Radius targeting: advertising around a location or store in Google Ads

Imagine running an air conditioning installation company in a specific city, or managing a showroom for electric folding bikes. It would be a waste of advertising budget if your Google Ads campaign also reached people hundreds of kilometres away who will never visit your location. Radius targeting, also called proximity targeting in Google Ads, solves this problem directly. By setting a radius around a specific address, postcode, or coordinate, you reach only those people who are physically present within that zone, or who have recently been there. What sounds like a simple setting is, in practice, one of the most powerful levers for local advertising efficiency. In this article, you will learn exactly what radius targeting entails, when and for whom it works best, which common mistakes advertisers make, and how AdBrains AI automatically optimises this for structurally better results.

What is radius targeting in Google Ads?

Radius targeting is a location targeting option within Google Ads that displays your ads to users within a self-chosen radius around a specific point. You can set a radius from as little as 1 km to as much as 500 km. In most local campaigns, a radius of 5 to 30 kilometres is realistic and effective. Google determines whether someone falls within the radius based on two signals: the physical location of the device (GPS or IP address) and the intent that emerges from search behaviour. Someone who lives in one city but searches for a service in another can therefore still qualify for a campaign targeting a radius around that second city.

Within the location settings of a Google Ads campaign, you choose "Radius around a location" under target locations. You then enter an address, place name, or postcode and set the desired radius. Multiple radii are possible: you can create different radius layers around the same location, allowing you to apply different bids or ads per distance band. This is the foundation of layered radius targeting, a technique we explore further below.

A crucial related setting is the "presence option". By default, Google shows your ads to people who are in the radius, regularly visit it, or show interest in it. If you want to reach only people who are physically present, you disable the interest option. For a local service provider, this distinction is essential: you want enquiries from people who actually live in your service area, not from someone who happened to search for your service while temporarily in another city.

When should you use radius targeting?

Radius targeting is not equally relevant for every advertiser. It is most powerful in situations where the physical proximity of the customer to the location directly influences the likelihood of conversion. The following use cases illustrate this best:

• Local service providers: Companies that travel to customers or where customers visit the premises, such as air conditioning installers, tradespeople, dentists, and hairdressers. For Clima-Active.nl, active in air conditioning and heat pump installation, radius targeting around their service locations is essential to generate quote requests from the actual service area.
• Physical stores and showrooms: E-4motion.com, the webshop for new electric folding bikes, operates a showroom where customers can request a test ride. Radius targeting ensures that ads for test ride requests primarily reach people who can actually visit the showroom.
• Events and temporary promotions: Pop-up shops, open days, or local promotions benefit enormously from a tight radius around the venue.
• Franchise chains with multiple locations: Setting a separate radius per location ensures each site has its own local reach without creating overlap with other branches.
• Restaurants, hotels, and hospitality: Sectors where the proximity of the customer at the moment of searching almost always determines the outcome.

For purely online services without physical location relevance, radius targeting is less critical. A platform like ToetsJeKennis.nl, offering online exams and courses, has no geographic constraint in principle. However, even ToetsJeKennis.nl can deploy radius targeting around educational institutions or large employers to reach specific audiences who would benefit from their exam training offerings.

Layered radius targeting: working with multiple distance bands

The real power of radius targeting becomes apparent when you combine multiple radii and apply a different bidding strategy per zone. This is called layered or segmented radius targeting. The logic is straightforward: people who live closer to a location generally convert better. Someone 2 km from a showroom is more likely to visit than someone 25 km away. By bidding higher for the inner ring than the outer ring, you allocate budget optimally.

A practical approach works as follows:

1. Create a campaign with a broad radius (for example, 30 km) as the base.
2. Add a separate layer for the 0-10 km zone with a positive bid adjustment (for example, +30%).
3. Add a layer for the 0-5 km zone with an even higher bid adjustment (for example, +60%).
4. Explicitly exclude zones outside the desired maximum radius using location exclusions.
5. Monitor performance per zone weekly via the geographic report in Google Ads.

This layered system works particularly well in combination with Smart Bidding. Google's Smart Bidding algorithm already incorporates location signals in its bidding decisions, but by adding explicit bid adjustments per radius zone, you give the algorithm extra direction. You strengthen the signal that you are willing to pay more for a click from someone nearby. Within a Target ROAS or Target CPA strategy, this results in better budget distribution across the most valuable geographic segments.

One of the most common mistakes is setting a single large radius and never revisiting it. Without layered segmentation, you treat someone 1 km away the same as someone 29 km away, even though the conversion probability is significantly different. This leads to suboptimal budget allocation and a higher average CPA than necessary.

