Location Targeting in Google Ads: A Guide for Australian Businesses

Location targeting in Google Ads lets you choose where your ads can show: whole countries, areas within a country such as states, cities or postcodes, or a radius around an address. For a service business, the setting that matters most is not the map. It is the location option underneath it, because the default setting also shows your ads to people who are merely interested in your area. This guide covers how to set it all up, how to keep out-of-area clicks down, and how to read the data to see whether your targeting is working.

TL;DR

• Location targeting works from signals such as a user’s device, settings and behaviour. Google says it cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, so expect a few stray clicks.
• The default option is “Presence or interest”. Most local service businesses should switch to “Presence” so ads reach only people in, or regularly in, the area.
• Use postcodes, suburbs or a radius (minimum 1 km) to match the area you really service, and add exclusions for areas you do not.
• Exclusions win over targeting if a place is in both lists.
• Review location reports regularly and judge areas by booked jobs, not clicks.

Table of Contents

• What location targeting actually does
• Location options: presence, interest and the default that costs you money
• How to set up location targeting
• Radius targeting around an address
• Excluding locations and cutting out-of-area leads
• A location strategy for Australian service businesses
• Which location data to watch
• Where we come in
• FAQ

What location targeting actually does

When you build a campaign, Google asks where your customers are. Your answer sets the geographic boundary for that campaign. According to Google Ads Help, you can target countries, areas within a country (regions, cities or postcodes, depending on the country), or a radius around a location.

Google works out where a person is using a mix of signals: device settings, location history, the places they search about, and other behaviour. That is why the targeting is strong but not perfect. A phone using a VPN, a traveller whose device has not updated, or someone searching about your suburb from another state can all slip through.

The practical takeaway for a removalist, mechanic or tradie is simple. Location targeting is a filter, not a wall. You tighten it with the right settings, then you check the reports to see what got through.

Location options: presence, interest and the default that costs you money

This is the setting most Australian business owners never open. Under Campaigns > Settings > Locations > Location options, Google offers choices about who counts as being in your targeted area.

The default casts the wider net. Someone in Perth who searches for “removalists Brisbane” can see a Brisbane-targeted ad because they have shown interest in the area. If you are a Brisbane removalist, that click is paid for and may be a genuine enquiry, but plenty of the time it is not one you can serve.

Google’s own guidance says the default is a good fit for many search campaigns, but that Presence is the recommended choice for businesses that only want to serve users physically in their area. Its published 2022 test, in the travel, real estate and education verticals, found a 5% increase in conversions for advertisers who moved from Presence to Presence or interest. That makes sense for those industries, where people research a destination before arriving. A plumber or mechanic is in a different position: nobody in another city is going to drive their car to your workshop.

When “presence or interest” can still make sense

Do not treat the default as always wrong. It can suit:

• Interstate and intrastate movers. A removalist that quotes for moves into your city may want people researching the destination.
• Businesses with a destination. A clinic that draws patients from a regional area into a metro centre may benefit from people who are planning to travel there.
• Low-volume campaigns. If a tight area gives you almost no impressions, widening the option is one lever before widening the map.

If you are weighing up paid location settings against organic visibility, a breakdown of SEO, AEO and GEO priorities helps clarify how Google decides who is in or interested in an area, and which approach suits which goal.

For most trades and local services, our starting position is Presence. You can always loosen it once you have data.

How to set up location targeting

Setting the locations inside an existing campaign takes a couple of minutes.

1. In Google Ads, open Campaigns, then Audiences, keywords, and content, then Locations.
2. Click the blue pencil icon.
3. Select the campaign you want to change.
4. Enter the country or location you want to target, and choose from the suggestions.
5. Click Save.

Then check the location option as above. Many people stop at step 5 and leave the default in place, which is the most common reason a tight local campaign still leaks budget.

When you add locations, Google shows the reach in the map. Look at it. Suburb names can overlap, and Google sometimes matches a name to a different state than you meant. A search for a suburb that exists in two states is worth double-checking before you click Save.

Choosing between suburbs, postcodes and cities

There is no single right level. A few rules of thumb we use:

• Cities and regions are quick to set up and work for businesses that cover most of a metro area. They also include fringe suburbs you may not want.
• Postcodes and suburbs give more control. They suit businesses with a tight service area, like a local mechanic where customers will not travel far.
• Very small targets can struggle to show. Google warns that tiny areas may show ads intermittently or not at all, so a single small suburb is rarely enough on its own. Group neighbouring suburbs together instead.

If you want to see how location fits into a broader build for trades, our Google Ads for tradies guide and plumbers guide cover service-area planning in a real campaign context.

Radius targeting around an address

Radius targeting draws a circle around a point. It is useful when your customers come to you, such as a workshop, clinic or showroom, or when your travel time makes distance the real limit on your service area.

To set it up:

1. Go to Locations and click the pencil icon on the campaign.
2. Choose Radius.
3. Enter the centre address and the radius. Google requires a minimum of 1 km.
4. Check the map, then save.

When a radius works and when it does not

A radius is blunt. It ignores suburb boundaries, rivers, freeways and the real drive times that shape how people choose a business. In a city like Sydney, 15 km east can be a very different trip to 15 km west at 5 pm.

A radius suits:

• A mechanic or auto electrician whose customers must drive or arrange towing to the workshop.
• A mobile service with a firm maximum travel distance.

It suits less well:

• Businesses that think in suburbs, councils or postcode zones for pricing.
• Removalists that price by origin and destination rather than distance from base.

Where you can, we prefer to build a list of the suburbs or postcodes you really service. It takes longer, but it matches how your quotes work.

