Google Ads geographic performance report guide
The Google Ads location report is the fastest way to find money you are quietly wasting. Most accounts have at least one city, region or postcode absorbing spend and returning nothing, and it sits invisible in the campaign view because campaign-level averages hide it.
This guide covers where the geographic report lives in the Google Ads interface, the difference between user locations and matched locations (this trips up most practitioners), which metrics belong in a PPC performance by region breakdown, and how to get that data in front of a client without asking them to log into anything. If you connect Google Ads to ReportsMate, a lot of this becomes an automated email instead of a monthly export.
We build agency reporting software for a living, so we will say the quiet part out loud: geographic data is one of the easiest wins to show a client and one of the most commonly skipped sections in a monthly report.
Last updated: August 2026
Key takeaways
- The Google Ads location report breaks campaign performance down by country, region, city, postcode and other geographic units, so you can see which places convert and which only spend.
- Google Ads reports two different location concepts: user locations (where the person physically was) and matched locations (the place the ad was matched to, which can be a location of interest rather than a physical location).
- A useful geographic report needs conversion and cost metrics, not just clicks - impressions and CTR by region tell you almost nothing about profitability.
- Location bid adjustments and location exclusions are the two levers the report feeds directly, and both can be applied at campaign level in minutes.
- Google Ads is the single most-connected platform in ReportsMate's own product data, making up roughly 40% of every platform connection agencies have set up, ahead of Google Analytics in second place.
Table of contents
- What is the Google Ads location report?
- Where do you find the geographic report in Google Ads?
- User locations vs matched locations - which should you report on?
- Which metrics belong in a PPC performance by region report?
- How do you turn location data into bid and budget decisions?
- How do you report geographic performance to clients?
- Common location targeting reporting mistakes
- Frequently asked questions
What is the Google Ads location report?
The Google Ads location report is a breakdown of campaign performance by geographic area - country, region, metro, city or postcode - showing impressions, clicks, cost and conversions for each place your ads were served. Google's own documentation calls this "measuring geographic performance", and it exists because a single campaign average can hide wildly different outcomes between two suburbs 20 kilometres apart.
Two things make it different from the rest of the interface. First, it reports on geography whether or not you deliberately targeted that geography, so it surfaces spend leaking into places you never intended to buy. Second, it splits into several views (locations, user locations, matched locations, distance) that answer genuinely different questions.
For agencies, the practical value is simple. A client running a national campaign usually assumes budget is spread evenly across the country. It almost never is. The geographic report in Google Ads is where you prove it. See Google's measuring geographic performance help page for the official definitions, and our Google Ads metrics explained for clients guide for the plain-English versions of the columns.
Where do you find the geographic report in Google Ads?
You find it under Campaigns > Audiences, keywords and content > Locations in the current Google Ads interface, then switch between the location views using the segment and view controls at the top of the table. Older walkthroughs still refer to a "Geographic report" button in the left menu; the data is the same, the navigation has moved more than once.
Three routes are worth knowing:
- Locations tab - fastest for a single campaign. Shows the locations you targeted plus the performance Google attributed to each.
- Report Editor (Tools > Report Editor) - build a custom table with the Location type dimension to separate physical location from location of interest, add conversion columns, and save it for reuse.
- Google Ads API - the
geographic_viewandmatched_location_interest_viewresources return the same data programmatically. This is the layer reporting tools pull from, including ours.
Report Editor is the one to learn. The Locations tab is fine for a spot check, but a saved view with your own columns is what turns a one-off look into something you run at the same reporting cadence (the fixed rhythm - weekly, fortnightly, monthly - at which a client hears from you).
User locations vs matched locations - which should you report on?
