Google Ditches Language Targeting for AI-Driven Ads

Google Ads will eliminate language targeting in late September 2026, according to a recent announcement. This means that advertisers can no longer target specific languages at the campaign level. Instead, the platform will automatically favor ads and landing pages with matching language.

The change is expected to have little impact on campaigns where multiple languages are already targeted, as well as those using single-language campaigns such as English or Spanish. However, for multilingual users, AI-driven ad groups will prioritize and identify the most relevant ad based on the user's specific context and language preference at auction time.

Ginny Marvin, ads product liaison at Google, explained that the system already understands and handles language automatically, looking at an array of signals including the language of the ad creative and landing page, search term language, and user's language settings and preferences. This change is seen as a natural progression with the advancement of artificial intelligence and automation.

Advertisers are advised to review their campaigns to ensure that ad creative and landing pages are clearly structured in the intended languages for users. It is also recommended to stop including language criteria in new and updated Search campaigns when sending Google Ads API requests.