Google Ads Location Targeting: Presence, Radius, Exclusions and Reports

Google Ads location targeting decides which people can see your ads based on where they are, where they regularly spend time, and which places they have shown interest in. The setting that controls most of this is the location option: "Presence or interest", which Google sets as the default and recommends, or "Presence", which limits ads to people who are in or regularly in the places you target.

Most location problems come from leaving that default untouched, from exclusions that were never added, or from reading the wrong report afterwards. This guide walks through each setting in the order you meet it in the campaign settings screen, explains what Google's systems actually do with it, and finishes with how to set this up for advertisers in Thailand who sell to tourists and expats.

How Google Ads location targeting works

Google uses two kinds of location signal. The first is physical location, described in the help pages as where users are located or regularly located. It comes from signals such as IP address and device location. The second is location of interest: places a person has shown interest in, inferred from things like their search terms, past searches and the content they view. A person sitting in Singapore who searches for "boutique hotel Chiang Mai" has a physical location of Singapore and a location of interest of Chiang Mai.

Google is open about the limits. Its help center describes location targeting as a best effort that is not 100% accurate, because the signals depend on device settings and user behaviour. That matters for budgeting: even a perfectly configured campaign will log some clicks from places you did not expect.

You can target at three levels:

• Countries. The broadest option, for example all of Thailand.
• Areas within a country. Regions, cities or postal codes, depending on what Google supports in that country. In Thailand this lets you pick provinces and cities such as Bangkok, Phuket or Chiang Mai.
• Radius around a location. A circle drawn around an address, a pin or a city, with a minimum of 1 km.

You add these in the campaign's Settings tab, under Locations. Typing a place name works for most targets. The "Advanced search" link opens a map view where you can add a radius, see nearby suggestions, and add locations in bulk.

Presence vs presence or interest

This is the setting that causes the most confusion, and it sits behind a collapsed "Location options" link, which is why many advertisers never see it.

"Presence or interest" is broad geo targeting. If you target Phuket with it, a person in Sydney who is researching a Phuket holiday can see your ad. For a resort, that is the customer you want. For a plumber in Phuket, it is wasted spend, because nobody in Sydney will book a plumber in Thailand.

"Presence" restricts delivery to people Google believes are physically in the area or regularly there. The "regularly in" part means commuters and people who live in one place and work in another can still be reached, which is usually what a local business wants.

Google's help page on clicks from outside your target area gives the exact path: open the campaign, select the Settings tab, expand Locations, choose "Location options", then select "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations" and save. The default label reads "Presence or interest: People in, regularly in, or who've shown interest in your included locations (recommended)".

Two campaign-type details are worth knowing. Advanced location options apply to Search, Display and Demand Gen ads. Hotel campaigns use Presence only. If you run AI Max for Search, there is also an optional ad group-level "Locations of interest" feature, which lets a person in your campaign's target area match a query about another place, such as a user in Bangkok searching for hotels in Tokyo. People still have to meet the campaign-level location targeting.

How to exclude locations in Google Ads

Exclusions stop ads from showing in parts of an area you otherwise target. The classic example in Google's documentation is a real estate business that targets the whole state of Hawaii but excludes Maui. A Thai equivalent would be a Bangkok service business that targets the Bangkok metropolitan region but excludes districts its team does not cover.

To exclude a single place, open the campaign's Settings, expand Locations, search for the area and click "Exclude", or open "Advanced search", find the place and click "Exclude". Excluded areas then appear under "Excluded locations".

For many places at once, open "Advanced search", tick "Add locations in bulk", paste up to 1,000 location names (one country at a time), click "Search", review the matches and click "Exclude all". Save twice: once in the location panel and once on the settings page.

Rules that change how exclusions behave:

• Exclusion wins. If an area is both included and excluded, the exclusion takes priority.
• Exclusions use Presence. By default an exclusion blocks people who are likely to be located in the excluded area. For Search, Display, Performance Max and Shopping campaigns, exclusions cannot be switched to a "presence or interest" mode. A person in Bangkok searching about an excluded province can still see the ad.
• Keep the counts sensible. Google advises that the number of excluded locations should not exceed the number of targeted locations in a campaign. Since 31 March 2024, campaigns that target "all countries and territories" are limited to 122 country-level exclusions. If you need to block most of the world, target the countries you want instead.

A common mistake is trying to fix a broad-interest problem with exclusions. If ads show to people overseas because of "Presence or interest", excluding every other country is slow and still leaves gaps. Switching the inclusion option to "Presence" fixes the cause.

Radius targeting

Radius targeting draws a circle around a point. It suits businesses where travel distance drives the decision: a clinic, a restaurant, a car service centre, a gym. The minimum radius is 1 km.

To set one, open "Advanced search" in the Locations section, choose the radius option, enter an address or drop a pin, set the distance and the unit, then add it. You can add several circles to one campaign, for example one per branch.

Three practical points help radius targets work:

• Size the circle to how far customers will actually travel, not to how far you would like them to. In Bangkok, a short distance on the map can be a long trip in traffic, so a tight radius around each branch often makes more sense than one large circle.
• Combine radius targeting with the "Presence" option if your offer only works in person. Otherwise a person outside the circle who has shown interest in that area can still be served.
• Overlapping circles do not double-count anyone, but they make it hard to read results per branch. Separate campaigns per branch are cleaner if each branch has its own budget.

Location bid adjustments

A location bid adjustment raises or lowers your bids for people in a specific target. The allowed range for location adjustments is -90% to +900%. You cannot set -100% for a location; to stop serving an area, exclude it.

