If you’ve ever set up a Google Adwords (now Google Ads) campaign, you know you can target specific locations. Within a campaign, you go to the tab Locations and you can Add or Exclude specific locations.
So far so good.
You might even check the metrics for your targeted location and see that all clicks are from your targeted area.
So you’re all good, your ads are only showing to users from your specific location. Right? Wrong!
Here is what Google actually does: they show your ads to “people in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations”. What does this mean? It means that they are showing your ads not only to people from your location, but also to people who showed interest in your location. And your advertising budget for you local business could easily be wasted on people from other cities, countries or even continents.
Here is what you need to do next.
Head over to the Settings tab > Locations > Locations options then, instead of default option “People in, or who show interest in, your targeted locations (recommended)”, make sure to check “People in your targeted locations”. Now you’re done. Until the next setting Google comes up with to try to take your money.
