Location Targeting  |  Google Ads API  |  Google for Developers (2024)

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This guide describes location targeting, and how you can use the Google Ads API to add,retrieve, and update location targeting for your campaigns.

Why is geo targeting important?

Location targeting lets you serve ads to users in a particular geographicalregion. For example, assume you're advertising for a chain of supermarkets.Without location targeting, your ads would show in all regions worldwide, andyour ads might receive clicks from users in regions where you have nosupermarket locations. This generates cost while providing no possibility of areturn on the investment. With location targeting, your campaigns show ads onlyin regions where you have open supermarkets. This approach also lets youdirectly target customers searching locally for supermarkets.

The Google Ads API lets you target your ads by country, region, or proximityaround a specific geographicalpoint.

Learn more aboutTargeting ads to geographic locations.

Geo target campaigns for a region

You can target campaigns to any geographical region for which Google Adssupports location targeting, for instance, a country, a state, a city, or apostal region. Each targetable location is uniquely identified by a CriterionID. You can look up a criterion ID usingGeoTargetConstantService.SuggestGeoTargetConstants.The resource_name of each GeoTargetConstant isof the form geoTargetConstants/{Criterion ID}. For example, theresource_name value of New York state is geoTargetConstants/21167.

You can add geo targets to your campaigns using theCampaignCriterionService. The followingcode snippet shows how to target your campaign with a criterion ID.

private static CampaignCriterion buildLocationIdCriterion( long locationId, String campaignResourceName) { Builder criterionBuilder = CampaignCriterion.newBuilder().setCampaign(campaignResourceName); criterionBuilder .getLocationBuilder() .setGeoTargetConstant(ResourceNames.geoTargetConstant(locationId)); return criterionBuilder.build();}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.java
 

private CampaignCriterion buildLocationCriterion(long locationId, string campaignResourceName){ GeoTargetConstantName location = new GeoTargetConstantName(locationId.ToString()); return new CampaignCriterion() { Campaign = campaignResourceName, Location = new LocationInfo() { GeoTargetConstant = location.ToString() } };}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.cs
 

private static function createLocationCampaignCriterionOperation( int $locationId, string $campaignResourceName) { // Constructs a campaign criterion for the specified campaign ID using the specified // location ID. $campaignCriterion = new CampaignCriterion([ // Creates a location using the specified location ID. 'location' => new LocationInfo([ // Besides using location ID, you can also search by location names using // GeoTargetConstantServiceClient::suggestGeoTargetConstants() and directly // apply GeoTargetConstant::$resourceName here. An example can be found // in GetGeoTargetConstantByNames.php. 'geo_target_constant' => ResourceNames::forGeoTargetConstant($locationId) ]), 'campaign' => $campaignResourceName ]); return new CampaignCriterionOperation(['create' => $campaignCriterion]);}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.php
 

def create_location_op(client, customer_id, campaign_id, location_id): campaign_service = client.get_service("CampaignService") geo_target_constant_service = client.get_service("GeoTargetConstantService") # Create the campaign criterion. campaign_criterion_operation = client.get_type("CampaignCriterionOperation") campaign_criterion = campaign_criterion_operation.create campaign_criterion.campaign = campaign_service.campaign_path( customer_id, campaign_id ) # Besides using location_id, you can also search by location names from # GeoTargetConstantService.suggest_geo_target_constants() and directly # apply GeoTargetConstant.resource_name here. An example can be found # in get_geo_target_constant_by_names.py. campaign_criterion.location.geo_target_constant = ( geo_target_constant_service.geo_target_constant_path(location_id) ) return campaign_criterion_operation
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.py
 

def create_location(client, customer_id, campaign_id, location_id) client.operation.create_resource.campaign_criterion do |criterion| criterion.campaign = client.path.campaign(customer_id, campaign_id) criterion.location = client.resource.location_info do |li| # Besides using location_id, you can also search by location names from # GeoTargetConstantService.suggest_geo_target_constants() and directly # apply GeoTargetConstant.resource_name here. An example can be found # in get_geo_target_constant_by_names.rb. li.geo_target_constant = client.path.geo_target_constant(location_id) end endend
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.rb
 

sub create_location_campaign_criterion_operation { my ($location_id, $campaign_resource_name) = @_; # Construct a campaign criterion for the specified campaign using the # specified location ID. my $campaign_criterion = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Resources::CampaignCriterion->new({ # Create a location using the specified location ID. location => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Common::LocationInfo->new({ # Besides using location ID, you can also search by location names # using GeoTargetConstantService::suggest() and directly apply # GeoTargetConstant->{resourceName} here. An example can be found # in get_geo_target_constants_by_names.pl. geoTargetConstant => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Utils::ResourceNames::geo_target_constant( $location_id)} ), campaign => $campaign_resource_name }); return Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Services::CampaignCriterionService::CampaignCriterionOperation ->new({ create => $campaign_criterion });}
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.pl
 

Google may occasionally phase out some location criteria for various reasons:the location may be restructured into smaller or larger areas, geo-politicalchanges, etc. Refer to the status field of aGeoTargetConstant object to determine if a location isENABLED orREMOVAL_PLANNED.Read more abouthow location targets are phased out.

