Google's addition of location targeting controls to Demand Gen campaigns is a significant change for advertisers aiming to maximize the efficiency of their ad budgets. For those of us immersed in entrepreneurship or running startups, this new feature directly addresses longstanding frustrations related to ad targeting. Let me break it down for you and explain why this update matters, how you can leverage it, and what missteps to avoid.
What Has Changed?
Previously, one of the pain points of Google's Demand Gen campaigns was the inability to truly control where ads were displayed geographically. Even if you focused on a specific metro area or country, the system blended two targeting types, people in the location and people who showed interest in it. This led to what many advertisers call "geo-leakage," where the ad budget was spent on audiences outside the desired area. This inefficiency was especially problematic for brands with location-specific objectives like promoting local events or targeting small geographic markets.
Now, advertisers have two clean options when setting up campaigns:
- Presence only: Targets users physically located in the desired area.
- Presence or interest: Includes people who are physically there or show online behavior suggesting interest in the location.
This brings Demand Gen campaigns more in line with Google’s other campaign types, such as Search or Performance Max, and finally offers the regional control many of us have been waiting for.
Why Does This Matter for Entrepreneurs?
Targeting accuracy isn’t just a “nice-to-have”, it’s critical, especially when budgets are tight. Startups and small businesses often don’t have the luxury of wasting ad spend. Imagine trying to attract foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar cafe in Amsterdam only to find that a portion of your budget went to people sitting in Berlin with a passing interest in Dutch canals. That’s an avoidable waste, and this update aims to eliminate it.
Additionally, cleaner geotargeting means you get higher-quality data, which translates to better decisions. If you’re running a campaign to test different city-level markets for expansion, the insights are now more relevant. No more guessing about whether ad performance was affected by clicks coming from uninterested or unreachable audiences.
How Entrepreneurs Can Leverage This New Feature
To take full advantage of the location targeting update, here’s a straightforward action plan:
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Evaluate Current Campaigns
Check campaigns you’re currently running on Demand Gen. How much of your traffic is coming from outside your target areas? If you see significant off-location engagement, this update presents an opportunity to tighten things up. -
Define Your Audience Carefully
If your primary goal involves local sales or leads, select the “Presence” option. This ensures your ads appear only to those physically near your area. For broader awareness campaigns (like a new product or service), “Presence or interest” is still valid. -
Revise Budgets Based on New Accuracy
With less wasted ad spend, you may be able to reallocate resources into creative assets or additional campaigns. -
Use Complementary Targeting Techniques
Pair the location update with advanced audience segmentation, such as interest-based or demographic targeting, to zero in on your ideal customers even further. Adding lookalike audiences can give your campaigns an extra edge. -
Monitor Results Closely
This is a new feature, and while the logic behind it is solid, always validate performance improvements by analyzing metrics like cost-per-click (CPC), lead quality, or conversion rates.
Most Common Mistakes to Avoid
It’s easy to get things wrong during the rollout of a new feature. To make sure you’re not throwing money away, avoid these common errors:
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Choosing the Wrong Option
If your audience is local, always go for “Presence only.” Many startups mistakenly choose “Presence or interest,” thinking they’re capturing a larger potential market, but this often just dilutes performance. -
Failing to Monitor Changes After Implementation
Even if budgets shrink due to reduced wastage, you could risk driving fewer conversions if you over-restrict audiences. Keep testing and tweaking to get the balance right. -
Ignoring Multi-Campaign Configurations
Don’t mix both location settings within a single campaign for different ad groups. Instead, split them into separate campaigns to measure their performance properly. -
Overlooking Data Sync Risks
If you’re using Google Ads Editor or API for campaign management, ensure that your location settings don’t automatically revert to deprecated formats like “Area of Interest,” which can cause campaigns to stop showing.
