Localization in Google Ads: How to structure multi-market campaigns

Separate accounts, separate campaigns, or one shared setup?

It’s often the first question marketers face when launching Google Ads in multiple countries or languages. 

The structure you choose lays the groundwork for how well you can: 

• Localize ads.
• Manage regional budgets.
• Analyze performance by market.

While consolidation simplifies PPC management, it can limit your ability to connect with diverse audiences. 

Full separation allows for maximum customization but can lead to administrative overhead and missed efficiencies.

Striking the right balance is key to aligning effort with impact while maintaining centralized data. 

Effective localization can be the difference between resonating with international audiences and missing valuable conversions.

This article tackles strategies for localizing Google Ads campaigns, from choosing the right account structure to advanced cultural adaptations that drive performance across global markets.

Why localization matters: Beyond simple translation

Localization goes far beyond basic translation. 

While translation focuses on converting text from one language to another, localization adapts your message to be culturally relevant and appropriate for your target audience. 

This includes:

• Cultural references: Ensuring idioms, metaphors, and examples resonate with the local audience.
• Purchasing behaviors: Adapting to regional buying patterns and preferences.
• Visual elements: Modifying images and design to align with cultural expectations.
• Currency and measurement units: Using local formats for prices, sizes, and distances.
• Regulatory compliance: Adhering to regional advertising regulations and requirements.
• Different spellings: For example German is spoken in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but while Germany and Austria have an “ß”, in Switzerland a double s “ss” is used. Another example is British versus American English, such as “colour” (British English) and “color” (American English).

Start with the right account structure

The foundation of a successful campaign localization begins with a well-planned account structure. 

Expanding into multiple markets? 

How you organize your Google Ads accounts greatly impacts tracking performance, managing budgets, and localizing campaigns.

One of the fastest strategies for managing multi-market campaigns is bundling markets that share the same language. 

This approach streamlines content creation and reduces translation workload. For example:

• Group all English-speaking markets (U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia) to leverage similar ad copy.
• Combine Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America.
• Cluster German-speaking regions (Germany, Austria, parts of Switzerland).

Language bundling allows your team to create a single set of compelling ads that can be deployed across multiple markets with minimal adaptation, saving time and resources while maintaining message consistency. 

While language bundling offers significant efficiency advantages, it does come with trade-offs worth considering. 

The emphasis on speed and streamlined management sometimes means compromising on certain details:

• Currency variations: When grouping markets solely by language, you may overlook important currency differences that affect bidding strategies and budget allocations. Exchange rate fluctuations can impact campaign performance reporting across regions sharing a language but using different currencies.
• Regional language nuances: Even within the same language, regional spelling conventions (American vs. British English, European vs. Latin American Spanish) and cultural references may vary. A bundled approach might not capture these subtle but important distinctions that could resonate more effectively with local audiences.

These limitations don’t invalidate the language bundling strategy. 

Still, they highlight the importance of balancing operational efficiency and market-specific customization to achieve optimal campaign performance across all territories.

Currency considerations: The critical constraint

While language bundling is fast to implement, it’s essential to remember that Google Ads permits only one currency per account. 

This limitation often becomes the deciding factor in your account structure, sometimes overriding language groupings.

For instance, while the U.K., U.S., and Australia share English as their primary language, they use different currencies (GBP, USD, and AUD respectively). 

This means you’ll need separate accounts for each, despite the language similarity. 

Yes, Google has currency conversion functionality. 

However, it often leads to reporting issues, mixing too many currencies into one account.

Consider these strategic approaches:

• Currency-first grouping: Create accounts based on currency requirements first, then create language-specific campaigns within each account
• Regional hubs: Establish regional account hubs (e.g., EMEA, APAC, Americas) that balance both currency and language considerations
• Major market separation: Maintain individual accounts for your largest markets while bundling smaller markets with shared currencies

When structuring your accounts with both language and currency in mind:

• Develop standardized naming conventions that clearly indicate language and currency for each campaign.
• Create shared asset libraries for language groups to maintain consistency across accounts.
• Implement cross-account tracking to evaluate performance across language clusters regardless of account separation.
• Use labels to quickly identify and manage campaigns targeting the same language across different accounts.