Look up by location name

You can also look up the criterion ID by location name usingGeoTargetConstantService.SuggestGeoTargetConstants.The following code example shows how to look up a location criterion ID bylocation name.

private void runExample(GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient) { try (GeoTargetConstantServiceClient geoTargetClient = googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createGeoTargetConstantServiceClient()) { SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest.Builder requestBuilder = SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest.newBuilder(); // Locale is using ISO 639-1 format. If an invalid locale is given, 'en' is used by default. requestBuilder.setLocale("en"); // A list of country codes can be referenced here: // https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/geotargets requestBuilder.setCountryCode("FR"); requestBuilder .getLocationNamesBuilder() .addAllNames(ImmutableList.of("Paris", "Quebec", "Spain", "Deutschland")); SuggestGeoTargetConstantsResponse response = geoTargetClient.suggestGeoTargetConstants(requestBuilder.build()); for (GeoTargetConstantSuggestion suggestion : response.getGeoTargetConstantSuggestionsList()) { System.out.printf( "%s (%s,%s,%s,%s) is found in locale (%s) with reach (%d) for search term (%s).%n", suggestion.getGeoTargetConstant().getResourceName(), suggestion.getGeoTargetConstant().getName(), suggestion.getGeoTargetConstant().getCountryCode(), suggestion.getGeoTargetConstant().getTargetType(), suggestion.getGeoTargetConstant().getStatus().name(), suggestion.getLocale(), suggestion.getReach(), suggestion.getSearchTerm()); } }}
GetGeoTargetConstantsByNames.java
 

public void Run(GoogleAdsClient client){ // Get the GeoTargetConstantServiceClient. GeoTargetConstantServiceClient geoService = client.GetService(Services.V17.GeoTargetConstantService); // Locale is using ISO 639-1 format. If an invalid locale is given, // 'en' is used by default. string locale = "en"; // A list of country codes can be referenced here: // https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/geotargets string countryCode = "FR"; string[] locations = { "Paris", "Quebec", "Spain", "Deutschland" }; SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest request = new SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest() { Locale = locale, CountryCode = countryCode, LocationNames = new SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest.Types.LocationNames() }; request.LocationNames.Names.AddRange(locations); try { SuggestGeoTargetConstantsResponse response = geoService.SuggestGeoTargetConstants(request); foreach (GeoTargetConstantSuggestion suggestion in response.GeoTargetConstantSuggestions) { Console.WriteLine( $"{suggestion.GeoTargetConstant.ResourceName} " + $"({suggestion.GeoTargetConstant.Name}, " + $"{suggestion.GeoTargetConstant.CountryCode}, " + $"{suggestion.GeoTargetConstant.TargetType}, " + $"{suggestion.GeoTargetConstant.Status}) is found in locale " + $"({suggestion.Locale}) with reach ({suggestion.Reach}) " + $"for search term ({suggestion.SearchTerm})."); } } catch (GoogleAdsException e) { Console.WriteLine("Failure:"); Console.WriteLine($"Message: {e.Message}"); Console.WriteLine($"Failure: {e.Failure}"); Console.WriteLine($"Request ID: {e.RequestId}"); throw; }}
GetGeoTargetConstantsByNames.cs
 

public static function runExample( GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient, array $locationNames, string $locale, string $countryCode) { $geoTargetConstantServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getGeoTargetConstantServiceClient(); $response = $geoTargetConstantServiceClient->suggestGeoTargetConstants( new SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest([ 'locale' => $locale, 'country_code' => $countryCode, 'location_names' => new LocationNames(['names' => $locationNames]) ]) ); // Iterates over all geo target constant suggestion objects and prints the requested field // values for each one. foreach ($response->getGeoTargetConstantSuggestions() as $geoTargetConstantSuggestion) { /** @var GeoTargetConstantSuggestion $geoTargetConstantSuggestion */ printf( "Found '%s' ('%s','%s','%s',%s) in locale '%s' with reach %d" . " for the search term '%s'.%s", $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getGeoTargetConstant()->getResourceName(), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getGeoTargetConstant()->getName(), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getGeoTargetConstant()->getCountryCode(), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getGeoTargetConstant()->getTargetType(), GeoTargetConstantStatus::name( $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getGeoTargetConstant()->getStatus() ), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getLocale(), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getReach(), $geoTargetConstantSuggestion->getSearchTerm(), PHP_EOL ); }}
GetGeoTargetConstantsByNames.php
 

