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Freedom251 › Blog › digital advertising

How to Control Which Locations Performance Max Promotes

By Freedom251 Team · · 10 min read

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Control location promotion in Performance Max by matching the setting to the campaign’s goal. For store-goal campaigns, choose the specific Business Profile or affiliate locations while building the campaign, then use exclusions for places that must not receive ads. Do not add separate positive city, ZIP-code, or radius targets on top of those selected stores: Google warns that doing so can expand delivery to unintended stores and people farther away. For online-sales and lead-generation campaigns, configure campaign locations directly and choose Presence when you want people who are physically in the target area.

Start with the campaign goal

Performance Max does not have one universal location-control method. The correct setup depends on what the campaign is trying to achieve and where Google gets its store data. Before editing locations, open the campaign’s settings and identify whether it is built for store goals, online sales, lead generation, local inventory, or an omnichannel objective. Google documents different geographic recommendations for each configuration.

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Campaign setup Primary location source How to choose locations Important geographic rule
Performance Max for store goals Linked Google Business Profile or affiliate locations Select all eligible locations or a Location Group during campaign construction Do not add extra positive geographic or radius targets after selecting stores; use exclusions for places that must be blocked
Online sales or lead generation Campaign location settings Include or exclude countries, regions, cities, ZIP codes, or nearby locations in the campaign setup Select Presence when delivery should focus on people physically in the selected areas
Local inventory ads with store goals Merchant and store-location data Use the goal-specific listing-group and store configuration Google recommends all-country geographic targeting, with listing groups controlling the stores represented
Omnichannel campaigns Eligible offers and linked store data Set geographic coverage to match where offers are eligible Align country-level targeting with offer eligibility rather than assuming every linked store can serve every area

Google’s overview of store-goal campaigns explains the store-selection model at About Performance Max for store goals. Setup differences for other objectives are described in Performance Max campaign setup issues and Google’s instructions for online-sales and lead-generation campaigns at Step 3: Set your campaign settings.

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Store-goal campaigns: select the stores, not a second map

A store-goal campaign is designed around visits, sales, or other local actions at physical locations. Its geographic control begins with the stores attached to the campaign, rather than with a conventional list of cities or a hand-drawn radius.

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Choose a Business Profile or affiliate locations during construction

  1. In Google Ads, start a new Performance Max campaign and select the store-goal objective.
  2. When prompted for locations, choose the linked Google Business Profile or the available affiliate-location feed.
  3. Select all locations if every eligible store should participate, or choose a Location Group for a defined subset.
  4. Review the location count and store list before publishing. Remove closed, duplicated, or out-of-scope locations from the connected source first if they should not be eligible.

The store-goal workflow uses dynamic radius targeting. Google can determine the radius automatically, or the campaign’s location-targeting controls can provide the radius setting. The radius is therefore an implementation detail around the selected stores, not a reason to add another set of positive targets. See Google’s store-goal guidance for the current setup flow.

Why extra positive targets are risky

Do not layer city, ZIP-code, state, country, or additional radius inclusions on top of the stores selected for a store-goal campaign unless Google’s current setup explicitly requires it for your configuration. Google’s FAQ warns that “The additional targeting could cause you to target more stores than intended and can cause ads to be shown to users further from your store locations.” In practical terms, an added geographic inclusion can make locations beyond the intended store set eligible and can broaden the audience around those locations. The warning appears in Answering Your Top Questions About Performance Max.

Use exclusions when a place must not receive ads

Store selection and exclusion serve different purposes. Store selection defines which locations can support the store goal; an exclusion blocks delivery in an area even when it overlaps an included area. Google states that exclusions take priority over included locations, so they are the appropriate control for a prohibited ZIP code, state, country, or other area.

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How to connect the right store data

Link the Business Profile

A linked Google Business Profile supplies the locations that Google Ads can associate with the campaign. If the expected stores are missing, check the account connection and the profile’s location eligibility before changing geographic targeting. A campaign cannot select a store that is not available through its connected location source.

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Create a Location Group for a subset

Use a Location Group when one campaign should promote only part of a larger network—for example, stores in one operating division, franchise territory, or launch region. Build the group from the linked Business Profile locations, then select that group in the campaign instead of selecting every location. The setup-issues documentation covers linking a profile and using location groups: Performance Max campaign setup issues.

