Mastering Google Ads’ Location Targeting for Local Businesses

In the current digital landscape, local businesses must proactively use all available resources to effectively generate leads and increase sales. One of these tools is Google Ads. It offers powerful location-targeting features, allowing brick-and-mortar businesses to increase their visibility and foot traffic. 

Mastering Google Ads’ location targeting is beneficial and essential for small businesses that wish to boost local leads and sales. Concise targeting allows you to reduce wasted spending, reach the right people, better match what people are looking for, and personalize your ads.

See below how to take advantage of this Google Ads feature…

What is Google Ads’ Location Targeting?

Google Ads’ location targeting (also known as geotargeting) enables advertisers to specifically target geographic locations, from ZIP codes all the way up to worldwide. You can even target a radius around a location on the map. For example, a bakery in Boston could target ads to ZIP codes around their location, or a one-mile around their business location. Another option is to target a neighborhood like Chelsea, New York.

Geotargeting prevents wasted ad spend and ensures a message reaches the most relevant audience. Ever see a business pop up on Google Maps when you looked for a type of business “near me” or had your location turned on when browsing from your phone? Location targeting allowed you to see these when you were completing a location-based search.

Ways You Can Target Location

• Country: Select any country or combination of countries to target large areas. 😱Not usually recommended for a local business unless you’re engaging in e-commerce.
• State or province: Target specific states or provinces. Do you have a service-based business? This could help you, but honestly, we recommend targeting only areas where your ideal clients are.
• ZIP code/postcode: Now we’re getting specific! You can choose the specific ZIP codes around your location or where your clients live.
• Neighborhood: This is gold for local businesses! You can narrow your reach to just your neighborhood with this. Some examples are the Tribeca area of Manhattan or the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles.
• City: City targeting is exactly what it sounds like. Targeting a city will allow you to reach anyone within the borders of a particular city.
• Radius: This is a great way to reach the footprint of your business. How far is your customer base willing to travel to come to you? 1 mile? 5 miles? Plug in the radius you want to reach, and your ads will reach potential clients in that radius around your business

Location Targeting Settings 

Not only can you target people based on their location but also when they’ve been in your area recently or are just interested in it. You have these options: 

• Presence: Google defines this as “People in or regularly in your targeted locations.” These people are physically located in your target area, which is best for most types of local businesses.
• Presence or interest: “People in, regularly in, or who’ve shown interest in your targeted locations,” according to Google. When you use this setting, the people who see your ad may be nowhere near you, so selecting this may not be ideal for you. Typically, this works best for travel-type businesses.

Setting Up Location Targeting for Optimal Reach

Keep in mind that the Google Ads user interface is always changing, so these steps can vary slightly.

1. Navigate to your campaign settings in Google Ads and find the “Locations” section. Click Enter another location.
2. Enter your preferred type of targeting: region, state, ZIP code, radius, neighborhood, etc. 
3. Now, find location options and expand the dropdown. Select Presence unless you are a travel-based business or something similar where you’d want people from your area to see your ads.
4. Be sure to hit save when you’re done.

Location Targeting Best Practices

Curious about best practices? Here are some to follow:

• Start small and go bigger over time. Targeting too large an area may strain your budget.
• Target the areas where your ideal customers are rather than trying to reach everyone.
• If you have more than one location, send ads to location-specific pages.
• Break campaigns down by location for more control.
• Use locations in your negative keywords to keep searches relevant.
• Include the name of the area you’re targeting in your ad copy.

It’s also important to note that some industries, like real estate, have rules about how potential clients can be targeted, and Google will flag or disapprove ads that may violate these.

Targeting Strategies to Refine Control

Looking for targeting strategies to make the most of location targeting? Here are some ideas for you:

• Set up concentric radii: Set up a 1-mile, 5-mile, 10-mile, and 20-mile radius (or as far out as you cover. Watch how each area performs and add bid adjustments to improve performance.
• Suburb/Town Negatives: use https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm to find all towns or suburbs in a 50km radius, then run the same analysis using your preferred radius around your business.  Subtracting the local ones from the 50km list will give you an excellent list of towns or suburbs that are outside your ideal radius but still close enough that Google could match them to your keywords – add these as negative keywords.
• Use bid adjustments: While not all bid strategies allow this, you can add bid adjustments to different locations
• Target larger areas: Target larger areas and then add negative ZIP codes or neighborhoods to eliminate places that don’t fall into your ideal market.
• Layer targeting: Use cities and ZIP codes together and make bid adjustments based on CPC, conversion rate, and other key metrics.

Maximizing Local Leads with Location Targeting: Strategies and Tips

By implementing a few smart strategies, businesses can significantly enhance their local lead-generation efforts:

• Incorporate local keywords: Use keywords in your ads that locals are likely to use when searching for your products or services. When people connect with the words you’re using, they’re likely to stop on your ad.
• Create localized content: Tailor your ad content and landing pages to reflect local interests and languages. Your customers want to engage with familiar things.
• Use location extensions: Adding location extensions to your ads can showcase your business address and even provide directions, making it easier for local customers to find you.
• Connect your Google Business profile: Connecting your Google Business profile will allow you to show your information in location extensions.
• Use structured snippets: This ad asset showcases the neighborhoods you cover. By doing the leg work for customers, you’ll attract more attention.

Monitoring and adjusting campaigns based on performance data is also crucial. A successful campaign today might not perform the same way in six months as market dynamics and consumer behaviors change.

Troubleshooting Common Challenges

Despite its effectiveness, businesses sometimes face challenges with location targeting, such as targeting overly broad areas or not adequately catering to the local language. These issues are generally addressable through tighter geographic targeting and more localized ad content.

Here are some common issues:

• Showing in Irrelevant Locations: Are your ads showing outside of your target area? If they are, you should check to make sure you’re using the Presence setting and not Presence or interest.
• Wrong locations in queries: Even when you set your targeting to a specific location, searches for cities, states, and neighborhoods outside of that area can appear. Add negative keywords to alleviate this issue.
• Can’t adjust poor-performing locations with bid strategy: As mentioned before, only some bid strategies allow you to make bid adjustments on locations. If you’re using a bid strategy that won’t allow this, create campaigns just for areas you’d like to allocate different bids and budgets. This can be a strategy to reduce spend on poor-performing locations or add more spend to the best-performing ones.

Takeaways

By effectively leveraging this feature, businesses can dramatically increase their local visibility, driving more leads and sales in their targeted geographic areas. Success with location targeting, however, demands ongoing optimization and a deep understanding of local market dynamics. It’s a journey well worth undertaking for any business serious about local market success.

Are you ready to take your local business to the next level with Google Ads’ location targeting? Start implementing these best practices today and watch your local leads and sales soar.