Summary
Location insertion is the customizer that dynamically mentions the city a user is searching for, giving headlines like "Hotels in Miami". It reads either the user's physical location or their location of interest and inserts City, State or Country, falling back to your default text when the location is unclear or the headline would exceed the character limit.
Nitin Batra is a Google Ads Search certified professional who builds and manages responsive search ads with location, keyword and countdown customizers for multi city advertisers.
Last updated: August 22, 2026
To make headlines dynamically show the city a user is searching for, such as “Hotels in Miami”, use Location insertion, the ad customizer that pulls in city, state or country based on the user’s location or location of interest.
- Keyword insertion
- URL exclusion
- Location insertion
- Countdown
The correct answer is: Location insertion
Key Takeaways
- – Location insertion is the customizer that dynamically inserts the city, state or country into headlines, producing text like “Hotels in Miami”.
- – You insert it by typing { in the headline field of the responsive search ad and selecting Location insertion, then choosing City, State or Country and entering default text.
- – Location insertion uses either the user’s physical location or their location of interest, so a person in New York searching “Miami hotels” can still see Miami in the headline.
- – If the location cannot be determined, or if the inserted text pushes the headline past the 30 character limit, Google shows your default text instead, so the default must read naturally on its own.
What is the difference between location insertion and keyword insertion?
Keyword insertion pulls in the keyword from your ad group that triggered the ad, so it mirrors search terms and not geography. Location insertion pulls in the city, state or country tied to the user’s location or location of interest. For a hotel chain that wants “Hotels in Miami”, location insertion is the right tool, because the city name may not exist as a keyword in every ad group.
Where do I set the default text for location insertion?
In the same dialog that appears when you type { in a headline or description field and pick Location insertion. After choosing City, State or Country, Google Ads asks for default text. Enter something that reads correctly on its own, like “Your Area” or “Nearby”, since that is what serves when the location is unknown or too long for the 30 character headline.
Does location insertion only work if the user is physically in that city?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding. Google can use the location of interest, which is the place mentioned in the search query or implied by the search context, not just the device’s physical location. Someone in Delhi searching “hotels in Goa” can see Goa inserted, which is exactly the behaviour a hotel chain wants.
Can location insertion be combined with other customizers in the same ad?
Yes, you can use location insertion alongside countdown customizers or data feed based customizers in different headlines of the same responsive search ad. Keep in mind that each inserted value still has to fit the 30 character headline limit after substitution. Test the ad preview with a few long city names before you push it live, because long names are where defaults quietly take over.