With 7.2 million French-speaking Canadians in Quebec, failing to localize your ads in the Canadian market can result in low conversion rates and possible missed opportunities to reach a new audience and drive revenue growth.
Research shows that 95% of Quebecers speak French as their sole official language and prefer to communicate with ads in French.
This means brands that invest in bilingual ads can see a significant increase in engagement with campaigns featuring both English and French content.
Whether you’re targeting an audience through digital platforms like Google Ads, social media, or online marketplaces, displaying ads in both languages drives engagement and increases the conversions of your ad campaigns.
Successful brands incorporate bilingual campaigns, building brand loyalty and trust among both English and French-speaking consumers in Canada.
Here’s a guide to effectively creating bilingual ad campaigns on Google, and Amazon:
Creating bilingual ads on Google
Creating bilingual ads on Google includes two methods, one is creating two separate campaigns, with one targeting regions that speak the other language.
The second is using the same campaign and changing the language settings.
However, there are a few key things to consider, keywords in other languages, ad copy, URLs, and assets.
Campaign language settings
You can choose multiple languages in your campaign settings, but how does Google know which language to use? According to Google’s help article, they determine a user’s language based on several factors including query language, user settings, and other factors derived from their machine learning algorithms.
Important note
Google does not translate ads or keywords. Just because you add a new language to your campaign doesn’t mean your keywords and ads will automatically be translated. You must do this manually.
If a user searches with a keyword in a different language, your ad won’t show unless you’ve added keywords in the relevant language.
Similarly, if you create an ad in English and want to include the French language to target French-speaking regions in Canada, you need to add the French language in the setting.
But if you leave the initial ad keywords in English, the ad will show in its initial language—English, despite adding French language in the settings.
For the best results, we recommend that ads show in the same language as the search query (Keyword). So, it’s crucial to include French keywords in your ad.
We suggest you use either of these two main setup options. Let’s say you have an English campaign and want to add French.
Option 1: Use the same campaign
1. Use Language Settings
Add French in the language settings of your campaign, so it targets users who Google identifies as speaking English or French.
2. Duplicate Ad Groups
Duplicate your ad groups, rename the new ones with French translations, and change the keywords and ad copy to French. If possible, direct users to a French-translated website or landing page.
To do this, select your ad group, click edit, and then copy. Then, paste the ad group to duplicate it.
You also want to perform localized keyword research for French audiences. Localized keywords improve the relevance of your ads, which can lead to a higher Quality Score, lower cost-per-click (CPC), and better overall performance.
3.Target French-speaking Regions
Consider targeting French-speaking regions, such as Quebec, to optimize for French-speaking audiences.
To do this, click your French ad group and then click the settings icon. Once you click the icon, you’ll be directed to the ad group setting where you can edit your targeting.
This is a great option for setting bilingual ads because all your data is in one campaign, making it simpler to manage. It also allows Google to gather data faster, especially if you use automated bidding.
Option 2: Create separate campaigns
1. Create Separate Ad Groups for Each Language
Google Ads allows you to create distinct ad groups for different audience segments.
For bilingual campaigns targeting the Canadian market, it’s important to create separate ad groups and campaigns for English and French.
For your English campaign, add French in the language settings to ensure users who type English queries but are identified as French speakers still see your English ads.
This ensures that your ads, keywords, and copy are tailored to the specific audience’s language preferences, providing more relevant messaging.
By creating your ad groups this way, you can ensure that each language group receives ads specifically written for them, improving ad relevance and engagement.
2. Use Group-Level Assets for Language-Specific Ad Variants
For each ad group, create language-specific assets (headlines, descriptions, CTAs). Google Ads allows you to upload different assets tailored to each language.
Avoid using automated translations, as they often can be inaccurate. Instead, opt for human translations or a trusted translation tool.
3. Ad Extensions in Both Languages
Ad extensions, such as site links, callouts, and location extensions, should also be translated and tailored to each language group.
This strategy increases your ad’s visibility on the search results page and makes your campaign more dynamic.
4. Use Geo-Targeting for More Precision
Set specific geographic targets for regions that predominantly speak French and other regions in Canada that speak English better to align ads with the languages relevant to specific locations, ensuring your ads appear to users in the right language.
This option allows you to have separate budgets and more control over the two languages, but the downside is that your data will be split between two campaigns.
Creating Bilingual Ads on Amazon
Unlike Google, creating bilingual ads on Amazon involves a seamless process. You can launch campaigns in a new region without having to set up and translate individual campaigns for different regions.
Amazon uses a machine translation service to translate keywords from one region to another accurately and you don’t have to research keywords in the other language to insert them in your ad campaign like Google.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating bilingual ads on Amazon:
1. Registration
To create campaigns in multiple countries simultaneously, let’s say you’re registered in the United States and want to target a Canadian audience.
You must be registered to advertise in each of the desired countries within the region.
To do this, go to the regional registration page to register for all the countries you need within the North American region.
Once registered, you’ll be able to create multi-country campaigns.
2. Create a Product Campaign Using Automatic Targeting
Automatic targeting for Sponsored Products allows Amazon Ads to automatically match your ads with relevant keywords and products, making it an ideal option for resolving language barriers.
Source: Amazon
When creating a Sponsored Products campaign to promote individual listings, select automatic targeting and let Amazon Ads handle the rest.
Setting up automatic targeting campaigns is just as easy, even in a country where you don’t speak the local language.
To do this, go to the advertising console, add the new country (Canada) where you want to advertise, and select your preferred language.
The setup process is straightforward just like the campaigns you’ve run in your home country.
You can optimize your automatic campaigns, by visiting the “Targeting” tab in the campaign manager.
Here, you’ll find a report showing the performance of each automatic targeting default.
Pro tip: Use the keyword data from your automatic targeting campaigns to create manual targeting campaigns.
The reports from automatic campaigns are a valuable source of local language keywords.
3. Keyword Translation
Amazon’s keyword translation feature allows you to enter keywords in your language which are then translated into the local language of the country you’re advertising to.
It uses a combination of machine-generated translations, professional linguist translations, and local marketplace terms to ensure accuracy.
To add and translate keywords to your campaigns:
- Enter individual keywords using the “Enter a list” tab, then use the “translate and add” option to include the translated keywords in your campaign.
- Upload a file with keywords by selecting the “Translate and add” checkbox in the “Upload file” tab before completing the upload.
4. Convert Currencies
Amazon provides a feature that allows you to convert currencies between countries using a foreign exchange rate that updates every 24 hours.
This can be done through the ad console, where currency conversion is available across various pages.
While values will be displayed in both the local currency and the selected converted currency, the conversion does not affect invoices or payments.
Conclusion
Running bilingual ads on Amazon and Google to target the Canadian market can improve your ad performance and results.
While Google requires using dynamic language settings and customizing ads to specific language-based regions, Amazon automatically translates your product campaign to the local language without manual effort.
We always suggest that you monitor your ad performance regularly, test ad variants, and optimize based on results to increase engagement and conversion rates.
We recommend you follow this guide to enhance your bilingual campaigns and maximize your ad reach.