def main(client): gtc_service = client.get_service("GeoTargetConstantService") gtc_request = client.get_type("SuggestGeoTargetConstantsRequest") gtc_request.locale = LOCALE gtc_request.country_code = COUNTRY_CODE # The location names to get suggested geo target constants. gtc_request.location_names.names.extend( ["Paris", "Quebec", "Spain", "Deutschland"] ) results = gtc_service.suggest_geo_target_constants(gtc_request) for suggestion in results.geo_target_constant_suggestions: geo_target_constant = suggestion.geo_target_constant print( f"{geo_target_constant.resource_name} " f"({geo_target_constant.name}, " f"{geo_target_constant.country_code}, " f"{geo_target_constant.target_type}, " f"{geo_target_constant.status.name}) " f"is found in locale ({suggestion.locale}) " f"with reach ({suggestion.reach}) " f"from search term ({suggestion.search_term})." )
get_geo_target_constants_by_names.py
 

def get_geo_target_constants_by_names # GoogleAdsClient will read a config file from # ENV['HOME']/google_ads_config.rb when called without parameters client = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::GoogleAdsClient.new gtc_service = client.service.geo_target_constant location_names = client.resource.location_names do |ln| ['Paris', 'Quebec', 'Spain', 'Deutschland'].each do |name| ln.names << name end end # Locale is using ISO 639-1 format. If an invalid locale is given, # 'en' is used by default. locale = 'en' # A list of country codes can be referenced here: # https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/data/geotargets country_code = 'FR' response = gtc_service.suggest_geo_target_constants( locale: locale, country_code: country_code, location_names: location_names ) response.geo_target_constant_suggestions.each do |suggestion| puts sprintf("%s (%s,%s,%s,%s) is found in locale (%s) with reach (%d)" \ " from search term (%s).", suggestion.geo_target_constant.resource_name, suggestion.geo_target_constant.name, suggestion.geo_target_constant.country_code, suggestion.geo_target_constant.target_type, suggestion.geo_target_constant.status, suggestion.locale, suggestion.reach, suggestion.search_term) endend
get_geo_target_constants_by_names.rb
 

sub get_geo_target_constants_by_names { my ($api_client, $location_names, $locale, $country_code) = @_; my $suggest_response = $api_client->GeoTargetConstantService()->suggest({ locale => $locale, countryCode => $country_code, locationNames => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Services::GeoTargetConstantService::LocationNames ->new({ names => $location_names })}); # Iterate over all geo target constant suggestion objects and print the requested # field values for each one. foreach my $geo_target_constant_suggestion ( @{$suggest_response->{geoTargetConstantSuggestions}}) { printf "Found '%s' ('%s','%s','%s',%s) in locale '%s' with reach %d" . " for the search term '%s'.\n", $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{geoTargetConstant}{resourceName}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{geoTargetConstant}{name}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{geoTargetConstant}{countryCode}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{geoTargetConstant}{targetType}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{geoTargetConstant}{status}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{locale}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{reach}, $geo_target_constant_suggestion->{searchTerm}; } return 1;}
get_geo_target_constants_by_names.pl
 

Target campaigns for proximity to a location

There are times when you might want to target even more precisely than a city orcountry. For example, you may want to advertise your supermarkets within 10kilometers of your shop location. In such cases, you can useproximity targeting.The code to create a proximity target is similar to adding a location target,except that you have to create a ProximityInfoobject instead of a LocationInfo object.

private static CampaignCriterion buildProximityLocation(String campaignResourceName) { Builder builder = CampaignCriterion.newBuilder().setCampaign(campaignResourceName); ProximityInfo.Builder proximityBuilder = builder.getProximityBuilder(); proximityBuilder.setRadius(10.0).setRadiusUnits(ProximityRadiusUnits.MILES); AddressInfo.Builder addressBuilder = proximityBuilder.getAddressBuilder(); addressBuilder .setStreetAddress("38 avenue de l'Opéra") .setCityName("Paris") .setPostalCode("75002") .setCountryCode("FR"); return builder.build();}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.java
 

private CampaignCriterion buildProximityCriterion(string campaignResourceName){ ProximityInfo proximity = new ProximityInfo() { Address = new AddressInfo() { StreetAddress = "38 avenue de l'Opéra", CityName = "Paris", PostalCode = "75002", CountryCode = "FR" }, Radius = 10d, // Default is kilometers. RadiusUnits = ProximityRadiusUnits.Miles }; return new CampaignCriterion() { Campaign = campaignResourceName, Proximity = proximity };}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.cs
 

