When your location targeting is narrow (like a city, ZIP code, or 5–10 mile radius), Meta still allows you to run broad audience targeting by removing detailed interests and letting the algorithm optimize based on location, age, and gender only. Even if the radius is small, this is considered "broad" in Meta’s system—because you’re not manually narrowing the audience down with behaviors or interests.
1) Set a Local Radius (e.g., 5–10 miles around your business)
- Use "People living in or recently in this location" to keep it relevant
- Avoid targeting the entire country or state—stay hyper-local
2) Leave Interests and Behaviors Blank
- No interest stacking or job titles
- Let Meta’s AI optimize delivery based on who’s most likely to engage or convert
3) Use Broad Age Range (if appropriate)
- Unless your service is very age-specific, let the algorithm choose who's responding best
4) Optimize for Conversions or Leads (Not Engagement)
- This tells Meta to prioritize users most likely to take action—not just view or click
Pro Tip:
Even with a small area, Meta’s machine learning can still identify ideal buyers—especially if you feed it clean conversion data. The key is to avoid over-targeting and trust the algorithm to learn from real engagement.