Google Ads Consultant, Iraq

Arabic, Kurdish and English searchers in one plan

Iraqi customers do not search in a single language. In Baghdad and the south, consumer searches are largely in Arabic, with Iraqi words for everyday products mixed with standard terms and English brand and model names. In the Kurdistan Region, many people search in Sorani Kurdish written in an Arabic-based script, while Kurmanji speakers, including in Duhok, may type in Arabic or Latin letters; Arabic and English are common there too. International buyers and project teams search in English.

The account plan follows that reality. Each language that matters for your business gets its own ad groups, with keywords in the forms people actually type and ads written in the same language and script. Google Ads matches ads using the searcher's language signals as well as keywords, and its list of targeting languages may not cover every Kurdish variety, so I check what is available when the account is built. Where a variety is not listed, the campaign relies on location targeting and Kurdish keywords and ads to reach the right people, and search term reports confirm whether it works.

Copy in Arabic and Kurdish is written or reviewed by someone on your side who grew up with the language, since a phrase that reads naturally in Baghdad may sound odd in Sulaymaniyah. The general method sits on my Google Ads management page, and the organic side is described on the SEO consultant page for Iraq.

Targeting by governorate, city and audiences abroad

Location targeting in Iraq should match where you can actually sell and deliver. A showroom in Baghdad may want a radius around its branches plus nearby governorates it delivers to; a distributor of building materials may cover several governorates with different price lists; a clinic in Erbil may serve local residents and patients who travel from elsewhere in Iraq. Setting one country-wide target and hoping for the best spends money on people you cannot serve.

I separate campaigns where something important changes: language, products, prices, delivery coverage or the team that answers inquiries. A Kurdistan Region campaign and a Baghdad campaign may share products but differ in language, currency on the page and phone numbers, so they are easier to manage and report as separate units. Budgets are split the same way, which keeps one busy region from absorbing spend intended for another.

Some Iraqi businesses also need to reach people outside the country: suppliers to oil and gas operators, logistics and catering firms serving international projects, or companies looking for partners abroad. Those campaigns target English searches in the countries where buyers sit, point to pages describing capabilities and compliance, and are measured on qualified conversations rather than clicks. For business-to-business outreach beyond search, turn to the B2B lead generation page for Iraq.

Landing pages for businesses that live on social media

Many Iraqi companies have an active social media page but a thin website, or none. Sending search traffic to a social profile rarely works well: the searcher wanted a specific product or service, and a feed of posts makes them scroll for it. Google also expects ads to lead to a functioning page that matches the ad.

A focused landing page solves most of this without a full website project. For each main product line or service, the page states what you offer in the language of the ad, gives a price indication or a starting point where you are comfortable sharing one, explains delivery areas, installation or appointment steps, and shows a phone number and WhatsApp button large enough to tap easily. Prices should use the currency your customers expect, dinars or dollars, and match what sales quotes.

Arabic and Sorani pages run right to left, and templates designed for English often break: phone numbers flip, product codes split and forms misalign on small screens. I check pages on phones over mobile data, because that is how many customers will see them, and give your developer a short list of fixes. Speed matters, so heavy image galleries and video headers are kept off the pages that receive paid traffic. If the website needs more than a few landing pages, the digital transformation page for Iraq explains how that fits into a wider plan.

Calls, WhatsApp and imported outcomes without a full CRM

Iraqi customers usually make contact by phone or WhatsApp, often on one of several mobile lines a business uses. I set up separate conversion actions for calls from ads, calls from the website and WhatsApp taps, and agree with you which of these indicate genuine interest. A tap alone is not a sale, so these actions are used carefully in bidding.

Better signals come from what sales records afterwards. A full CRM is the ideal place to capture whether an inquiry became a quotation, an order or an appointment, and my CRM consultant page for Iraq covers that design. If a CRM is not yet in place, a structured sales log can be a starting point: a shared sheet where staff record the date, campaign reference, outcome and value for each ad inquiry. Google Ads accepts offline conversion uploads in that form, so bidding can begin learning from real outcomes before the CRM project finishes.

Performance Max needs a steady flow of reliable conversions to work. For most Iraqi advertisers starting out, that flow does not exist yet, and the campaign may chase cheap taps across video and display placements. I start with Search, prove that tracking and outcome uploads work, and consider Performance Max later for businesses such as retailers with a product range and consistent online or phone orders, always with brand exclusions and compared against Search results.

Payment, policies and keeping the account in your name

Paying for Google Ads from Iraq can involve more steps than in some neighboring markets. Which payment methods your company can use, whether a related entity elsewhere should pay, and how the arrangement is documented are matters for your finance team and accountant. The account should be registered to the entity that pays and completes advertiser verification, and its currency, which is fixed when the account is opened, should be chosen deliberately.

Ownership is worth protecting from day one. Accounts opened under an employee's personal login or an agency's own profile can be hard to recover when that person or agency moves on, taking years of history and conversion data with them. I make sure the account sits under a company-controlled login, with named users given only the access they need. My own access can be removed whenever you choose, and I am not paid anything by Google or by agencies for bringing them your business.

Some categories need extra care with ad text and landing pages: medical and cosmetic clinics, pharmacies, education providers making claims about recognition, financial services and anything involving weapons or security equipment. I check these against Google's policies before launch. Whether ads also meet Iraqi regulations, including any rules specific to the Kurdistan Region, is for your legal advisor to confirm. The Iraq overview lists the rest of my work in the country.