Solved: Segmenting Tourist vs. Local Traffic in Las Vegas

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your situation in Las Vegas. It's a really common problem, especially in a city like yours where the tourist-to-local ratio is so skewed. Most business owners just throw a big location radius over the city and hope for the best, but they end up burning a load of cash on tourists who were never going to be long-term customers anyway.

The solution isn't really about complicated account structures or dozens of campaigns. It's much simpler, but it requires a bit of a mindset shift. You've got to stop thinking about *where* people are and start focusing on *what they want*. It's about intent. Get that right, and the account structure pretty much builds itself. I'll walk you through how I'd approach it.

Why just targeting 'Las Vegas' is burning your cash...

Right, let's get brutally honest. If you're just targeting the whole of Las Vegas in one campaign, you're telling Google's algorithm to go find you the cheapest, easiest clicks it can. In a place like Vegas, who do you think that is? It's the millions of tourists tapping "restaurants near me" into their phones while stumbling down the Strip. They have zero loyalty, they're looking for immediate convenience, and they'll be gone in 48 hours. They are not your ideal long-term customer.

The search behaviour is completely different. A tourist's intent is temporary and transactional. They search for things like:

• -> "best steakhouse near bellagio"
• -> "last minute show tickets"
• -> "what to do in vegas"

A local's intent is entirely different. It's about building a relationship with a business they can trust for the long run. Their searches look like this:

• -> "plumber near summerlin"
• -> "weekly grocery deals henderson"
• -> "local car mechanic enterprise nv"

You see the difference? They're living in two separate worlds, even if they're physically standing on the same street corner. Lumping them together in one campaign means your ad copy is generic, your landing page speaks to no one, and your quality score suffers because the ad isn't truly relevant to either group. You end up paying a premium for low-quality clicks from tourists while your actual, high-value local customers get lost in the noise. It's a recipie for disaster and a massive waste of money.

This is a common mistake, I see it all the time. For example, we're currently running a campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive area where they are seeing costs of around $60 per lead. When you are paying that much for a lead, you need to be absolutely sure they are the right kind of customer. If we didn't filter out the wrong intent, they would be burning budget on clicks that never convert to revenue. We have to ensure the campaign is built based on intent, just like I'm about to show you.

We'll need to look at intent, not just location...

So, the entire strategy hinges on this one simple idea: stop targeting people and start targeting problems. The moment you do that, your audience segments itself automatically. You don't need fancy audience lists or complicated demographic layering, at least not at first. You just need to listen to what they're typing into the search bar.

We're going to build two distinct "machines" inside your Google Ads account. Each machine is designed to attract and convert one specific type of person. It's a simple, powerful structure that works because it mirrors reality.

I'd say you need a dedicated 'Locals Only' campaign...

This is your priority campaign. This is where your most valuable, repeat customers will come from. The goal here is maximum relevance and trust. We want a local resident to see your ad and think, "Ah, finally, someone who gets it. This business is for me."

Keywords are your first line of defence. We need to be ruthless. We're only bidding on keywords that a local would use. This means getting hyper-specific.

• Geo-Qualifiers: Add names of neighbourhoods, districts, and suburbs directly to your keywords. For example, instead of "pizza delivery", you bid on "pizza delivery summerlin" or "henderson pizza place".
• Local Lingo: Use terms that only locals would use. Think about specific landmarks or street names that aren't major tourist attractions.
• The "Near Me" Modifier: This is a powerful signal of local intent. While tourists use it too, combining it with other local signals filters them out.
• Negative Keywords are CRITICAL: This is just as important as what you bid on. We need to create an exhaustive list of tourist terms and add them as negative keywords to this campaign. This tells Google, "If someone searches for this, I don't care where they are, DO NOT show them my ad."

Location Targeting needs to be surgical. A 20-mile radius around your business is lazy and ineffective. Instead, you should:

• Target by ZIP Code: Compile a list of all the residential ZIP codes in the Las Vegas valley and target them specifically. Exclude the ZIP codes that are predominantly tourist areas (like the one covering the Strip).
• Choose the Right Setting: In your campaign settings, under "Location options", you MUST select "Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations". This is non-negotiable. The default setting includes "interest", which means Google will show your ad to someone in another country if they've shown an interest in Las Vegas. That's exactly what we're trying to avoid.

Ad Copy must speak their language. Every word in your ad needs to scream "I'm for locals". Use headlines like:

• -> "Trusted by Las Vegas Residents"
• -> "Your Summerlin [Service] Expert"
• -> "Exclusive Offer for NV Locals"

This does two things. It instantly attracts the right people, and it actively repels the wrong ones. A tourist seeing "Exclusive Offer for NV Locals" is going to scroll right past, which saves you money on a wasted click. Your Quality Score will improve because the ad is hyper-relevant to the keywords and the user. It's a win-win.

Finally, your landing page has to close the deal. It should feel like a continuation of the ad. Feature testimonials from other locals. Show a map of the neighbourhoods you service. Mention your years of service to the Las Vegas community. Dont make them hunt for your phone number or a contact form. Make it obvious. Everything should build trust and reinforce that you are a permanent, reliable part of their community, not a fly-by-night operation preying on tourists.

You probably should create a 'Tourist Trap' campaign too...

