Google Ads, PPC, Location Targeting

Google Ads Location Targeting Changes: What Businesses Need to Know Now

Google has quietly overhauled its location targeting settings in Google Ads, introducing new options, reorganizing controls, and—crucially—hiding key choices behind an additional menu. For businesses and agencies, especially those managing local or multi‑location campaigns, understanding these changes is essential to protect budgets and maintain performance.

The New Structure: Five Location Options in Two Groups

The updated interface now presents five location options, split into two groups—TARGET and EXCLUDE. Functionally, the logic is similar to earlier controls, but the wording and placement have changed, creating room for misconfiguration if you rely on muscle memory or default settings.

TARGET options (who can see your ads)

• Presence or interest in your targeted locations (recommended) — The broad default. Ads can show to users physically in your locations, those who regularly visit them, or anyone who shows interest in them through searches and content consumption.

• Presence in or regularly in your targeted locations — A tighter setting that focuses on people likely physically located in your selected areas. This is the closest equivalent to the old “Presence only” option.

• Interest in your targeted locations — Targets people who show interest in your locations, regardless of where they currently are. This is more niche, but can be powerful for tourism, hospitality, and destination‑driven campaigns.

EXCLUDE options (who must not see your ads)

• Presence in your excluded locations — Prevents users physically located in the excluded region from seeing your ads. This is the safest default for most campaigns.

• Presence or interest in your excluded locations — More aggressive; it also blocks people who merely show interest in the excluded area. This can be useful for compliance‑sensitive industries or where certain regions must be fully walled off.

Misunderstood defaults in the new menu can quietly shift spend into low‑value regions.

Hidden Menus, Quiet Defaults, and Why Agencies Are Concerned

The most problematic aspect of this update is not the options themselves—it is the way they are surfaced. The more precise controls sit behind a small, easy‑to‑miss “Advanced” or “More settings” link. If you do not expand this hidden menu, you are effectively accepting Google’s broad “presence or interest” recommendation by default.

For busy in‑house teams and agencies managing dozens of accounts, this creates risk. A new campaign can be launched under the assumption that it mirrors legacy “presence” behavior, while in reality it is serving ads to users far outside the intended geography—driving impressions, but not necessarily revenue.

Industry Implications: Local Service vs. Destination‑Driven Businesses

The impact of these changes is highly context‑dependent. For some verticals, the broad default may be acceptable—even beneficial. For others, it can be expensive noise.

Auto repair shops and local services

An auto repair shop, plumber, or dentist serves a tight local radius. For these businesses, “Presence in or regularly in your targeted locations” should be the default choice. If you leave campaigns on “presence or interest,” your ads can show to people researching your city from another state—or even another country—who are unlikely ever to convert into booked appointments.

In practice, that means:

• Wasted clicks from out‑of‑area users,

• Distorted cost‑per‑lead metrics,

• Algorithmic learning skewed toward irrelevant queries.

Hotels, resorts, and travel brands

Hotels and tourism advertisers, on the other hand, often want to reach people outside the destination who are actively researching it. For a beachfront hotel, “interest in your targeted locations” can capture high‑intent travelers searching for “[city] hotels” from another country weeks before arrival.

However, even in hospitality, the distinction between targeting and exclusion matters. A resort might target global “interest” in its location, while using strict “presence in your excluded locations” to block traffic from regions it cannot legally serve or where fraud risk is high.

Strategic Takeaways for Campaign Management

For agencies and in‑house teams, these changes are not merely cosmetic—they should trigger a structured review of all active campaigns. At minimum:

• Audit every campaign’s TARGET and EXCLUDE settings, expanding hidden menus to confirm selections.

• Align “presence” vs. “interest” choices with your actual service model—local, regional, or destination‑driven.

• Use exclusions proactively to cut out known low‑value regions, commuting hubs, and non‑service areas.

As Google leans further into AI‑driven bidding and campaign automation, clean, intentional location signals become even more important. The new five‑option framework offers useful flexibility—but only if you take control of it, rather than letting hidden defaults decide where your budget goes.