Why This is a Win for Small Businesses
Let’s be honest: not everything Google changes ends up being helpful. But this one is different. Studies have shown that on platforms like YouTube and Gmail (both part of Demand Gen), as much as 25% of impressions might originate from unintended regions if targeting settings are loose. Those are dollars you could reinvest in far more meaningful efforts. For small businesses, every cent spent on advertising must pull its weight. By removing the headache of poorly executed geo-campaigns, businesses get more value per click.
Your Next Steps
Instead of seeing this update as a routine announcement, think of it as an opportunity to reset how you use Demand Gen campaigns. Whether you’re marketing a coaching service in Paris, a boutique in Stockholm, or an app for Spanish users in Barcelona, tighter targeting equals smarter spending.
Take the following steps today:
- Head into your current Demand Gen campaigns and audit their location settings.
- Set up one new campaign to test the differences between “Presence” and “Presence or interest.”
- Share your findings with your marketing team and tweak your strategy accordingly.
This small pivot can save you significant time and money while improving the quality of leads and conversions.
Conclusion
Successful entrepreneurship is about spotting inefficiencies and addressing them quickly. Google's new location targeting tools for Demand Gen campaigns are more than a feature update; they give smaller players like startups and freelancers the power to compete more effectively. With better geotargeting, you can spend every dollar wisely, have cleaner analytics, and make smarter expansions into new markets.
Whether you’re just starting out or refining your growth strategy, now’s the time to explore these tools and make sure every click counts.
FAQ on Google's Location Targeting Update in Demand Gen Campaigns
1. What are Google's new location targeting options in Demand Gen campaigns?
Google Ads now offers two location targeting options: "Presence only," which shows ads to users physically located in a target area, and "Presence or interest," which includes users in the vicinity or those who show online interest in the location. Discover Demand Gen Geo Controls
2. Why is this update important for advertisers?
The new targeting reduces "geo-leakage," ensuring ad spend aligns closely with your intended audience while improving campaign efficiency. Accurate geographic targeting eliminates wasted impressions and increases measurement reliability. Learn more about Geo-Leakage Reduction
3. How can entrepreneurs benefit from these location controls?
Startups and small businesses can maximize their advertising budgets by targeting specific regions without wasting resources on irrelevant areas. This helps achieve better conversions and cleaner analytics when testing new markets. Check out Targeting Insights for Entrepreneurs
4. Where do ads with Demand Gen campaigns run?
Demand Gen campaigns show ads across YouTube, Discover feed, Gmail, and native Google Display Network placements. Explore Google Ads Campaign Types
5. What should advertisers do after implementing location targeting changes?
Monitor campaign performance metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost-per-click to ensure the new settings provide better results. Adjust campaign parameters as needed. Learn how to Monitor Campaign Metrics
6. Can location targeting be combined with custom audience strategies?
Yes, advertisers can pair location targeting with interest-based segmentation, demographic filters, and lookalike audiences for more precise targeting. Optimize Audience Segmentation
7. What mistakes should advertisers avoid when using the new location targeting?
Avoid selecting "Presence or interest" for local campaigns that primarily target nearby audiences. Ensure settings are applied consistently and double-check for potential reverting issues in Google Ads Editor or API. Explore Common Mistakes in Location Targeting
8. How does this update compare to other campaign types like Search or Performance Max?
Demand Gen campaigns now offer geographic targeting controls similar to those in Search campaigns, but with added tools tailored for video-driven and upper-funnel objectives. Learn about Search Campaign Comparisons
9. Why was the prior system problematic?
Earlier, the default "presence + interest" setting lacked precision, causing ads to display outside the targeted geography, leading to wasted ad budgets. This inefficiency is resolved with the new update. Understand the Problem with Past Targeting
10. How should advertisers test the difference between targeting options?
Set up separate campaigns: one with "Presence only" and another with "Presence or interest." Compare metrics like impressions, engagement rates, and conversions for each campaign type to refine strategy. Check out Demand Gen Testing Advice
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.