Google Has Removed Language Targeting From Search Campaigns. Does It Matter?

What Changed

From September 2026, Google removed campaign-level language targeting for:

All Search campaigns

The Search Network part of Performance Max

Instead of the language you pick, Google now matches ads using three signals: the language your ad is written in, the language of the search, and the user's language preferences.

Language settings still apply to the other parts of Performance Max, so YouTube, Display, Discover and Gmail aren't affected.

You don't need to do anything for your campaigns to keep running. Google is simply ignoring the setting.

Who This Actually Affects

For most UK businesses advertising in English to English-speaking customers, very little changes. If that's you, you can stop reading here.

It matters if you:

Run Welsh-language campaigns - Previously you could keep Welsh and English campaigns neatly apart. Now the language of the ad itself does that job.

Target communities in their own language - For example, a solicitor advertising to Polish, Romanian or Punjabi speakers in the UK.

Advertise internationally - Businesses selling into Europe often used language settings to stop English ads showing to people searching in French or German.

Used language as a filter - Some accounts set a language that didn't match the ad copy, as a way of narrowing reach. That trick no longer works.

The Risks

Ads showing in the wrong language

If an ad is mostly English with a few Welsh words, Google may show it to either audience. Mixed-language ads are now the main source of mismatches.

Landing pages that don't match

Someone searching in Polish who clicks an ad and lands on an English page is unlikely to enquire. Google now leans on landing page language too, so mismatches hurt both relevance and conversion rate.

Broad match and AI Max make it harder

If you also use AI Max, Google has even more freedom to match your ads to searches. Combined with no language setting, that can widen reach more than you expect.

What We Recommend

1. One language per ad group

Never mix languages in the same ad. Keep each ad group, and ideally each campaign, to one language. This is now the single most important signal.

2. Make the landing page match

Every language you advertise in needs its own landing page in that language. Add the correct lang attribute in your page code too. It's a small technical detail that helps Google read the page correctly.

3. Write keywords in the target language

Keywords in the target language reinforce the signal. Avoid relying on English keywords to reach non-English searches.

4. Check search terms by language

Look through your search terms report for queries in languages you don't serve. Add them as negatives where needed.

5. Update API and scripts

If your agency or developer uses the Google Ads API, any attempt to set language criteria on Search campaigns now returns an error. Scripts and tools that relied on it need updating.

Is This Good or Bad?

For most advertisers it's neutral. Google's language detection is good, and plenty of accounts had language settings that didn't reflect reality anyway.

For multilingual businesses, it removes a safety net. The fix isn't complicated, but it does mean ad copy and landing pages have to do work that a setting used to do for you.

If you run campaigns in more than one language and want a second pair of eyes, get in touch and we'll take a look.