Location Targeting Planner: where your local Google Ads should show
Plan a radius or list of areas, exclusions and the location option for a local business's Google Ads.
- Free to use
- Runs in your browser
- No sign-up
Your location plan appears here
Pick your business type and type your city, area and how far customers travel, or try the example: a gym in Baner, Pune.
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About the Location Targeting Planner
Choose how you serve customers, then type your city, your area, how far customers travel and the areas you serve or do not serve. You get a targeting plan for Google Ads: a radius or a list of places, the places to exclude, which location option to pick in Google's own words, whether location bid adjustments work with your bid strategy, lists to paste and the steps to add it all. It runs in your browser and uses no map service, so nothing you type is uploaded.
How it works
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Step 1
Pick how you serve customers: they visit you, you go to them, you deliver, or you sell online across India. Then type your city, your area and how far customers travel.
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Step 2
List the areas you serve well and the ones you do not, one per line, with the distance in km after a comma if you know it, and choose your bid strategy.
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Step 3
Copy the places to target and exclude, follow the steps to add them in Google Ads, and download the plan as CSV or as a Google Ads Editor file.
A radius or named places
A radius suits a business people travel to, such as a gym or a clinic, and Google allows a radius of 1 km or more around an address. Named places suit a service that goes to set areas. Google suggests adding the state or country to a place name so it finds the right one, so the planner writes each place in full, such as "Aundh, Pune, Maharashtra, India". If an area is both targeted and excluded, Google uses the exclusion, and the planner warns you.
Presence, or Presence or interest
Google's default and recommended option, Presence or interest, reaches people in, regularly in, or who have shown interest in your places. Presence reaches only people in or regularly in them, and Google says most campaigns see fewer impressions after switching to it. Our suggestion is Presence for most local businesses, and Presence or interest when people outside the area often buy for someone in it. Exclusions use Presence in Search, Display, Performance Max and Shopping campaigns.
What this tool cannot do
It uses no map, so it cannot measure distances, draw the radius or check that Google Ads lists an area: it works only with the distances you type. We could not confirm on Google's help pages that Indian PIN codes can be targeted, so the plan does not use them. It never signs in to Google Ads. The radius rule, the distance checks and the bid adjustment range in the plan are our suggestions.
Frequently asked questions
What radius should I use in Google Ads?
Start with how far most of your customers really travel, or how far you go to them, rounded up to a whole kilometre. Google does not allow less than 1 km, and says a very small radius may show ads only now and then. A radius much bigger than your customers travel mostly reaches people who will not come. The planner uses your distance and adds farther areas that do bring customers as their own targets.
Should I choose Presence, or Presence or interest?
Presence or interest is Google's default and recommended option: it also reaches people elsewhere who have shown interest in your area, for example by searching for it. Presence keeps ads to people in or regularly in your area. For a gym, clinic or home service used only by people nearby, Presence is our suggestion. If people often book from another city, for example for their parents, keep Presence or interest.
Can I target PIN codes in India?
Google Ads offers postal code targets only in some countries, and we could not confirm on Google's help pages that Indian PIN codes are one of them. So this planner uses a radius or area names instead. To try a PIN code, search for it in the location search in Google Ads; if it is not listed, use the area name or a small radius around it.
Do location bid adjustments work with Smart Bidding?
No. Google says Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value do not use manual location bid adjustments, because Smart Bidding already uses the searcher's location in each auction. With Manual CPC, adjustments apply on top of your bids, from −90% to +900%. With any strategy, control where ads show with targets and exclusions.
How do I exclude an area in Google Ads?
Open the campaign, go to Settings and expand Locations. Search for the area and click Exclude, or use Advanced search and Add locations in bulk to paste up to 1,000 places at a time. Excluded places show under "Excluded locations". An exclusion stops ads for people likely to be in that area, and it wins over a target for the same place.
Related reading
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