Report on user locations when you want to know where your buyers physically are, and matched locations when you want to know which targeted place triggered the ad. They are not interchangeable, and quoting the wrong one to a client will eventually embarrass you.
| View | What it answers | Best used for |
|---|---|---|
| User locations | Where was the person physically when they saw or clicked the ad? | Service-area analysis, delivery zones, staffing and stock decisions |
| Matched locations | Which targeted location did Google match this impression to? | Checking whether targeting is firing where you set it |
| Location of interest | Which place did the person show intent about, regardless of where they were? | Travel, hospitality, relocation, multi-branch national brands |
| Distance report | How far was the user from a business location? | Local campaigns with location assets, retail catchment analysis |
The classic example: someone sitting in London searching "plumber in Manchester". Manchester is the location of interest. London is the physical user location. If you only look at matched locations, that click looks like Manchester demand. Google's matched locations and distance reports documentation sets out how the matching works, and the API exposes the split through the matched location interest view resource.
Practical rule for client reporting: lead with user locations for local and service-area businesses, and lead with location of interest for anything travel, education or relocation related.
Which metrics belong in a PPC performance by region report?
Include cost, conversions, cost per conversion and conversion value by region as the core four, then add impression share if the client is expansion-minded. Clicks and CTR by region are diagnostic, not decision-making, metrics.
| Metric | Why it belongs | What it tells you by region |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Anchors everything else | Where the budget is actually going |
| Conversions | The outcome the client cares about | Which regions produce |
| Cost per conversion | The efficiency judgement | Where a bid adjustment is justified |
| Conversion value / ROAS | For e-commerce and lead-value clients | Where the good revenue sits |
| Search impression share | Growth headroom | Whether a strong region is capped by budget |
| Clicks and CTR | Supporting detail | Whether an underperforming region has a relevance problem rather than a demand problem |
A word on sample size. Regional splits fragment data fast: a national account with 200 conversions a month might spread them across 40 regions, most with single-digit counts. Do not make bid decisions off three conversions in one city. Widen the date range or roll cities up into regions. If you are pressure-testing whether a region can carry more spend, our Google Ads budget calculator is quicker than a spreadsheet.
How do you turn location data into bid and budget decisions?
The geographic report feeds three actions: location bid adjustments, location exclusions, and campaign splits. Run through them in that order, because each is progressively more disruptive to the account.
Location bid adjustments are the light-touch move. If a region converts at half your target cost per acquisition, a positive adjustment buys more of it. If it converts at triple, adjust down before you exclude. Note that bid adjustments behave differently under Smart Bidding strategies, where Google's own signals already account for location; on those campaigns, treat exclusions and budget splits as your real levers.
Location exclusions are for places you genuinely do not serve. This is where the user location view earns its keep. Plenty of accounts quietly buy clicks from outside the service area because targeting was set to "presence or interest" rather than "presence".
Campaign splits are the heavy option. When two regions have materially different cost per conversion and both deserve real budget, separate campaigns give each its own budget and bidding target. The cost is more admin and thinner data per campaign, so reserve it for regions with genuine volume.
The habit that makes this work: check the same geographic report every month, not just when performance dips. Location targeting reporting is a trend exercise. A city drifting from 90% to 130% of target cost per acquisition over a quarter is a finding; a single bad month is noise. Our guide to Google Ads reporting best practices for agencies covers the wider cadence question.
How do you report geographic performance to clients?
Show three to five regions, ranked, with cost and cost per conversion, plus one sentence explaining what you changed as a result. Do not send the raw 40-row export. Clients do not read tables; they read the top of tables.
This is where delivery matters as much as the data. We built ReportsMate email-first because, after years around agency reporting, the dashboards clients were handed almost never got logged into - the report that lands in the inbox is the one that gets read. A geographic insight buried three clicks into a dashboard the client visits twice a year is not a client communication, it is a filing system.
The mechanics we would recommend regardless of which tool you use:
- Rank, do not dump. Top five regions by spend, bottom three by efficiency. That is the whole section.
- Name the action. "We reduced bids 20% in [region] after three months above target cost per acquisition" beats a table with no narrative.
- Keep it white-labelled. White-labelling means the report carries your agency's logo, sender identity and domain rather than the tool's, so the analysis reads as your work.
- Fix the cadence. Monthly suits most PPC retainers; weekly suits high-spend accounts in seasonal peaks.
