In order to target smaller geographic areas Google Adwords allows advertisers to select a custom shape or radius to limit who sees their ads. However, It doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to!

Recently we decided to select a 10 mile radius (the minimum reccommended by Google) to geo-target a local business in downtown San Diego. After running the ads for few days we noticed that our ads linked to keywords with the prefix ”san diego” were not showing up in Google. We then increased the keyword cpc bid up to an expensive $20 a click, but they still didn’t show. 

When speaking to Google about this issue they searched “san diego (keyword)” in the ad diagnostic tool and found our ad showing up in the top 3 positions every time. Nevertheless it was not showing up in our local searches. They then contacted their technical team and found that there was problem with their algorythym. 

The Fix? Google suggested targeting no smaller than a 20 mile radius, or to target by a city. We decided to change our geo-targeting to San Diego City as it is closer to our target market. Immediately after the change our ads showed up in the top positions. 

Google Adwords Advertisers beware: Do not geo-target an area smaller than a 20 mile radius!

geo targeting, geo targeting problems, geo-targeting small areas, geotargeting, Google adwords geo-targeting