Choose affiliate locations deliberately

If the campaign uses affiliate locations, decide whether all available affiliates are eligible or whether the campaign needs a narrower location group. Confirm that the affiliate feed’s locations correspond to the offers and stores you intend to advertise. Geographic targeting cannot correct an incorrect or over-inclusive location feed.

Configure locations for online-sales and lead-generation campaigns

When the campaign is not using store goals, location targeting is configured directly in campaign settings. During setup, include or exclude a country, region, city, ZIP code, or nearby location. The available granularity depends on the country and the location type supported in that Google Ads account.

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Set the location list

  1. Open the Performance Max campaign in Google Ads.
  2. Go to Campaigns, select the campaign, and open Settings.
  3. Expand Locations.
  4. Search for the country, region, city, ZIP code, or nearby location to include.
  5. Review the resulting location entries, not just the text you typed, because similarly named places can appear in search results.
  6. Add exclusions for areas that should never receive the campaign.
  7. Save the settings and inspect the final included and excluded lists.

Choose Presence when physical presence matters

Google’s troubleshooting guidance identifies Presence as the option to use when you want to focus on people who are physically in the target areas. This is different from a broader setting that can also reach people who have shown interest in a location. For a service that can only be delivered inside a territory, Presence is the safer choice. The distinction and troubleshooting steps are documented at Performance Max campaign setup issues.

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Use the broader location option only when reaching people outside the area is intentional—for example, prospective visitors researching a destination or customers planning a move. Make that decision from the campaign’s conversion goal, not from the name of the location setting alone.

Exclude locations in Google Ads

Exclusions are available for both store-goal campaigns and other Performance Max configurations. They are especially important when a selected store, country, or service area must be carved out of a larger included region.

  1. Open Campaigns in Google Ads and select the relevant Performance Max campaign.
  2. Open Settings, then expand Locations.
  3. Search for the area to remove, or select Advanced search to find locations using the available search tools.
  4. Choose Exclude for each place that must not receive ads.
  5. Save the changes.

Google documents this workflow in Exclude ads from geographic locations. The same guide says bulk entry accepts up to 1,000 location exclusions at a time. That is an interface limit for a single bulk operation, not a statement about campaign performance. If more exclusions are required, split them into additional operations and verify that every batch saved successfully.

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How inclusion and exclusion interact

  • An excluded location overrides an included location.
  • An exclusion can narrow a country or region without adding another positive target.
  • For store-goal campaigns, exclusions are the documented way to remove a particular ZIP code, state, or country when the selected stores otherwise remain valid.
  • After saving, inspect the location summary to confirm that the excluded area is listed separately from included areas.

Local inventory and omnichannel campaigns need separate treatment

Local inventory ads with store goals

Local inventory campaigns combine online product information with store availability. For store-goal campaigns using local inventory ads, Google recommends all-country geographic targeting and using listing groups to represent the desired stores. In this setup, listing-group eligibility—not a stack of local radius targets—is the control that determines which stores and offers are represented.

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Before publishing, check that the stores in the listing group have valid local-inventory data and that the products shown as available actually match the selected locations. The country-level recommendation does not mean every store should be included; it means the geographic setting and the listing-group selection perform different jobs. Google’s country and listing-group guidance is in Local inventory ads on Google Ads FAQs.

Omnichannel campaigns

For omnichannel activity, align country-level targeting with offer eligibility. If an offer can be redeemed or fulfilled only in certain countries, do not target countries where that offer is unavailable. Confirm eligibility in the feed and campaign setup before expanding geographic coverage. The same Google FAQ describes this alignment for omnichannel configurations: Local inventory ads on Google Ads FAQs.

