Is Your Presence Setting in Google Ads Costing You Hundreds in Wasted Ad Spend?

Running Google Ads while managing a small business can sometimes feel like taking on another full-time job. There are so many settings and options to choose from that it can be a challenge to know the right way - and often, there is no single right way!

In my series of how-to articles, I’ll guide you through various settings within the Google Ads platform. My goal is to help you make the most of your ad spend - whether saving money by reducing wasted ad spend or boosting what already works for you. I hope that your campaigns benefit from my experience over the many years of running Google Ads campaigns.

The first setting I’m covering in this series is the presence setting.

Where to Find the Presence Setting in Google Ads

You’ll locate the presence setting within the Locations tab in your campaign’s settings. It isn’t shown during the initial campaign setup (when you pick which locations you’d like to target - such as worldwide or just the UK) but after publishing your campaign.

Google Ads Campaign tree view

Simply:

  1. Go to the specific campaign in Google Ads.
  2. Select the Overview tab.
  3. Look for Campaign Settings (with a gear icon).
  4. Click to open the settings tray.

From there, head to Locations. You’ll see the locations you’ve chosen to target. Scroll down a bit further, and there’s an extra option called Location Options. By default, Google selects the first option (‘Recommended’), but it’s important to consider both options to see which is best for you.

Google ads locations tab basic

The Two Location Options

1. Presence or interest 

This option includes people who are in your included locations or have shown interest in them. For example, if you run a bakery in Paris, but someone from England searches online for “bakeries in Paris”, your ad might appear to that person in the UK. 

Think about whether you really want to appear to customers located outside your main target area. If it’s not necessary - or if it’s racking up costs without driving sales - this setting may not be the option for you.

2. Presence 

This option targets people in or regularly in your included locations. This is often a better choice if you only want to appear for people who are physically located (or are regularly in) where your products or services are sold. Many of the campaigns I work on choose this second option, especially if they have a tight budget and don’t need to target those outside their main area.

Google ads location options

Which Option Is Right for You?

The less thrilling answer is, “It depends.” It depends on the nature of your business, how you sell to customers, and how tight your budget is. If you need to be very efficient, you might lean towards Presence only. But if you have a larger budget, you could try Presence or Interest to see whether additional locations bring in valuable leads or sales.

How to Decide: Checking Your Reports

There’s a handy report in Google Ads that can help you decide. If you’ve been using the Presence or interest setting and want to see if it’s worthwhile:

1. Go to the Insights and Reports tab.

2. Select When and where ads showed.

3. Choose Matched locations.

You can drill down by country, county, city, and more to see exactly where your clicks (and budget) are coming from. For some small businesses I’ve worked with, this has revealed hundreds of pounds being spent outside their intended target area - money that could have been better used to reach people in locations that actually convert.

 A Real Life Example

A small business client of mine was targeting England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland for their e-commerce business. The default was set to Presence or Interest - Google’s recommended option. After checking the Matched locations report, we found a significant spend of just under £120 per month in India, Australia, Pakistan, and Vietnam, places the client doesn’t ship to. Over 12 months that wasted spend really added up to the hundreds. Switching to the Presence option and adding these locations as excluded locations stopped ads from showing in irrelevant locations, freeing up the budget to focus on the right audience.

Share Your Results and Questions

If switching to Presence only has worked for you—saving money or bringing in higher-quality leads—feel free to let me know. I’d love to hear about your results. Or, if you are still unclear on whether you should implement this, it is something we could cover (as well as lots of other settings) in a Google Ads Power Hour.  

Finally, let me know if there are any other specific Google Ads settings or challenges you’d like me to cover. Chances are, other small business owners have the same questions.

I hope this helps you understand the presence setting in Google Ads and its impact on your campaigns.

Here’s to spending smarter and making sure every click counts!

Stacey Pledge Google Ads Specialist

About Stacey Pledge

I'm a Google Ads Specialist helping clients across the UK, Europe and the US get the best from their Google Ads campaigns and reach their business goals.

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