In Google Adwords you can target your ads to geographic locations with regional targeting, or you can exclude locations where you don’t want your ads to appear. You can target by country, state, city, or radius. By default, the country where your IP address is located is always used.

By using regional targeting, you can improve your return on investment by showing ads in areas that are profitable for your business. For example, it is not profitable for you to show ads throughout Finland if you only serve your customers in southern Finland.

Goal by country, state or city

You can find the location settings in the Campaign Settings tab. By entering a country, state or city name in the box next to ‘Enter a location to target or exclude’, you can choose to have your ad appear in that area or exclude that area from your ads.

location settings

beam alignment

Click “advanced search” (in the image above) and “beam targeting” (in the image below) to target your ads to a specific radius.

For example, you can target a 50 km radius around Jyväskylä. When selecting the desired radius and city, a list of cities within the selected radius is also displayed. You can add these cities to the list as target areas or exclude areas instead of radius.

Google Adwords Beam Targeting

Advanced location options

You can also specify more specific placement options for your ads on the Campaign Settings tab. You can find these settings locations below by opening the “location options (advanced)” link.

Advanced location options

People in my target area or searching or viewing my target area

This is the default setting that is generally recommended. By targeting this option, your ads will be shown to people who are physically located in the target area you select or are interested in.

Example: You have a flower shop in Helsinki. He targeted Helsinki and used the keyword florist.

In Tampere, a person enters the search phrase Helsinki florist and sees your ad. In this case, the person is not physically in your target area, but is interested in it.

People in my target area

By selecting this option, your ads will only show to people who are physically in the area you’re targeting. This does not take into account a person’s interest in the area being addressed.

Example: You have a flower shop in Helsinki. He targeted Helsinki and used the keyword florist.

In Tampere, a person enters the search phrase Helsinki florist and cannot see your ad because they are not physically located in the area you are targeting.

People who search or view my target area are searched or viewed by people

This option does not consider the physical location of the person, but shows your ads when the person is interested in your area.

Example: You have a flower shop in Helsinki. He targeted Helsinki and used the keyword florist.

In Tampere, a person searches for the keyword flower shop Helsinki. He will see your ad because he is interested in your area.

In Helsinki, a person searches for the keyword florist. He does not advertise because he is not interested in your area.

Opt-out options

You can also exclude people who are interested in your excluded area or who are physically located in your excluded area. To find these settings, click Exclude.

Exclude advanced location options

People in my excluded area or searching or viewing pages about my excluded area (recommended)

By selecting this option, your ads will not be shown to people who are physically located in your excluded area. Your ads will also not show even if they are interested in the area you have excluded.

Example: You have excluded the Jyväskylä area, so your ad will not appear when you search for a florist in any city in Jyväskylä.

People in my area excluded

By selecting this option, your ads will not be shown to people who are physically located in your excluded area.

Example: You have excluded the Jyväskylä area and do not want to show ads for your flower shop there.

A person in Jyväskylä searches for Jyväskylä florist and cannot see your ad. This is because he is physically out of her area.

Summary

With regional targeting, you can place your ad in profitable areas for your business. You’ll also save money when you no longer display ads in areas where you can’t serve your customers. At the same time, unnecessary clicks will be reduced for people who are not interested in or unable to use your services.

With good planning, you can get much more power in your marketing with location targeting.