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A practical decision framework

If your campaign objective is… Set the location source to… Use this selection method Avoid this mistake
Drive actions at named physical stores Business Profile or affiliate locations Select stores or a Location Group during construction; rely on the store-goal radius behavior Adding extra positive city, ZIP, or radius inclusions
Generate online leads from people in a service territory Campaign location settings Include the service area and select Presence Leaving a broader presence-or-interest option enabled unintentionally
Sell online without a store constraint Campaign location settings Include the countries or regions where sales are supported and exclude the rest Using a store Location Group as a substitute for offer eligibility
Show products available for pickup at selected stores Local-inventory data and listing groups Follow the local-inventory setup; use listing groups to identify desired stores Trying to control store eligibility with extra radius targets
Promote offers across online and physical channels Offer eligibility plus campaign locations Match country-level targeting to the countries where offers are eligible Targeting a country merely because a linked store exists there

Examples of correct configurations

One campaign for a subset of stores

A retailer has a national Business Profile but wants a campaign for 12 stores in one operating group. Link the profile, create a Location Group containing those 12 stores, and select that group for the store-goal campaign. If one ZIP code must be blocked because delivery is unavailable there, add that ZIP as an exclusion. Do not add a second radius around the group to “tighten” it; the store selection and exclusion already express the intended control.

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Lead generation inside a service area

A home-service company wants leads from people physically located in three counties. Use campaign location settings to include the counties, select Presence, and exclude any non-service ZIP codes. Because the objective is lead generation rather than store visits, there is no Business Profile store-selection step to replace the geographic settings.

Local pickup with countrywide discovery

A merchant runs local inventory ads in one country but wants only certain stores and products shown. Follow the local-inventory recommendation for country-level targeting, then use listing groups and valid local-inventory data to control which stores and offers appear. Do not infer that a countrywide setting makes every store or every product eligible.

Troubleshooting location behavior

Ads appear near stores that were not selected

First check whether additional positive city, ZIP-code, or radius targets were added to a store-goal campaign. Remove those inclusions and keep the intended stores in the Business Profile or Location Group. Then review exclusions for areas that must remain blocked. Google specifically identifies extra targeting as a cause of reaching more stores and people farther from selected stores; see its Performance Max FAQ.

The expected stores are missing from campaign setup

Verify that the correct Business Profile is linked, that the stores are eligible in that profile, and that the selected Location Group contains them. If the campaign uses affiliate locations, inspect the affiliate source rather than trying to compensate with geographic inclusions. Google’s setup troubleshooting page covers profile connections and location groups at Performance Max campaign setup issues.

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Leads come from outside the service territory

Check the campaign’s location option and change it to Presence when the business requires users to be physically in the included areas. Confirm that no broad country or nearby-location inclusion remains and add explicit exclusions for known non-service areas. Presence is the setting Google identifies for physical presence targeting; it does not repair an incorrectly included country or region, so review the full list.

A location exclusion does not appear to work

Reopen the campaign’s Locations section and confirm that the area was saved as Excluded, not merely searched or left as an included result. For bulk work, remember the 1,000-location operation limit and verify each batch. Also check whether another campaign is serving the same offer; a correct exclusion in one campaign cannot block ads from a different campaign.

Local-inventory coverage is inconsistent

Compare the listing-group selection with the stores that have valid local-inventory data and eligible offers. Country-level targeting controls geographic reach, while listing groups and feed eligibility control which stores and products can be represented. Follow the goal-specific recommendations in Google’s local-inventory FAQ rather than applying the ordinary store-goal rule unchanged.

Pre-launch verification checklist

  • Campaign goal is correctly identified as store goals, online sales, lead generation, local inventory, or omnichannel.
  • Store-goal campaigns use the intended Business Profile, affiliate source, or Location Group.
  • No unnecessary positive geographic or radius targets were added to a store-goal campaign.
  • Online-sales and lead-generation campaigns include the right areas and use Presence when physical presence is required.
  • Every prohibited area is explicitly excluded and appears in the saved exclusion list.
  • Local-inventory listing groups contain only stores with the required offer and inventory eligibility.
  • Omnichannel country targeting matches the countries where the advertised offers are eligible.
  • Any bulk exclusion work was completed in batches of no more than 1,000 locations and checked after saving.

The central principle is simple: let the campaign goal determine the location mechanism. Store-goal campaigns choose stores first and use exclusions to remove prohibited areas; other Performance Max campaigns set geographic targeting directly; local-inventory and omnichannel campaigns add feed- and offer-eligibility rules that must be checked separately.

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digital advertisingGoogle AdsGoogle Business Profilelocal inventorylocation targetingPerformance Max

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