You set adjustments in the Locations view of a campaign by clicking the bid adjustment cell next to a targeted location. Google applies a few rules:

• Adjustments for the same location do not stack. The most specific location wins, so a Phuket adjustment overrides a Thailand adjustment for users in Phuket.
• Different adjustment types multiply. Google's own example: with a $1 max CPC, a +20% location adjustment and a -50% Saturday adjustment give $0.60 for that location on Saturdays.
• Combined increases cannot exceed +900%, and the lowest combined result is -90%.

The part many advertisers miss: Smart Bidding ignores manual location adjustments. Google's bid adjustment table shows location adjustments apply with Maximize clicks (and Manual CPC), but not with Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value or Target impression share. Smart Bidding still respects your location targets and exclusions. If you use a conversion-based strategy and want a city treated differently, the realistic options are a separate campaign with its own budget and target, or tighter targeting.

Why ads show outside the target location

When a search terms report or a client complaint shows clicks from the wrong place, the cause is usually one of these:

1. The default inclusion option. "Presence or interest" deliberately reaches people outside the area who are interested in it. Google's own article on preventing outside clicks names this first.
2. Country-level targeting and country domains. When you target a whole country, ads may appear to people searching on that country's Google domain, even if their IP address is outside the selected area.
3. Generic ad text. Ads that never mention the location attract people who are neither in the area nor interested in it. Naming the city or district in the headline filters intent before the click.
4. Signal accuracy. Location is estimated from IP, device location and behaviour. VPNs, mobile networks and travel all blur it. Some leakage remains even with "Presence".
5. Interest-based matching features. AI Max "Locations of interest" or broad matching can connect a query about one place to a user in another, by design.

Note one thing that is not a leak: if you target an area you are not in, you may not see your own ad when you search. Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool to check what people in the target area see instead of searching from your office.

Location reports in Google Ads

The Locations report has two views, and they answer different questions.

• Targeted locations shows performance by the locations you targeted. It tells you how each target performed against your plan.
• Matched locations shows performance by the locations where your ads appeared. Google notes these could be users' physical locations or locations of interest, so this view mixes both kinds of signal.

Both views are also available in Report editor. If you have business locations linked to the account, the distance report groups results by the distance between the location that triggered the ad and your closest business location, which is the input you need to size a radius sensibly.

A sound monthly routine looks like this. Open Matched locations for the last 30 days and sort by cost. Look for places you cannot serve. If they are significant, decide whether the cause is the inclusion option (switch to "Presence"), a real gap in your exclusions (add them), or ad text that does not name the location (rewrite). Then check Targeted locations for areas with spend and no conversions, and either lower the adjustment (on Manual CPC or Maximize clicks) or split the area into its own campaign (on Smart Bidding).

Targeting tourists and expats in Thailand

Thailand creates an unusual split. Many advertisers sell to people who are not Thai residents, and the right setting depends on where those people are when they make the decision.

Tourists who book before they travel. Hotels, tour operators, dive schools and airport transfer services want to reach people abroad who are planning a trip. Here "Presence or interest" works in your favour: target the destination, such as Phuket, Krabi or Koh Samui, and people anywhere who search about that place can see the ad. You can also target the source countries directly with "Presence" if you want separate budgets and ad text per market.

Tourists who decide on arrival. Restaurants, spas, motorbike rentals and pharmacies near tourist areas need people who are physically there now. Use "Presence" and a radius or city target. Interest-based reach mostly brings clicks from people who are still weeks away from arriving.

Expats who live in Thailand. International schools, international hospitals, relocation services, English-language property agents and serviced offices sell to people who are physically in Thailand. "Presence" on Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Pattaya is the usual starting point. The language side matters as much as the map: Google's help page states that from September 2026 the campaign-level language setting is being removed from Search campaigns, and search ads will be matched to users by the language of the ad itself. Writing the ad and landing page in English is how you reach English-speaking residents; writing in Thai reaches Thai speakers.

A simple structure that keeps reporting clear is one campaign per audience: a "tourists abroad" campaign targeting source countries, an "in Thailand now" campaign on Presence around tourist areas, and a "residents" campaign for expat services. Each gets its own budget, its own ad text and its own location option, so the Matched locations report for each one is easy to read.

FAQ

What is the difference between presence and presence or interest in Google Ads?

"Presence" shows ads only to people in or regularly in your targeted locations, while "Presence or interest" also includes people elsewhere who have shown interest in those locations. The second is Google's default and suits travel and property; the first suits local services.

How do I stop Google Ads showing outside my target location?

Change the location option to "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations" under Settings, Locations, Location options. Then add exclusions for areas you cannot serve and name the location in your ad text, because country-level targeting and signal accuracy can still let a few clicks through.

Do location bid adjustments work with Smart Bidding?

No, Smart Bidding strategies such as Target CPA, Target ROAS and Maximize conversions do not use manual location bid adjustments. They still respect your location targets and exclusions, so use separate campaigns if a location needs a different target.

What is the minimum radius in Google Ads radius targeting?

The minimum radius is 1 km. Add it from the "Advanced search" view in the campaign's Locations settings, and pair it with "Presence" if your service only works in person.

Which report shows where my Google Ads clicks came from?

The Matched locations view of the Locations report shows where ads appeared, which can be a user's physical location or a location of interest. The Targeted locations view shows performance per target you set.

Get the location settings right before scaling spend

Location settings are cheap to fix and expensive to ignore, and the fix is usually a ten-minute review of the location option, the exclusions and the Matched locations report. If you want an outside check of how your campaigns are set up for Thai, tourist and expat audiences, the Google Ads management team at Relevant Audience reviews targeting as part of every account audit. Businesses that rely on foot traffic can pair paid search with local SEO for map and nearby searches, and advertisers that want search campaigns built around audience intent can look at Relevant Search for Google Ads.