PPC | 13 Google Ads Settings To Check When Running International PPC Campaigns

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Mar 42 min read

Article by Brooke Osmundson

Avoid costly mistakes in international PPC campaigns by checking these 13 critical Google Ads settings before launching.

Expanding your Google Ads campaigns to international markets sounds exciting – until you realize just how many settings can make or break your results.

If you assume that what works in your home country will work everywhere, think again. From currency mismatches to targeting mishaps, international PPC comes with a unique set of challenges.

To avoid costly mistakes, here are the key Google Ads settings you need to check before launching or optimizing an international campaign.

1. Location Targeting: Are You Reaching The Right Audience?

This may seem like a no-brainer, but many advertisers forget to refine location settings properly.

By default, Google Ads includes users who “show interest in” a location – meaning people outside your target country might see your ads.

What to do: Change your location targeting to “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations” if you only want to reach users physically present in your chosen market. This helps avoid wasting spend on irrelevant clicks.

2. Ad Scheduling: Does It Align With Local Time Zones?

Your ad schedule may be perfectly optimized for your home market, but time zones shift everything when running internationally.

What’s peak conversion time in New York might be the middle of the night in Paris.

What to do: Set your ad schedule based on the local time zone of the targeted market, ensuring your ads run during business hours or when your audience is most active.

Another best practice is to keep your international PPC campaigns in their own ad account, which can be nested underneath an MCC account.

That way, you can set your time zone at the local time zone at the account level and not have to do complicated time zone conversions if they were to all be in the same ad account.

Trust me, a separate ad account will save you so much time in the long run!

3. Currency And Conversion Tracking: Are Your Numbers Making Sense?