Ads campaigns can be a costly mistake in location targeting. Google Ads provides advertisers with the ability to exclude specific geographic areas where they do not want their ads to appear.

This feature is particularly useful in scenarios where certain locations consistently underperform or are irrelevant to the business. By failing to implement location exclusions, you may be wasting a portion of your ad budget on areas that do not contribute to your campaign objectives or return on investment.

To ensure the optimal use of your ad spend, consider excluding locations that are not yielding satisfactory results or are not aligned with your business operations. This strategic exclusion of locations can help improve the effectiveness of your campaigns by focusing your efforts and budget on the locations that truly matter to your business.

DashClicks White Label Google Ads Services: Your Solution for Improved Location Targeting

DashClicks is a leading platform offering white label Google Ads services that can greatly enhance the efficacy of your location-targeting strategy. Our team of experts understands the nuances of Google Ads' location targeting, helping you avoid common pitfalls and optimize your campaigns for maximum return on investment. Here's how we can help:

• ‍Strategic Campaign Creation: DashClicks can assist in setting up your campaigns, ensuring they're segmented by location type for better control and performance tracking. It allows for a more granular approach to bid adjustments, improving efficiency and ad spending.‍
• Keyword Optimization: Our team ensures the use of geo-specific keywords in your campaigns, eliminating irrelevant location targeting and improving ad relevance. It can enhance the performance of your ads and avoid unnecessary expenditures.‍
• Monitoring and Optimization: DashClicks provides ongoing analysis of your location performance, making necessary adjustments for maximum effectiveness. We don't just set and forget; we continually optimize your campaigns for the highest returns.‍
• Mobile Targeting: Recognizing the importance of mobile in today's digital age, we ensure optimal mobile targeting in your location strategy, increasing visibility among mobile users and boosting campaign effectiveness.‍
• Exclusion Strategy: We understand the value of strategic exclusions in location targeting. Our team will help you identify and exclude underperforming or irrelevant locations, optimizing your ad spend.

By choosing DashClicks, you're entrusting your Google Ads campaigns to experts who will help you navigate the complexities of location targeting, ensuring your ads are seen by the right people, at the right time, in the right places.

To Summarize

Location targeting in Google Ads is an incredibly powerful and efficient tool to optimize your ads and tailor them to the specific locations you wish to target. By following our 10 tips and avoiding the five common mistakes outlined in this blog post, your Google Ads strategy can be significantly improved.

Investing time into analyzing the performance of each location, in addition to experimenting with different radius settings and overlapping multiple radii for better coverage, are all essential steps. With a little extra effort, you can maximize your returns by capitalizing on localized areas that are more receptive toward your targeting.

Embrace this fantastic tool and watch as your ROI begins to skyrocket! If you’re ready to take your PPC campaigns to the next level, contact us today and we’ll help you reach your highest potential.