Location targeting in Google Ads: presence vs interest explained

Location targeting in Google Ads controls which users see your ads based on where they are or where they show interest. The difference between the two available options, Presence (physically in the target area) and Interest (showing interest in the target area), has a direct impact on the relevance of your reach and the efficiency of your ad spend.

Key takeaways

• Google Ads offers two location options: Presence (user is physically in the target area) and Interest (user shows interest in the target area through search behaviour).
• For local service businesses, Presence is almost always the right choice; Interest is relevant for tourism, real estate or online shops with a national audience.
• Google Ads sets "Presence or interest" as the default, meaning without adjustment you may receive irrelevant clicks from outside your service area.
• Incorrect location settings are one of the most common causes of wasted budget in local campaigns.
• AdBrains monitors location settings and location reports automatically via AI, so deviations are detected and corrected immediately.

What is location targeting in Google Ads?

Location targeting in Google Ads, also called geographic targeting, allows you to show ads to users in specific countries, regions, cities or even postcode areas. It works alongside other targeting layers such as demographic targeting, which narrows reach based on age, gender and household income. According to Google Ads Help (2026), you can choose from three location options: Presence, Interest, or Presence or interest. That third option is the default setting Google applies automatically if you do not change it.

What each setting does: with Presence, your ads are shown only to users Google determines are physically located in the specified area, based on device location, IP address and location signals. With Interest, Google also adds users who show interest in that area through their search behaviour, even if they are not physically there. Someone in Amsterdam searching for "air conditioning installer Rotterdam" could see your ad under the Interest setting, even if you only serve Rotterdam customers.

Presence vs Interest: what is the exact difference?

Presence vs Interest: when to use which?

The two location options in Google Ads compared

Presence (physically in area)

• Only users physically located in the target area
• Ideal for local services and installation companies
• Smaller reach, higher relevance
• Recommended default for lead gen campaigns
• Less wasted spend outside service area

Interest (showing interest)Broader reach

• Also users showing interest in the target area
• Useful for tourism, real estate and online shops
• Broader reach, higher risk of irrelevant clicks
• Suitable when audience buys from outside the region
• Requires closer monitoring of search terms and locations

The distinction sounds technical, but the practical consequences are real. The Presence setting filters strictly on the physical location of the user at the moment of the search. Google combines GPS data from mobile devices, IP addresses and logged-in account data to determine that location. If you want only people within a specific area to see your ad, this is your most precise option.

Interest works differently. It pulls in users who regularly search for information about a particular area, or who show interest in that region based on browsing behaviour. That distinction matters when the geographic context of a search query is more relevant than where the user physically happens to be sitting. A tour operator selling holidays to Spain doesn't want to reach people already in Spain. They want people elsewhere who are planning a trip there.

The default "Presence or interest" setting combines both, giving you the broadest possible reach. For many advertisers that's a problem. Budget ends up being spent on users who can never realistically become customers. In practice, local businesses running unknowingly on this default setting often find that a substantial portion of their clicks is coming from well outside their service area.

When should you use Presence?

Presence is the right choice whenever your product or service is tied to a physical location. Think of installation companies, hairdressers, dentists, roofers or any business where the customer and the service provider need to be geographically close. These businesses often benefit from radius targeting as well, advertising within a set distance around a specific location or store to capture nearby demand.

A clear example is a company like Clima-Active.nl, an HVAC installation specialist. Their campaigns target specific provinces where they actually have technicians available. Running on "Presence or interest" would generate clicks from people outside that service area. With the pure Presence setting, all impressions go to users who can realistically be served by a technician, which directly improves lead quality.

Presence setting: funnel flow in a local lead gen campaign

Example: local HVAC company, search network, regional service area

Impressions (in target area)

Only users in the service area see the ad

Clicks (CTR)

Average CTR local search ads, Search network

Landing page visitors

After bounce correction

Quote requests (conversions)

Typical conversion rate local services

Only relevant, local leads reach the form

Situations where Presence is the preferred setting:

• Installers, plumbers, painters and other tradespeople with a defined service radius
• Restaurants, shops or service providers with a physical location
• B2B companies that arrange on-site appointments
• Local events or promotions that are only valid on location
• Campaigns with a tight Target CPA where every irrelevant click matters

When should you use Interest?

Interest targeting makes sense when the geography of the search query is more relevant than the physical location of the user. This applies particularly to sectors where people make decisions about a specific region from a distance.

Take ToetsJeKennis.nl, an online platform for exams and courses. If they promote specific courses aimed at professional groups in a particular region, while the learner can be anywhere in the country, Interest targeting can help them reach the right audience regardless of physical location. The course content has regional relevance, but the purchase is online and therefore not location-dependent.

Another example is E-4motion.com, a webshop for new electric folding bikes. If they run campaigns around cities known for strong cycling infrastructure and high e-bike adoption, Interest targeting can help them reach people planning to commute in those cities, even if they do not yet live there.