Now, I'm not saying you should ignore tourists completely. Depending on your business, they can be a massive source of revenue. The trick is to treat them as a separate business opportunity. This campaign is built to capture them efficiently and profitably, without polluting your high-value local campaign.

Keywords for this campaign are the exact opposite of the first one. We are actively bidding on the terms we excluded before:

• -> "[your service] near the Strip"
• -> "emergency [your service] Las Vegas"
• -> "best [your service] near Bellagio"

Your negative keyword list for this campaign should include the local qualifiers like neighbourhood names, "resident", and specific local terms. We want to create two mutually exclusive keyword sets.

Location Targeting is different here.

• Target the Hotspots: Use small radius targeting (1-3 miles) around the Strip, major convention centres, and Fremont Street.
• Catch the Planners: In this campaign's settings, you can use the default "Presence or interest: People in, regularly in, or who've shown interest in your targeted locations". This will capture people who are physically in Vegas, but also people from other cities who are planning their trip and searching for services in Las Vegas. This can be incredibly powerful.

Ad Copy needs to address their specific pain points. A tourist's problems are all about urgency and convenience. They dont have time to shop around. Your ads should reflect this:

• -> "Visiting Vegas? We Can Help."
• -> "Fast Service Near Your Hotel"
• -> "Open Late on The Strip"

The messaging is all about solving their problem *now* so they can get back to their holiday. It's a different psychological trigger entirely.

And, you guessed it, a separate landing page is essential. This page should be mobile-first, load instantly, and have a massive click-to-call button at the top. It should feature a map showing your proximity to major hotels. Forget long-term trust-building; this is about speed and convenience. Answer the questions a tourist has: How fast can you get here? Are you open now? How close are you to my casino?

You'll need to think about your budget...

Splitting your budget between these two campaigns is where the real strategy comes in. It's not about a 50/50 split. It depends entirely on your business goals. The "Locals Only" campaign is an investment in long-term, repeatable business. The "Tourist Trap" campaign is for generating immediate, transactional cash flow.

A local customer might have a lifetime value (LTV) that's 10x higher than a tourist's. So, you can afford to pay a much higher Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) to get that local customer. You might find that clicks in your "Locals Only" campaign are more expensive because you're competing for a smaller, more valuable audience. That's perfectly fine, as long as the return is there.

The tourist campaign should be treated with a strict Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) target. If you spend $1, you need to make $3 back, for example. It's a volume game. Clicks will be cheaper and more plentiful, but the conversion rate might be lower.

To help you visualise this, I've put together a simple calculator. Play around with the sliders to see how your budget allocation might change based on what percentage of leads you want to come from local residents. It's a good starting point for your planning.

A quick word on what to expect...

Once you implement this structure, your performance metrics are going to look very different, and you shouldn't panic. This is normal and expected. The goal isn't just to lower your overall CPA; it's to acquire the *right* customers at a profitable price.

Your "Locals Only" campaign will likely have:

• Higher Cost Per Click (CPC): You're competing for a smaller, more valuable audience.
• Lower Click-Through Rate (CTR): The audience is smaller, so volume will be lower.
• MUCH Higher Conversion Rate: The traffic is hyper-qualified. The people who click are exactly who you want.
• Higher Lead Quality & LTV: These are the customers who will come back and refer their friends.

Your "Tourist Trap" campaign will probably have:

• Lower Cost Per Click (CPC): There's a huge volume of tourist searches, so clicks are cheaper.
• Higher Click-Through Rate (CTR): You can get a lot of eyeballs and clicks from the sheer volume of traffic.
• Lower Conversion Rate: It's less targeted, so a smaller percentage will convert. Many are just browsing.
• Lower Lead Quality & LTV: These are one-and-done transactions.

The key is to judge each campaign on its own merits and against its own goals. Don't compare the CPA of the local campaign to the tourist campaign—it's like comparing apples and oranges. Judge the local campaign on the long-term value it brings and the tourist campaign on its immediate ROAS. I've made a little chart to illustrate what you should expect to see.

This is the main advice I have for you:

To pull this all together, here is a table summarising the exact structure you need to build. Think of this as your blueprint. If you build your account exactly like this, you will be miles ahead of your competition who are still just drawing a big circle around the city and wasting their money.

Why you might need an expert...

Look, I know this is a lot to take in. The framework I've laid out is straightforward, but the devil is in the details. Building out those keyword lists, writing compelling ad copy for two completely different audiences, setting up conversion tracking correctly, and then actually managing and optimising these campaigns week after week... it's a full-time job. And you've already got one of those—running your business.

The truth is, setting up the campaigns is only about 20% of the work. The other 80% is the ongoing analysis and adjustment. It's about looking at the search term reports every single day to find new negative keywords. It's about split-testing ad copy to squeeze out a higher click-through rate. It's about adjusting bids based on device, time of day, and location performance. This relentless optimisation is what separates campaigns that just "work" from campaigns that become a predictable, scalable engine for growth.

This is where we come in. We live and breathe this stuff. We've built and managed structures like this for lots of clients in different industries, from local services to eCommerce and B2B SaaS. We've seen what works and, more importantly, what doesn't.

If you'd like to chat through this in more detail and see how we could apply it specifically to your business, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at your current account together and give you some more actionable advice right on the call. It's a great way for you to get some expert insight and for us to see if we'd be a good fit to help you grow.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh