International PPC agency: the four decisions that separate a real multi-country account from a translated copy

An international PPC agency runs paid search in several countries at once, and the good ones are judged on four decisions: how the accounts are split by currency and time zone, how each country is targeted, which language each ad is written in, and which search engine each market actually uses. Google Ads fixes an account's currency and time zone for good when the account is created, and from September 2026 Google matches Search ads to users by the language of the ad itself rather than a campaign setting. So an agency that still treats a new country as a copy of the home campaigns with a translated headline is working from an old playbook. Below is what to expect, what to ask, and how to compare proposals.

What changes when PPC crosses a border

Running ads in one country is mostly about keywords, bids and landing pages. Running them in ten adds problems that never come up at home.

• Money and time. Google's help page on account settings says currency and time zone are permanently set when an account is created. Billing in euros and reporting on Tokyo time each need their own account.
• Language. Ads must be in a language the searcher understands, and the landing page must match.
• Location. The location target types available differ by country. Postal codes, regions and cities are not offered the same way everywhere.
• Search engines. Google is not the main engine in every market. Baidu, Naver, Yandex and Yahoo! JAPAN each matter in their home countries.
• Policy. Google's ad policies vary by country. Alcohol, for example, runs only in countries on Google's allowed list, so a product that advertises freely at home may be restricted abroad.

The account structure an agency should propose

Ask any agency to draw the account structure before it quotes. Because currency and time zone cannot change, the usual pattern is one Google Ads account per billing currency or per reporting time zone, all linked under one manager account so the agency sees everything in one place. Inside each account, campaigns split by country, so each one has its own budget and its own bids. A country that sells a lot should never share a budget with one that is still being tested.

If you are moving from one account to several, Google notes that campaigns can be copied across with Google Ads Editor, but historical data does not move. Agree up front how performance will be compared before and after the change.

Targeting: presence or interest

Google offers two ways to read a location. "Presence or Interest", the broad option, reaches people in your target places and people who have shown interest in them. "Presence" reaches only people who are in, or regularly in, those places. Google recommends broad targeting as a best practice on Search, and recommends Presence when a business is in a sensitive vertical or only wants people physically in the target area.

For international work this choice matters a lot. A hotel in Spain selling to British travellers wants people in England who search for Spain, which is Google's own example on its location targeting page. A software company billing in local currency wants people actually in each country, or it will pay for clicks it cannot serve. Ask the agency which setting it uses in each campaign and why.

Language: the September 2026 change

Google's language targeting help page says that from September 2026 the campaign level language setting is removed for Search campaigns, and for the Search part of Performance Max. Search ads are matched automatically to the language of the ad. Google says it looks at the search term's language and the user's language settings, and favours the ad whose language matches the search.

In practice that means the ad copy itself now decides who sees it. A Spanish ad set in a campaign that also holds English ads will compete for Spanish searches wherever you target. Three questions follow for any agency:

• Are ads written by native speakers, or machine translated and checked?
• Does every ad send people to a landing page in the same language?
• For brand searches with no clear language, which language does the user see? Google says it uses the person's most preferred language.

Engines beyond Google

An international agency should know when Google is the wrong answer. Google's Search Ads 360 lists Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising, Baidu, Yahoo! JAPAN Ads and Facebook among the platforms it can manage, which tells you which engines a serious international account tends to need. If Microsoft Advertising is on your list, our guide on buying Bing PPC services covers how it is usually run beside Google. Ask the agency which engines it runs itself and which it hands to a partner.

How to compare international PPC agencies

Question	A strong answer	A weak answer
Who writes the ads in each language?	Named native speakers or a named translation process with review	"We translate everything"
How are accounts split?	By currency and time zone, under one manager account you can see	One account for every country
Who owns the accounts?	You do; the agency has access	The agency's own accounts
How are countries reported?	Each country's cost per lead or sale in its own currency, plus a converted total	One blended number
Which policies apply in each market?	A list, checked for your category	No answer
How do they handle local holidays and seasons?	A calendar per market with budget changes planned	Same schedule everywhere

On fees, international agencies use the same models as any PPC agency: a percentage of spend, a flat monthly fee, or a mix. Expect a set up fee for each new market, since each one needs research, ads and landing pages. Ask for the fee per country so you can drop a market that does not pay.

Start with one market, not ten

The cheapest international PPC lesson is to launch one new country, run it until the cost per sale is clear, and only then add the next. A test market tells you whether the offer works there, whether the landing page converts, and what a lead really costs in that currency. Your SEO team will want the same country and language decisions, and our multilingual SEO guide covers the site side.

Questions about hiring an international PPC agency

Do I need a separate Google Ads account for each country?

Not for each country, but for each currency or time zone you want to bill or report in, because Google fixes both when the account is created.

Does language targeting still matter in Google Ads?

For Search, Google is removing the campaign language setting from September 2026 and matching ads by the language of the ad. The language you write in now does the targeting.

Should I use Presence or Presence or Interest?

Use Presence when you can only serve people in the country. Use the broader option when people elsewhere buy for that place, as travellers do.

Can one agency run Baidu and Naver too?

Some can. Ask who does the work, and whether the agency can show live accounts on those engines.

How should results be reported across currencies?

Each market in its own currency, plus a converted total with the exchange rate and date stated.

The same question in every language

An international ad account answers a search in each market. Buyers in those markets are also asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity which supplier to use, in their own language, and the answer can name a local rival in one country and you in another. That answer is worth checking market by market. AI Knows Us measures what the assistants say about a business when buyers ask.