How do I make my ads show only in my service area?

Set location targeting to your actual service radius or towns — and then change one buried default: under location options, choose 'Presence' (people IN your area), not Google's default 'Presence or interest', which happily shows your plumbing ad to someone researching your city from another state.

Free · no signup · last reviewed August 29, 2026

Set location targeting to your actual service radius or towns — and then change one buried default: under location options, choose 'Presence' (people IN your area), not Google's default 'Presence or interest', which happily shows your plumbing ad to someone researching your city from another state.

Layer negatives for geography leakage too: if you're in Cherry Hill but not Philadelphia, 'philadelphia' as a negative keeps cross-market searches from spending your budget.

Then verify with data, not settings: the location report shows where clicks actually came from. Check it in week one — mis-targeted geography is one of the fastest silent budget leaks.

This is the work. Want it done?

Everything here is free to use yourself — that’s the point. If you’d rather a senior marketer just handle it, in your accounts and your name: 20-minute call, no pitch deck.

Contact