What is the difference between Presence and Presence or interest?

Presence shows your ads to people who are in, or regularly in, the places you target. Presence or interest, the default, also includes people elsewhere who have shown interest in those places.

Why are my Google Ads showing outside my target location?

Usually because the campaign uses the default Presence or interest option. Location targeting also relies on signals like IP address and device location, so Google says 100% accuracy isn't guaranteed.

Will switching to Presence lower my traffic?

Google says most campaigns see fewer impressions after switching away from the default. For a local business, the lost impressions are often from people who could never become customers.

Do location exclusions use Presence or interest?

No. Google says excluded locations use Presence by default, so they block people who are likely located in those places.

Google Ads location: Presence vs Presence or interest

Google Ads has two location options, and the default, Presence or interest, can show your ads to people outside the area you picked. If 10% of a $1,000 month comes from places you can’t serve, that’s $100 that was never going to turn into a customer.

For a plumber, dentist or dog groomer, switching to Presence is often a quick fix.

What the two options mean

When you set up a campaign, you choose places to target, like a city, a ZIP code or a radius around your shop. A second setting decides who counts as being “in” those places:

Presence or interest: people in, regularly in, or who have shown interest in your targeted locations. This is the default, and Google marks it as recommended.
Presence: people in or regularly in your targeted locations.

With the default, Google can show your ad to someone far away who seems interested in your area, such as a person in another state searching for a roofer in your town.

Why it can waste money

If you can only serve people who live or work nearby, an out-of-area click costs the same and brings nothing back.

Who should check this:

Local service businesses that travel to customers.
Shops and clinics that need people to walk in.
Anyone with a small budget and a clear service area.

Who may want to keep the default:

Hotels, tour operators and others who serve visitors.
Movers and others whose customers often search from somewhere else.
Businesses whose buyers shop for someone in another city, such as gifts or senior care.

How to check your setting

Go to Campaigns and open the Settings tab.
Click the campaign name.
Expand Locations and select Location options.
See which option is selected.

(If you can’t find it, search for “location options” in the Google Ads search bar.)

The setting is per campaign, so check each one.

How to see where your clicks came from

Go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports.
Select When and where your ads showed.
Click the Matched locations tab.

(If you can’t find it, search for “matched locations” in the Google Ads search bar.)

Google says matched locations can be where people physically were, or a place they showed interest in. Look for cities, states or countries you don’t serve, and add up what they cost.

A few things to know:

Rows marked “Unspecified” are places Google couldn’t pin down, for example when an IP address doesn’t resolve to a location.
Numbers below the country level may not add up to campaign totals. Google says some impressions only match at the country level.
Google says location targeting can’t be 100% accurate, even with Presence, because it relies on signals like IP address and device location.

How to switch to Presence

Go to Campaigns and open the Settings tab.
Expand Locations and select Location options.
Choose Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations.
Click Save.

(If you can’t find it, search for “location options” in the Google Ads search bar.)

Repeat for each campaign that serves only a local area. Google says most campaigns see fewer impressions after switching away from the default. That’s expected. What matters is whether the lost impressions were ever going to become customers.

Other ways to tighten your area

Exclude places you don’t serve. In the same Locations section, add areas to exclude. Google says exclusions use Presence by default, so they block people likely located there.
Name your area in your ads. Google suggests putting the place in your ad text, like “Boston coffee shop,” so people outside the area are less likely to click.
Check your radius. A large radius can reach towns you never drive to. Google also warns that a very small radius may make ads show only now and then, or not at all.
Block out-of-area searches. If the search terms report shows other city names, add them as negative keywords. See negative keywords for small businesses.

When to keep Presence or interest

If your customers often search from somewhere else, the default can bring real business. Keep it if the matched locations report shows out-of-area clicks turning into conversions (sales, calls or forms you count as results). If they don’t, switching to Presence keeps your budget close to home.

Check it automatically

The free SpendCanary scan looks at where each campaign’s cost came from. SpendCanary flags this when at least 10% of a campaign’s cost came from people outside the places you target.