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Google Ads will remove campaign-level language targeting from Search campaigns and from Google Search inventory within Performance Max, shifting language matching more heavily to Google’s automated systems beginning in late September.
The update changes a longstanding setup in which advertisers chose one or more languages at the campaign level while Google separately used its own signals to decide which languages a user understands. Under the new approach for Search, Google said it will rely on the language of the ad creative and landing page, along with its existing assessment of user language comprehension.
How Search language matching will work
Today, Google considers both campaign language settings and its own language signals, including query language, user settings, and other signals derived by Google AI, when deciding whether a Search ad can appear. It also checks whether the user can understand the language of the ad and landing page.
Starting in late September, that campaign-level setting will no longer apply to Search and AI Max for Search campaigns. For Performance Max, the same change applies to Google Search, while campaign-level language settings will still be used for other channels.
Google said accounts with separate campaigns for English, Spanish, or other languages do not need to be restructured. Those campaigns can remain in place, with creative and landing-page language serving as matching signals.
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Multiple languages may now compete more directly
Google said that when a user is determined to understand more than one language, ads in either language could become eligible. Its stronger AI-based ad group prioritization would then decide which ad is the better fit for the search.
If a query clearly indicates a language, Google said it will prioritize an ad and landing page in that language when an eligible option exists. Brand searches may be less straightforward, because a brand name can be identical across languages. In those cases, Google said it will rely on other language signals and prioritize the user’s preferred language.
That means a user who regularly searches in both English and Spanish could now be eligible to see ads in either language.
Google also said the change may reduce situations in which a campaign unintentionally blocks relevant traffic. If a campaign targets one language but includes ads or landing pages in another, the campaign setting can prevent users from qualifying even when Google believes they understand the language used in the ad.
Developers and advertisers face operational questions
Google recommended that advertisers using the Google Ads API stop sending language criteria when creating or updating Search campaigns. Existing language criteria may remain in place, but Google said they will no longer affect Search targeting.
The company also said the update should continue to support nearly all current language targeting use cases. But in a virtual roundtable described in the source article, advertisers raised questions about more specialized scenarios where language targeting has been used for added control or documentation.
One concern came from regulated industries. Advertisers said they may need to show that ads are available equitably across English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. Google said that offering ads in both languages signals the advertiser’s intent to reach both groups, and that its systems can determine which users understand each language and then select an eligible ad.
The source article said a key part of that issue remains unresolved: advertisers also wanted to know how they could prove how ads were delivered when Google, rather than a campaign setting, determines language eligibility. Google did not announce additional language reporting showing which languages were served or how performance differed by language.
AI Max raises another multilingual case
Advertisers also asked how the shift would work alongside AI Max and automatically generated creative.
The example discussed in the source article involved a Quebec-targeted AI Max campaign that generated French creative from advertiser inputs and other campaign signals. Google confirmed that the French ad could serve even when a user searches in English.
According to the source article, creative generation happens first, then Google applies its language comprehension checks to decide whether the user understands the available ad and landing page. As a result, the language of the query does not have to match the language of the ad.
What Google says to watch after the rollout
Google said most advertisers should not need to make major changes. It also said there is no reason to merge campaigns that are already separated by language simply because the Search language setting is going away.
The source article said advertisers that use language targeting for broader audience control or compliance purposes may want to review how those settings function in their accounts. It also advised multilingual and international advertisers to monitor search terms, geographic traffic, and changes in who is entering their campaigns once the update takes effect.
Google emphasized during the advertiser roundtable that removing the campaign-level setting should not significantly alter current language matching. As Google put it, "the way things are behaving now aren’t changing."
Whether traffic patterns stay stable after Google relies solely on its own language signals for Search may determine how advertisers judge the change, particularly in the less conventional use cases where the setting served as an added layer of control.
