Should You Be Using Foreign Language Ads?

By Tinuiti Team

Jan 30 2018

We live in a global economy and while most of your traffic may originate from the United States, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t entertain the idea of looking at foreign language ads. Google allows you to target different audiences based on different geographical locations.

Look at your traffic sources. Do a substantial number of visitors to your e-commerce, fashion or retail website come from non-English speaking countries? Do you have business potential from French-speaking customers from Quebec, Canada, or Spanish speaking customers from Mexico? If so, then there might be a solution to reaching these audiences.

Each campaign can be tailored so that you can target specific audiences based on their language settings. This can help you increase traffic, generate more leads, boost click-through rates (CTR), lower your cost per clicks (CPCs) and increase conversion ratios (CVRs). So, how does an e-commerce, retail and fashion enterprise go about taking advantage of Google foreign language ads?

Step 1: Go to your audience settings in Google Analytics and select GEO and then language.

Step 2: Determine which languages users have designated in their browser settings.

Here is a source for the Google language codes.

Step 3: Define the amount of traffic from non-English speaking countries and geographies.

A good rule of thumb is to look at any non-English traffic sources that account for 10% of your overall traffic.

Step 4: Determine if you can create ads in that new language.

It can be very expensive to secure ad copy and cover translation fees.
Make sure to do a complete review of the additional revenue or value per sale that can be generated by targeting the new language relative to the costs.
It may be time-consuming, but it will ensure you’re not wasting marketing capital.

Step 5: Translation

Be mindful of different dialects and wordings in different languages.
Be sure to do forward and backward translations to make sure the ad copy is correct and not misinterpreted. Granted, it may be more expensive, but it ensures that you’re not wasting valuable marketing capital. Always have the copy/translations approved by the client.

Step 6: Lock in Settings

After you build out your ads, make sure you have changed your campaign settings to whatever language your ads are in. We recommend creating a separate campaign with just your newly translated ads in order to track performance.

Step 7: Expand or Hold firm?

Measure your results over time before making any decision to translate extensions like site links, callouts and structured snippets.
If you do translate these extensions, then it may make sense to go one at a time and measure results before going all in. Depending on the time and resources you have, it is recommended to do this even before the campaign launches.

Google foreign language ads may just be the solution you're looking for. In fact, your offering could be ideal for that new audience. Take the time to investigate your traffic sources and do your homework to determine whether the revenues will support the expenditures.

If you're interested in learning more about how a new approach to your Paid Search campaign can benefit your business then check out our Case Study, Revel Systems Accelerates Lead Generation 429% at lower CPL.