private static function createProximityCampaignCriterionOperation(string $campaignResourceName){ // Constructs a campaign criterion as a proximity. $campaignCriterion = new CampaignCriterion([ 'proximity' => new ProximityInfo([ 'address' => new AddressInfo([ 'street_address' => '38 avenue de l\'Opéra', 'city_name' => 'Paris', 'postal_code' => '75002', 'country_code' => 'FR', ]), 'radius' => 10.0, // Default is kilometers. 'radius_units' => ProximityRadiusUnits::MILES ]), 'campaign' => $campaignResourceName ]); return new CampaignCriterionOperation(['create' => $campaignCriterion]);}
AddCampaignTargetingCriteria.php
 

def create_proximity_op(client, customer_id, campaign_id): campaign_service = client.get_service("CampaignService") # Create the campaign criterion. campaign_criterion_operation = client.get_type("CampaignCriterionOperation") campaign_criterion = campaign_criterion_operation.create campaign_criterion.campaign = campaign_service.campaign_path( customer_id, campaign_id ) campaign_criterion.proximity.address.street_address = "38 avenue de l'Opera" campaign_criterion.proximity.address.city_name = "Paris" campaign_criterion.proximity.address.postal_code = "75002" campaign_criterion.proximity.address.country_code = "FR" campaign_criterion.proximity.radius = 10 # Default is kilometers. campaign_criterion.proximity.radius_units = ( client.enums.ProximityRadiusUnitsEnum.MILES ) return campaign_criterion_operation
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.py
 

def create_proximity(client, customer_id, campaign_id) client.operation.create_resource.campaign_criterion do |criterion| criterion.campaign = client.path.campaign(customer_id, campaign_id) criterion.proximity = client.resource.proximity_info do |proximity| proximity.address = client.resource.address_info do |address| address.street_address = "38 avenue de l'Opéra" address.city_name = "Paris" address.postal_code = "75002" address.country_code = "FR" end proximity.radius = 10 proximity.radius_units = :MILES end endend
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.rb
 

sub create_proximity_campaign_criterion_operation { my ($campaign_resource_name) = @_; # Construct a campaign criterion as a proximity. my $campaign_criterion = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Resources::CampaignCriterion->new({ proximity => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Common::ProximityInfo->new({ address => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Common::AddressInfo->new({ streetAddress => "38 avenue de l'Opéra", cityName => "cityName", postalCode => "75002", countryCode => "FR" } ), radius => 10.0, # Default is kilometers. radiusUnits => MILES } ), campaign => $campaign_resource_name }); return Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V17::Services::CampaignCriterionService::CampaignCriterionOperation ->new({ create => $campaign_criterion });}
add_campaign_targeting_criteria.pl
 

Retrieve geo targets

You can retrieve the geo targets for a campaign using theGoogleAdsService.SearchStream. You canfilter your results in the WHERE clause.

SELECT campaign_criterion.campaign, campaign_criterion.location.geo_target_constant, campaign_criterion.proximity.geo_point.longitude_in_micro_degrees, campaign_criterion.proximity.geo_point.latitude_in_micro_degrees, campaign_criterion.proximity.radius, campaign_criterion.negativeFROM campaign_criterionWHERE campaign_criterion.campaign = 'customers/{customer_id}/campaigns/{campaign_id}' AND campaign_criterion.type IN (LOCATION, PROXIMITY)

Update geo targets

To update location targets for a campaign, you need to retrieve the list ofexisting geo targets and compare it with the list of new targets. You can thenuse the remove operation to remove the targets you don't need, and thecreate operation to add the new geo targets you need (but are missing in theexisting campaign).

Exclude geo targets

You can also exclude LocationInfo, but notProximityInfo. This feature is most useful if you wantto target a region, but exclude a sub-region (for example, to target the entireUnited States, except for New York City). To exclude a region, set thenegative field in CampaignCriterion to betrue.

Target multiple geographic regions

Using a LocationGroupInfo, you can enable acampaign to target multiple geographic regions. A region is centered on thelocations defined by the location extensions of the campaign.

The radius defined on the LocationGroupInfo ascribes a circular region aroundeach location, and consists of a radius object, length, and radius_units, which can be either meters ormiles (LocationGroupRadiusUnitsEnum).

The locations in a LocationGroupInfo can be filtered by a list of geotargetingcriterion IDs prescribed in thegeo_target_constant field. If defined, no locations that exist outside ofthe given critera IDs will be targeted.