By Childcare Marketing Australia | childcaremarketing.com.au | March 2026
Introduction
Radius targeting is one of the most powerful and underutilised features in Google Ads for Melbourne childcare centres. By showing your ads only to parents searching for childcare within a specific geographic radius of your centre, you can dramatically reduce wasted ad spend and increase enquiry quality.
This guide explains how to set up and optimise radius targeting for your Melbourne childcare Google Ads campaigns.
What Is Radius Targeting?
Radius targeting (also called location targeting or proximity targeting) allows you to show your Google Ads only to users within a defined distance from your centre—for example, 5km or 8km. This means your ads won’t show to parents in suburbs too far away to realistically attend your centre, saving budget and improving relevance.
Choosing the Right Radius for Melbourne
Melbourne’s geography and traffic patterns significantly affect the right radius choice:
Inner suburbs (0–10km from CBD): Use a 3–5km radius. Traffic congestion means parents have shorter childcare commutes. A parent in Fitzroy is unlikely to choose a centre in Footscray.
Middle suburbs (10–25km from CBD): Use a 5–8km radius. More car-dependent commuting allows slightly larger catchments.
Outer suburbs and growth corridors: Use an 8–12km radius. Less density and newer residents mean families may travel further.
Start conservative (smaller radius) and expand if you’re not generating enough volume.
Setting Up Radius Targeting in Google Ads
1. In your Google Ads campaign, go to Settings > Locations.
2. Click ‘Enter another location’.
3. Search for your centre’s address.
4. Select ‘Near point’ and enter your desired radius in kilometres.
5. Save your location settings.
6. Set your location options to ‘Presence’ (not ‘Presence or interest’) to ensure you’re only reaching people physically in your target area.
Combining Radius Targeting with Suburb Keywords
Radius targeting alone is powerful, but combining it with suburb-specific keywords delivers exceptional results. Use keywords like: ‘childcare in [suburb]’, ‘early learning centre [suburb]’, ‘long day care near [suburb]’. When a parent in your radius searches for childcare in their specific suburb, your ad appears with maximum relevance.
Bid Adjustments by Distance
Google Ads allows you to set bid adjustments by location. Increase bids for areas closest to your centre (highest conversion likelihood) and decrease for areas at the edge of your radius. For example: +20% for within 2km, standard for 2–5km, -10% for 5–8km.
Monitoring Location Performance
In Google Ads, navigate to Campaigns > Locations > Geographic report to see which suburbs your clicks are coming from. Use this data to: identify your highest-performing suburbs, exclude suburbs with high click volume but low conversions, and create separate ad groups with tailored messaging for your best-performing suburbs.
Conclusion
Radius targeting transforms your Google Ads from broad spray-and-pray campaigns into precision tools that reach the right Melbourne families at the right time. Set up proper radius targeting from day one, combine it with suburb-specific keywords, and monitor your geographic performance data to continuously improve results.
Childcare Marketing Australia | www.childcaremarketing.com.au