A well-planned account structure that considers both language and currency gives you a strong foundation.

There’s no universal ideal structure for multi-market campaigns. 

Your approach should be guided by market distribution and business goals. 

Assess where your volume concentrates. 

If you have one dominant market with minimal activity in similar markets, bundling makes sense despite some localization sacrifices. 

However, when significant volume flows across multiple markets, invest in proper market-specific structures that support long-term scaling. 

The right balance weighs immediate efficiency against future growth potential across your target regions.

Setting up localized campaigns in Google Ads

When setting up localized campaigns, ask yourself about:

• Language.
• Location.
• Currency.

The checklist below can serve as your guide.

Language

• Choose the right language targeting: In your campaign settings, select the specific languages your potential customers speak.
• Create separate campaigns for each language: Rather than mixing languages, create dedicated campaigns for each target language.
• Enable language detection: Google can identify a user’s preferred language based on their browser settings and search behavior.

Location

• Geographical targeting levels: Target by country, region, city, or even radius around specific locations.
• Location groups: Target places of interest, like business locations or your storefront.
• Advanced location options: Choose whether to target people in your selected locations, those who show interest in your locations, or both.
• Location extensions: Show your local business addresses alongside your ads.
• Location insertion: Automatically insert the targeted city, state, or country name into your ad text.
• Local inventory ads: Display products available at nearby stores to drive foot traffic.

Currency

• Set up currency conversion: Configure your campaigns to display prices in local currencies.
• Show tax-inclusive pricing: In countries where displaying tax-inclusive prices is expected or required.
• Offer local payment methods: Highlight accepted payment options popular in each region.

Note: If a market has enough volume, you might also want to look into cultural and seasonal localization.

Culture

• Adapt headlines and calls to action: What motivates action varies by culture – some respond better to direct calls while others prefer indirect approaches.
• Customize imagery: Select visuals that reflect local aesthetics, models that represent your target audience, and scenarios familiar to local users.
• Adjust value propositions: Emphasize benefits that matter most in each market (e.g., efficiency in Germany, innovation in South Korea).

Seasonal

• Create a localized marketing calendar: Map out important dates and events for each target market.
• Develop region-specific promotional campaigns: Align offers with local events, such as Diwali in India or Singles’ Day in China.
• Adjust bidding strategies: Increase bids during peak shopping periods specific to each region.

PPC localization pitfalls and how to avoid them

Machine translation limitations

While Google Translate has improved dramatically, relying solely on machine translation can lead to embarrassing errors:

• Invest in professional translation: Work with native-speaking translators familiar with marketing content.
• Conduct back-translation checks: Have a different translator convert the localized content back to the original language to catch potential errors.
• Run linguistic quality assurance: Have native speakers review ads before launching.

That being said, advertisers short on budget can use:

• Google Translate.
• DeepL, a German translation engine that uses convolutional neural networks to deliver more natural translations. 

It’s more of a question of how much volume goes through the translated assets. 

The more traffic and impressions, the more you want to double-check and have a professional translation.

Cultural faux pas

Even major brands make cultural mistakes that damage their reputation:

• Research cultural taboos and sensitivities: Colors, numbers, and symbols can have unexpected meanings in different cultures.
• Check for unintentional double meanings: Ensure product names and slogans translate appropriately.
• Review visual elements: Images considered normal in one culture may be offensive in another.

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Standardizing international campaign management with SOPs

When managing Google Ads campaigns across multiple countries and languages, establishing clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) is essential for: 

• Maintaining consistency.
• Enabling efficient team collaboration.
• Ensuring scalable campaign management. 

Well-designed SOPs create a framework that minimizes errors, speeds up campaign creation, and simplifies reporting across your international portfolio.

