If your AdWords account was opened in US dollars, every click now costs more in Canadian terms, plus card fees. The currency cannot be changed, so rebuild the campaigns carefully in a new Canadian-dollar account.

A choice made once, years ago

When an AdWords account is opened, it asks for a currency. Every bid, budget, report and invoice from then on is in that currency, and it cannot be changed afterwards.

Some Canadian businesses chose US dollars. Often it was an accident, or a guide written for American advertisers followed screen by screen.

A few years ago the two dollars were close to equal, and nobody noticed the difference on the card statement.

The lower Canadian dollar has changed that. The same campaign, with the same budget, now costs noticeably more in the dollars the business actually earns.

How it happened

The first is the easiest to recognise. The screenshots in the guide showed US dollars, so the new account did too.

What it costs now

AdWords charges the card in the account's currency. On a Canadian card, a US-dollar charge is converted by the card issuer at its own rate.

Many cards also add a foreign transaction fee to every such charge. On a busy account billed several times a month, those fees add up quietly.

And the budget is set in US dollars. As the Canadian dollar falls, the business spends more in Canadian terms each month without anyone touching a setting.

The reports are in US dollars too. Comparing the cost of an enquiry with what a sale is worth means converting every figure first, which is one reason the difference goes unnoticed.

Checking your account

The currency appears in the account's billing settings and beside the costs in every report. Look for USD.

Your card statement is the other clue. Charges from Google with a conversion and a foreign transaction fee beside them mean US dollars.

Check the account's time zone while you are there. Ad schedules and daily reports follow it, and an account set to the wrong time zone shows ads at hours nobody chose.

Why it cannot simply be switched

AdWords fixes the currency for the life of the account. There is no setting to change it and no request that will.

The fix is a new account opened in Canadian dollars, with the campaigns rebuilt in it, and the old account paused.

That sounds bigger than it is. The campaigns can be copied; what needs care is everything around them.

A worked example

A jigsaw puzzle maker cuts wooden puzzles in a converted garage and sells them online across Canada, with an AdWords campaign for searches such as wooden jigsaw puzzles.

The account was opened four years ago while following an American video course. The course chose US dollars on screen, so the owner did too.

At the time the two currencies were close to par. By this spring the same daily budget was producing clearly larger charges in Canadian dollars, and the card added a fee to every one.

It was the bookkeeper who noticed, from the card statements.

Its busiest months run from October to Christmas, so the rebuild was done in a quiet week in July.

A new account was opened in Canadian dollars and Pacific time, the campaigns were copied across with AdWords Editor, and every bid and budget was checked by hand.

The conversion tag on the order confirmation page was replaced with the new account's, and the account was linked to Analytics. The old account was paused, not closed, so its history stayed available.

Copying the campaigns across

AdWords Editor, Google's free desktop program, can download a whole account and paste its campaigns into another: ad groups, keywords, ads, extensions, negative keywords, locations and schedules.

Bids and budgets come across as plain numbers. A bid of two US dollars arrives as two Canadian dollars, which buys less, so review every bid and budget before switching anything on.

Ads should arrive with their final URLs. Click through a few to make sure each still lands on the right page.

What starts again from nothing

Conversion tracking does not copy. The new account needs its own conversion actions and its own code on the site, and any counting of phone calls needs checking.

Remarketing lists start empty in the new account. Its remarketing tag replaces the old one on the site, and the lists take weeks to fill again.

The link to Analytics needs making again, and anyone else with access, such as a bookkeeper who downloads the invoices, needs adding to the new account.

The performance history stays with the old account, which is one more reason to keep it.

One account at a time

Do not run both accounts side by side to compare them. AdWords does not allow ads from two accounts for the same business to compete on the same search.

Pause the old campaigns on the day the new ones start, and keep the old account paused rather than cancelled, with a year of reports downloaded for comparison.

Choose a quiet week for the switch, when a mistake costs least and there is time to watch the first few days closely.

The counter-case

A business that sells mainly to American customers, earns in US dollars and pays from a US-dollar card may be better off as it is.

An account spending a few dollars a day loses little to the exchange, and the rebuild can wait for a quiet month.

Nor is this a reason to rush. A careless rebuild that loses conversion tracking can cost more than the exchange does.

For a Canadian business earning Canadian dollars, though, the fix is a new account in its own currency, rebuilt carefully.

The order to do it in

  1. Check the currency in billing settings.
  2. Download a year of reports from the old account.
  3. Open a new account in Canadian dollars.
  4. Copy the campaigns with AdWords Editor.
  5. Review every bid and budget by hand.
  6. Set up conversion tracking and remarketing again.
  7. Pause the old account the day you switch.

Step five is where a rebuild goes wrong. Numbers that copy across unchanged look right, and every one of them now means something smaller than it did.

Making prices and currency plain for visitors is covered in visitors from across the border paying in Canadian dollars.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change my AdWords account currency?

No. The currency is fixed when the account is opened. Paying in Canadian dollars needs a new account, with the campaigns rebuilt in it and the old one paused.

How do I check which currency we use?

Look in the account's billing settings or beside the costs in any report. Card statements showing a conversion and a foreign transaction fee are another sign.

Why does it matter more now?

Because the Canadian dollar has fallen. A budget set in US dollars costs more in Canadian terms each month, and many cards add a fee to every foreign charge.

Do campaigns transfer to a new account?

Yes, with AdWords Editor. But bids and budgets copy as plain numbers, so a bid set in US dollars arrives as the same figure in Canadian dollars.

What does not transfer to the new account?

Performance history stays behind, and conversion tracking, remarketing lists and the Analytics link all have to be set up again. Remarketing lists start empty and take weeks to fill.

Can we run both accounts for a while?

No. AdWords does not allow ads from two accounts for the same business to compete on the same search. Pause the old account on the day you switch.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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