The Clickable Search Engine Marketing Blog

As we've often pointed out on this blog, one of the most powerful tools search marketing offers is the ability to filter users before they conduct a single search. The most common way of doing this is by using location targeting. However, another way to do so (in Google, at least) is language targeting. This less frequently-used option deserves another look.

There are two common misconceptions about language targeting:

1. MYTH: Your ads will be translated into the language you're targeting.
2. MYTH: Your ads will appear to searchers using the domain in the language you're targeting.

The first myth is easy to clear up: Google doesn't translate your ads. If your headline is "Flowers Delivered Today," it will appear as "Flowers Delivered Today" even if you set your language target to "Spanish" or "French." If you want your headline to read "Flores Entregado Hoy" or "Fleurs Livré Aujourd'***" instead, you have to write it that way. Google AdWords and Google Translate haven't been hooked up quite yet.

The second point is a little trickier: it seems obvious that ads targeted to "French" would show up on google.fr. In fact, it's ads targeted to the location "France" that show up there. Ads targeted to the language "French," on the other hand, show up to users who have set their Google language preference to "French."

If you click on the "Preferences" link to the right of a Google search button, you will see two language-related options right at the top of the list: "Interface Language" and "Search Languages." Interface Language refers to the language that your Google page appears in, and it isn't relevant to what we're discussing here. The relevant item for marketers is the "Search Languages."

By default, users will be shown search results in any language. However, users can chose to see only pages that are in one or many of the languages that Google offers, from "Afrikaans" to "Vietnamese." Users who set language preferences in Google are the ones you can reach by setting a Language target. There may not be very many of them, but that could mean less expensive and more highly targeted ads. Worth a shot!

To change the Language Settings for a campaign, go to the Manage page for that campaign, then click on the "Campaign Settings" tab. Click on the link for "Languages & Locations," and you'll see the language options at the top. By default, all campaigns are set to "English," but you can choose any other language that Google provides as an option to its users. For help with this or any other Tool Tip, please contact Clickable Support.