How an ad can know your area

Location is a family of signals

Google says advertising can use location information from sources including an IP address, device location, previous activity, and home or work locations in an account, depending on settings. These sources differ in precision. A rough network-based area and a device’s location permission should not be treated as the same thing.

Separate three questions: what location information the platform may obtain; what the advertiser asked the platform to reach; and what information the advertiser receives. A city name in an ad answers none of those questions on its own. The words could simply be part of an advertisement designed for a regional audience.

Source: Google: How Google uses location information

Why denying location permission may not remove local ads

Denying an app or website device-location access limits that permission. It does not remove every other source of location context. Google describes using IP addresses to estimate a general area and search terms as another possible location signal.

For example, a fictional search for ‘weekend classes in Fairview’ already contains a place. You could receive a relevant Fairview ad without having supplied your live device location for that search. The relevant control depends on which information is involved, so avoid using a local ad as the only test of your device permission.

Source: Google: Advertising: Google Privacy & Terms

Review the three layers separately

Begin with the setting whose purpose matches your concern. If you do not want an app to access device location, check the permission in your operating system. If you want to change Google’s use of past general areas for ads, inspect the account control. If an account address is incorrect, review the address itself.

1. Open your device’s app permissions and inspect location access for the app in question. Read the available precision and access options before changing them.
2. In Google’s My Ad Center, open Manage Privacy, then Areas where you’ve used Google under activity used to personalize ads. Review and confirm your preference.
3. Check the correct Google account and any home or work information you have chosen to save. Do not assume changing an ad setting edits those details.

Source: Google: Control what data Google uses to show you ads

Know what the past-areas control changes

Google says switching off Areas where you’ve used Google stops using those saved general areas for ad personalization. Current location and saved home or work locations can still be relevant. Turning off personalization is also different from deleting location information.

If your goal is deletion, navigate to the relevant account-data controls and read what they remove. If your goal is limiting future access, review app permissions. If your goal is less personalized advertising, use the ad controls. Combining these goals in one vague instruction—‘turn off tracking’—makes it difficult to check whether you achieved what you intended.

Source: Google: How Google uses location information

What to do with an ad for the wrong city

First, decide whether the mismatch is merely annoying or indicates an account setting you want to inspect. An inaccurate or unexpected ad is not evidence of an account compromise. Nor can it tell you which of several possible location inputs was responsible.

Note the platform, the location mentioned, and the explanation shown. Check whether the location is part of your current search or page before investigating saved settings. If the explanation offers only ‘general location,’ retain that wording. You can hide the ad without converting a broad disclosure into a claim about exactly where the system thinks you live.

Our explainer never requests geolocation or asks for your address. You can understand a location-based explanation using the category alone.