Sectors where Interest targeting tends to work well:

• Tourism and hospitality: people plan trips from another location
• Real estate: buyers search for properties in other cities or regions
• Online education with a regional context
• National webshops positioning themselves in specific regions
• Event organisers aiming to attract visitors from outside the region

The risky default: Presence or interest

Google Ads sets "Presence or interest" as the default location option when creating a new campaign. According to Google Ads Help (2026), this setting shows ads to people in the target location as well as people who show interest in it. For many local advertisers, this is the setting that quietly drains budget without them noticing.

The problem lies in how Google interprets "interest". A search query that contains a place name, even as an informational query, can qualify someone as "interested" in that area. Someone in Groningen searching for "best pizza Rotterdam" for a weekend trip could see your Rotterdam restaurant ad under the Interest setting. Whether that person will actually make a reservation is uncertain.

For campaigns with a tight budget or a narrow service area, it is therefore important to actively choose the right location option rather than relying on the default. This is one of the first checks AdBrains carries out when taking over an existing account.

Overview: location settings in Google Ads compared

Choosing the wrong option does not always have an immediate, visible effect on campaign metrics. Impressions and clicks may look healthy on the surface, but conversions can be structurally low if a significant portion of that traffic comes from outside the service area. That is why validating the location setting against your location reports is an essential step in any campaign audit.

How AdBrains AI monitors and optimises location targeting automatically

Location targeting is one of the settings that goes wrong most often in practice, and usually not on purpose. Google defaults to the broadest option available, and when a campaign is being built, attention goes to bidding strategies, keywords and ad copy. The location setting gets skipped.

AdBrains handles this through an automated control system that checks location settings for every new campaign and at every periodic account review. The AI evaluates which location type fits each campaign, looking at the campaign objective, the bidding strategy and the client profile. A lead gen campaign for an installation company with a defined service area automatically gets a Presence recommendation. An e-commerce campaign for a national webshop like E-4motion.com may warrant a broader setting, depending on how the account is structured.

After that initial check, the system keeps monitoring location reports on an ongoing basis. Every optimisation decision passes through our multi-agent verification system, where four independent AI agents review it before anything is implemented. If one agent picks up that a meaningful share of clicks is coming from outside the service area, that finding gets flagged and queued for review. A misconfigured location setting can quietly burn budget for weeks before anyone notices; this process is meant to stop that from happening.

Our automated search term mining also looks at the geographic side of search queries. When queries containing place names outside the service area show up repeatedly, which can happen under an Interest setting, those terms are flagged and can be added as negative keywords automatically. That provides a second layer of control on top of the location setting itself.

Which location setting works best and when?

Suitability by campaign type (indicative, based on Google Ads best practices 2026)

Local services (presence)

92%

National e-commerce (presence)

74%

Tourism / real estate (interest)

85%

Online courses nationwide (presence)

78%

Local e-commerce + pickup (presence)

88%

For clients like Clima-Active.nl this means campaigns run on the Presence setting, location reports get analysed weekly by our AI, and search terms with geographic references outside the service area are filtered out automatically. A campaign manager does not need to verify this by hand every week. The idea is straightforward: keep these foundational settings right so that budgets consistently reach the people who actually matter.

FAQ: frequently asked questions about location targeting in Google Ads

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

Presence shows your ad to users who are physically in your target area when they search. Interest goes further: it includes users who show interest in that area through their search behaviour or browsing activity, wherever they happen to be sitting. One relies on a physical location signal, the other on intent derived from what people actually type and browse.

Which location option does Google Ads set by default?

Google Ads defaults to "Presence or interest," as documented in Google Ads Help (2026). It is the broadest setting available. For local businesses this is usually the wrong choice, since it pulls in clicks from users well outside the service area. You have to actively switch it to whatever matches your situation.

How do I check where my Google Ads ads are actually being shown?

Go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, and open either the User location report or the Geographic report. The user location report tells you where people were physically sitting when they clicked. The geographic report shows which location the search query itself referred to. Put them side by side. A large gap between the two usually means the location option is set too broadly.

Can I use location exclusions alongside my location targeting settings?

Yes. Location exclusions work at the campaign level and let you block countries, regions, cities or postcode areas so that users from those places never see your ad, regardless of which location option is active. That makes them a practical companion to the Presence setting when there are specific areas you want to avoid. You set them through the same menu as your location targeting, and they can be combined with bid adjustments per location if you want finer geographic control.

Does geographic intent targeting differ from the Interest setting in Google Ads?

Geographic intent targeting is the broader idea: using signals about where someone intends to go, or what regional service they are after, to serve them a relevant ad. The Interest setting in Google Ads is one specific way of putting that idea into practice. Similar trade-offs show up in meta ads audience targeting, where advertisers weigh broad reach against narrower interest-based segments. It reads search query signals and browsing behaviour to infer geographic intent, then targets users on that inferred intent rather than their physical whereabouts. In other words, Interest is Google Ads' own built-in mechanism for applying geographic intent targeting inside your campaigns.