Excluding locations and cutting out-of-area leads

Targeting says where you want to appear. Exclusions say where you never want to. Google Ads Help says you can add exclusions from Campaigns > Settings > Locations by searching for an area and selecting Exclude, or by using Advanced search. If a location is both targeted and excluded, the exclusion takes priority.

That priority rule is a handy tool. You can target a whole city and exclude the one corner you cannot reach, rather than building the list suburb by suburb.

For larger jobs, Google lets you exclude up to 1,000 locations in bulk at a time, entered one country at a time.

What to exclude

• Suburbs outside your service area that sit inside a larger targeted region.
• Areas where the job is not worth the travel, such as remote outskirts for a small repair.
• Regions you used to serve but no longer do.

Why out-of-area enquiries still happen

Even with Presence selected and tidy exclusions, you will see the odd enquiry from outside your area. Common reasons:

• Accuracy limits. Google is clear that it cannot guarantee 100% accuracy.
• VPNs and masked locations. The user appears to be somewhere they are not.
• People calling for someone else. A parent searching for an elderly relative in your suburb, or a person arranging a move into the area.

Not every out-of-area lead is a bad lead. A customer in Melbourne booking a removal into your city is worth answering. Qualify them on the phone or in your form, rather than assuming location equals quality.

A location strategy for Australian service businesses

Google’s advice is to target where you can find customers and provide service, not automatically the address of your business. An online retailer should target the places it delivers to, and a local service business should target the places it can reach.

Here is how that plays out for the kinds of businesses we work with.

Removalists

Removal enquiries come from two places: people leaving an area and people arriving. Consider running separate campaigns. One targets your home city with Presence only, for local moves. A second targets origin cities you accept interstate work from, with Presence or interest, and uses ad text that speaks to people moving to your city. That split also lets you set separate budgets and see which pays.

Mechanics and workshops

Customers stay close to the workshop. Start with a radius or a tight suburb list, Presence only, and review how far your booked jobs actually travel. Often 80% of your jobs come from a smaller area than you assumed, and you can concentrate budget there.

Tradies and mobile services

Build your service area around travel time and job value. Higher-value jobs (a full re-wire or bathroom renovation) justify a wider reach than a quick tap washer. Consider separate campaigns by job type, each with its own area. Our cost per lead guide explains how to judge whether a given area is paying its way.

Clinics and regulated services

Health providers have extra rules about what ads can say, on top of the location setup. If that is you, see our guides for dental practices and NDIS providers.

Which location data to watch

The setup is half the work. The other half is reading what comes back. In Google Ads, the location report (under Audiences, keywords, and content > Locations) shows performance by the places people were in when they saw your ads. A few views are worth checking monthly.

• Where people were versus where they searched. Compare the locations where users were physically with the locations they showed interest in. A large share of clicks from people who were elsewhere points to switching to Presence.
• Cost per lead by area. Clicks and click-through rate flatter a suburb. Cost per enquiry and cost per booked job tell you the truth.
• Conversion rate by area. A suburb that clicks a lot but never converts may sit just outside the distance people will travel.
• Booked and won jobs by area. This is the gold standard. If you feed sales back into Google, you can bid on real revenue by location. Our guide to offline conversion tracking shows how.
• Call and form data. Ask callers where they are. Note how many are outside your area, and whether they were still worth the job.

Look at several weeks of data before acting. Small areas produce noisy numbers, and cutting a suburb after three clicks can remove one that would have paid off.

Adjust in this order

1. Switch the location option to Presence if out-of-area clicks are high.
2. Add exclusions for areas that cost money but never book.
3. Tighten or widen the map based on booked jobs.
4. Split areas into separate campaigns if budgets or job values differ a lot.

One change at a time, with a few weeks between, lets you tell what helped.

Where we come in

Location settings are one of dozens of small decisions that decide whether a campaign books jobs or burns budget. At The Google Ads Guy, you work directly with an experienced specialist who sets up your service area, tests the location options, and reports on booked work rather than clicks, with no lock-in contract. Our Google Domination System covers strategy, hands-on management and conversion-focused landing pages for Australian service businesses.

If you also want organic visibility in the same suburbs, our Hybrid Search Marketing package combines Google Ads and SEO. Landing pages matter too, because the best-targeted click is wasted on a page that does not convert: see our notes on Google Ads landing pages in Australia.

FAQ

How do I stop Google Ads showing my ads outside my area?

Go to Campaigns > Settings > Locations > Location options and choose Presence, so ads reach only people in or regularly in your targeted locations. Then add exclusions for suburbs or regions you do not service. A small number of stray impressions can still occur because location signals are never perfectly accurate.

What is the smallest radius I can use?

Google Ads requires a radius of at least 1 km. Very small targets can show intermittently or not at all, so most local businesses are better off grouping several nearby suburbs or using a radius that gives the campaign enough search volume.

Is geo targeting the same as location targeting?

Yes. Geo targeting, geotargeting and location targeting all describe choosing the geographic areas where your ads can appear. In Google Ads you control it through the Locations settings of each campaign.

Should I target my business address or my service area?

Target where your customers are and where you can serve them, not just where your premises sit. A mobile tradie with a wide service area needs a map that matches travel reality, while a workshop customers drive to may do better with a tighter radius.

What happens if a location is both targeted and excluded?

The exclusion takes priority, and ads will not show there. This lets you target a large area and carve out the pockets you cannot reach.

Recommended

• Google Ads Landing Pages in Australia: Prevent Ad Disapprovals
• Offline Conversion Tracking for Google Ads: An Australian Guide
• Enhanced Conversions for Leads: An Australian Setup Guide
• Australian NDIS Providers: Compliant Google Ads With a 90 Day Plan