Campaign naming conventions

A clear naming convention serves is key to managing campaigns across multiple markets.

The most effective approach incorporates geographic, linguistic, and strategic elements in a consistent format:

Recommended format:
{Country} | {Language} | Campaign Type | Campaign Goal

Examples:

• US | en | Search | Brand
• DE | de | Display | Awareness
• CA | fr | Search | Revenue
• MX | es | Performance Max | Revenue

This standardized structure offers several advantages:

• Enables quick filtering and sorting within the Google Ads interface.
• Simplifies reporting across regions and languages.
• Ensures consistent understanding across team members.
• Facilitates automated rule creation and script implementation.

The language code becomes particularly crucial for markets with multiple languages. 

For example, distinguishing between CA | en and CA | fr for English and French campaigns in Canada ensures clarity in performance analysis and budget allocation.

Asset organization procedures

Beyond campaign naming, establish clear protocols for organizing ad assets across languages:

• Asset library structure:
  
  • Create separate folders for each country-language combination.
  • Maintain consistent subfolder organization for ad types (responsive search ads, image assets, etc.).
  • Include language code in all file names (e.g., product_banner_us.jpg).
• Documentation requirements
  
  • Maintain translation glossaries for key brand terms and product names.
  • Document market-specific restrictions or requirements.
  • Record any cultural adaptations made for specific markets.

Localization workflow

Establish a structured process for campaign localization to maintain quality and efficiency:

• Translation and adaptation process
  • Define clear handoff procedures between marketing and translation teams.
  • Create templates for providing context to translators.
  • Establish review protocols for culturally-sensitive content.
• Quality assurance checklist
  • Verify landing page language matches ad language.
  • Confirm currency, measurement units, and date formats are localized.
  • Check that offers and promotions are valid in target markets.
  • Ensure compliance with local advertising regulations.

Reporting templates and schedules

Standardize reporting to enable clear cross-market comparison and insight sharing:

• Unified report structure
  • Create templates that normalize metrics across languages and regions.
  • Include a side-by-side comparison of key markets.
  • Incorporate currency-normalized cost metrics.
• Reporting calendar
  • Establish a consistent cadence for different report types.
  • Define responsibilities for report generation and analysis.
  • Create protocols for sharing insights across regional teams.

Implementation strategy

When rolling out SOPs for international campaign management:

• Start with documentation of existing processes across markets.
• Identify best practices and areas for standardization.
• Create templates and tools to support consistent implementation.
• Conduct training sessions for all team members.
• Schedule regular reviews to refine procedures based on feedback.

Well-documented SOPs transform international campaign management from a potentially chaotic endeavor into a structured, scalable process. 

Clear rules for naming, organizing, localizing, and reporting help your team scale across markets while keeping quality and performance tracking consistent.

Automated search term translation script

Managing search term analysis across multiple languages presents a challenge for international marketers. 

Reviewing non-native language search queries often involves tedious copying and pasting into translation tools or depending on team members with language skills, which can slow down optimization workflows.

To address this pain point, I’ve developed a Google Ads script that seamlessly exports search terms from search campaigns and automatically translates them into your preferred language within Google Sheets.

Getting started with the script

To implement this time-saving tool in your Google Ads account:

• Access the script code and installation instructions here.
• Make a copy of this Google Sheet.
• Configure your preferred language settings.
• Schedule regular runs based on your optimization routine.

The setup process takes less than five minutes, but saves hours of tedious work each month while improving your ability to optimize international campaigns effectively.

Building scalable international PPC campaigns with a local impact

Effective localization in Google Ads goes beyond simple translation to create campaigns that truly connect with local audiences. 

By following the strategies in this article – from language and location targeting to cultural adaptations – you can boost campaign performance in international markets.

Investing in proper localization leads to higher engagement, better conversion rates, and stronger brand perception. 

In today’s global marketplace, localization isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential for successful international advertising.

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