In ReportsMate's own product data, Google Ads is the most-connected platform by a clear margin - roughly 40% of all platform connections agencies have set up, ahead of Google Analytics. The average client record has about 1.6 platforms connected, which means for a large share of clients the Google Ads report effectively is the marketing report. That is an argument for making the geographic section good rather than perfunctory. See the delivery model on our how it works page.
Common location targeting reporting mistakes
The most common mistake is reading matched locations as if they were physical locations, followed closely by acting on regional data that has no statistical weight behind it.
- Confusing the two location concepts. Covered above, and it is the one that produces genuinely wrong advice to clients.
- Leaving targeting on "presence or interest". Fine for a hotel, expensive for a mobile locksmith with a 30km radius.
- Reporting geography without conversions. Impressions by city is trivia. Cost per conversion by city is a decision.
- Ignoring Performance Max. Geographic reporting on PMax is thinner than on Search, so set expectations before promising a regional breakdown of a mostly-PMax account.
- Only pulling the report when something is wrong. Geographic drift is slow. You catch it with a consistent monthly section, not a panic audit.
- Manual exports. Every month you rebuild the same pivot table is a month you are not doing strategy. The search terms report guide makes the same argument about a different report.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What is the difference between the location report and the geographic report in Google Ads?
A: They are the same underlying data with different entry points. "Locations" in the campaign navigation shows performance for the locations you targeted, while the geographic report (via Report Editor or the API's geographic view) pulls the same performance by country, region, city or postcode with your own columns and segments. Practitioners use the names interchangeably. The distinction that matters is not location report versus geographic report, it is user location versus matched location, because those two return genuinely different numbers for the same campaign and date range.
Q: How do I see user location rather than location of interest in Google Ads?
A: Build a custom report in Tools > Report Editor and add the Location type dimension, which splits rows into physical location and location of interest. The standard Locations tab in the campaign view does not always make this split obvious, which is why so many accounts report the wrong figure. If you are pulling data through the Google Ads API, the geographic view resource carries a location type field that does the same job. Reporting tools that connect through the API, including ours, read from that layer.
Q: Can I get a Google Ads location report by postcode?
A: Yes. Google Ads supports geographic reporting down to postcode level in most markets, though rows are withheld where volume is too small. Postcode reporting is most useful for local service businesses with a defined catchment, retail chains checking store radius performance, and any account where the client's own sales data is organised by postcode. For national brands, region or metro level is usually the right resolution - postcode splits fragment the data past the point of usefulness.
Q: How often should I review Google Ads geographic performance?
A: Monthly for most accounts, weekly for high-spend or seasonal ones. The signal you are looking for is drift rather than a single bad week, and drift needs a few data points to be visible. Set a fixed reporting cadence and keep the geographic section in every report, even when nothing has changed, because "nothing changed" is itself useful information for a client.
Q: Do location bid adjustments still work with Smart Bidding?
A: They behave differently. Under most Smart Bidding strategies, Google's automated bidding already factors location signals into each auction, so manual location bid adjustments have limited or no effect depending on the strategy. That does not make the geographic report useless on those campaigns - quite the opposite. Location exclusions, targeting settings and separate campaigns with their own budgets and targets remain fully under your control, and the geographic report is what tells you which of those to reach for.
Q: Can geographic reports be automated for multiple clients?
A: Yes, and if you manage more than a handful of accounts you should automate them. Any tool with a Google Ads API connection can pull geographic data on a schedule. The differences between tools are mostly about delivery and branding rather than the data itself: dashboard products require the client to log in, while email-first products send the report to the inbox. Plans and limits are on our pricing page.
Final tips
Treat the Google Ads location report as a monthly habit rather than an audit tool. Three rules keep it useful:
- Always check which location concept you are reading. User location and matched location answer different questions and will not agree.
- Never act on thin data. Roll cities up into regions until each row has enough conversions to mean something.
- Report the decision, not the table. Clients remember "we cut spend in a region that was not converting", not a 40-row export.
Geography is one of the few reporting sections where the finding is obvious to a non-marketer the moment they see it, which makes it unusually good at building client trust. That only pays off if the client actually reads it.
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