Combining radius targeting with other targeting options

Radius targeting is strongest as part of a broader targeting framework. Combining it with additional layers increases ad relevance further. Key combinations include:

• Radius + demographic targeting: A heat pump installer like Clima-Active.nl prefers to reach homeowners aged 35 and above. Adding demographic filters to the radius campaign targets the highest-converting audience within the service area.
• Radius + remarketing audiences (RLSA): Website visitors who have not yet converted are retargeted with a higher bid as soon as they are within the radius. This is particularly effective for showroom visit campaigns.
• Radius + location extensions: Linking location extensions to a radius campaign means users see the address, distance, and opening hours directly in the ad, significantly increasing relevance and store visit likelihood.
• Radius + Performance Max (PMax): In PMax campaigns, radius targeting is set via campaign-level location settings. This means the full Power of PMax, spanning Search, Display, YouTube, and Maps, is focused within the geographic boundaries you define.

How AdBrains AI automatically optimises radius targeting

Manually setting up and managing radius targeting is time-consuming and error-prone. Most advertisers configure a radius at campaign launch and rarely revisit it. AdBrains has developed its own AI technology that fully automates and continuously optimises this process, delivering structurally better campaign performance as a result.

The process starts with a daily analysis of the geographic report. Our AI reads the performance data per geographic zone every day: how many clicks, conversions, and what CPA per distance band? Based on this data, the system automatically adjusts bid adjustments per zone. Is the zone within 5 km converting exceptionally well? The AI raises the bid for that zone. Is an outer zone consistently underperforming? The AI reduces the bid or temporarily excludes the zone until sufficient data is available for reassessment.

All of this runs through AdBrains' multi-agent verification system: every proposed change to radius settings or bid adjustments is reviewed by four independent AI agents before the adjustment is actually implemented. This prevents errors caused by data outliers or temporary fluctuations. One good week in an outer zone does not immediately lead to over-optimistic bids; the AI weighs recent data against the historical trend.

Our server-side signal enrichment enriches the conversion signals sent back to Google with first-party location data. Via our own server-side tracking (sGTM) infrastructure, we add extra context to every conversion, including geographic signals. This helps Google's Smart Bidding algorithm learn more accurately which location signals correlate with conversions, resulting in better automatic bids in the most valuable radius zones.

For clients like E-4motion.com, the AI also detects growth opportunities just outside the current radius. If a specific postcode just beyond the set radius consistently generates strong search term matches and conversion signals from that zone are positive, the AI automatically proposes expanding the radius or creating a hyperlocal sub-campaign for that postcode. This enables organic growth of geographic reach, driven by data rather than intuition. Combined with the automated RLSA audience management, previous website visitors are automatically retargeted with a higher bid as soon as they are physically close to the showroom. This is the combination of data, AI, and local targeting at its best.

Radius targeting vs. other location targeting options

The table above makes clear that radius targeting is the most granular and flexible option for local advertisers. It combines well with postcode targeting for hyperlocal precision and should always be supplemented with location exclusions to explicitly block areas outside the service zone.

Frequently asked questions about radius targeting

How accurate is radius targeting in Google Ads?

Google uses a combination of GPS data, IP address, Wi-Fi location data, and search intent to determine a user's location. In urban areas, the accuracy is high; in rural areas, it may be slightly less precise due to fewer Wi-Fi access points and IP assignment variability. For most local campaigns, Google's location determination is more than sufficient for effective targeting within a radius of 5 km or more. For hyperlocal campaigns of 1-2 km, it is advisable to supplement radius targeting with specific postcode lists as an additional layer.

What is the difference between "present in" and "present in or interested in"?

This is one of the most overlooked settings in radius targeting. "Present in" reaches only people whose physical location falls within the radius. "Present in or interested in" also reaches people outside the radius who, based on their search behaviour, show interest in the location. For service providers serving a defined geographic area, "present in" is almost always the right choice. For events or tourist attractions, "present in or interested in" can add value by capturing demand from people planning a visit.

Can you use radius targeting in Performance Max campaigns?

Yes, Performance Max supports radius targeting via the campaign-level location settings. The PMax campaign then applies this geographic boundary across all channels it serves, including Search, Display, YouTube, and Google Maps. This makes radius targeting in PMax campaigns particularly powerful, as you reach local audiences across multiple channels simultaneously with one consistent geographic boundary. Make sure to set the presence option correctly in PMax as well, since the default setting is "present in or interested in".

How do I know if my radius settings are working correctly?

Check the geographic report in Google Ads weekly (found under Insights and reports, then Geographic report). This report shows performance broken down by location. Focus on the conversion rate and CPA per geographic segment. If the CPA in outer rings is significantly higher than in inner rings, it is time to adjust bid adjustments or restrict the outer zones. AdBrains fully automates this analysis: our AI reads the geographic report daily and automatically adjusts bid adjustments based on current conversion performance per zone, ensuring your radius settings are always optimised without manual intervention.