Pakistan
USA
Canada
UK
Dubai
Australia
Germany
- Your business location does not limit where you can advertise.
- Choose account currency and time zone carefully; standard accounts cannot change them.
- Use local language, prices and landing pages for each market.
- Ad policies and verification rules differ by country and industry.
Which location targeting options should I use?
In campaign settings, choose the countries, regions or cities you want to reach. Then check the location option. People in or regularly in your targeted locations is the safer choice for most businesses, because it focuses on people physically in the market. The interest option can also include people elsewhere who search about that place, which suits travel or property but wastes budget for most services.
You can also exclude locations. A Pakistani business targeting the UK might exclude Pakistan to stop local staff and friends seeing and clicking the ads, and to keep reports clean. Use separate campaigns per country when budgets, languages or bids differ, so one market does not starve another.
Why do account currency and time zone matter so much?
You pick both when you create the account. The currency cannot be changed afterwards, and Google no longer supports time zone changes in standard accounts. If you get them wrong, the fix is a new account, which means rebuilding campaigns and losing history. Manager accounts have a limited exception for time zones, but do not plan around it; decide before you click create.
The time zone controls your reports and your ad schedule. If your account is on Pakistan time but your customers are in London, an ad schedule of 9am to 6pm will run on Lahore hours, not UK hours. You can work around this by converting times, but it is easy to get wrong. If one market is your main focus, consider using its time zone and currency for that account.
What changes by market?
A starting checklist for the three most common targets.
Market | Language and currency | Things to check |
|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | British English, pounds | UK spelling, Consent Mode v2, financial services verification where relevant |
United Arab Emirates | English and Arabic, dirhams | Arabic ads and pages, mobile speed, local licensing for regulated services |
United States | US English, dollars | US spelling, state-level targeting, healthcare and finance policy rules |
Pakistan (if also targeted) | English, Urdu, Roman Urdu, rupees | Separate campaign, WhatsApp contact, mobile-first pages |
How should language, pricing and landing pages change?
People trust ads that look local. Write UK ads in British English and US ads in US English, show prices in pounds, dirhams or dollars, and use a landing page that speaks to that market. A page with Pakistani rupee prices and a Lahore phone number will lose UK or UAE visitors, even if the service is the same.
Give each market its own landing page or a clear country version, with a local or international phone number, WhatsApp for the Gulf, and business hours in the visitor's time zone. In the UAE, offer Arabic where your audience uses it. Track calls and WhatsApp clicks properly; our guide to tracking calls and WhatsApp clicks explains how, including which countries support Google forwarding numbers.
Which policy differences should I watch for?
Google applies its policies by the country you target, not where you are based.
Financial services
The UK and some other countries require financial services verification, and UK advertisers may need FCA authorisation.
Healthcare and medicines
Rules on pharmacies, treatments and medical claims vary by country and often need certification.
Gambling
Gambling ads need country-specific certification and local licences.
Privacy and consent
UK visitors need consent signals; see Consent Mode v2.
Advertiser verification
Google may ask you to verify your identity and business. Use documents that match your payments profile.
How do billing and payment methods work?
Billing is set by your payments profile country and currency, not by the countries you target. The payment methods available, such as cards, bank transfer or monthly invoicing, depend on that country and currency. Check Google's payment options page for your billing country before you set up, as the choice is hard to change later.
If your business has a company in the UK or UAE, you may prefer to bill through that entity, in its currency, for cleaner accounting. Pakistani businesses billing from Pakistan should confirm with their bank that international card payments to Google are enabled, and keep invoices for tax records. If you are disapproved or suspended along the way, our guide to account disapprovals can help.
Should I use one account or several?
One account can target many countries, and that is often simplest. Use separate campaigns per country so you can set budgets, languages and schedules for each. Several accounts make sense when markets need different currencies, time zones or billing entities, or when separate teams run them.
If you have several accounts, link them under a Google Ads manager account. You can see everything in one place, share negative keyword lists and conversion actions, and give an agency access without sharing passwords. Our article on what to expect from a Google Ads agency covers how access should work.
How we handle this for clients
We start by agreeing the target markets, the billing entity, and the currency and time zone each account should use, before anything is built. Then we set up campaigns per market with the right location options, language, ads and landing pages, and check the policy and verification needs for the industry and country.
Tracking, consent and call or WhatsApp measurement are tested for each market. Schedules are set in the customer's local hours, and enquiry handling is planned so someone can respond during those hours. We run the work from Lahore across Pakistan, Gulf, UK and US time zones as part of our Google Ads management service.
Junaid has more than 18 years in SEO, paid media, web development and custom software. He founded SEOnumber1, builds WordPress plugins, CRMs and web applications, has served 500+ clients in 48 countries, and holds Google Ads, Analytics and Google Blue and Green Belt certifications. He is a National Level Award Winner in Digital Marketing. Read his story or ask a question about this article.