What's the difference between "Country of sale" and "Targeting location" in Google smart shopping?

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Topic summary

Main point: In Smart Shopping, “Country of sale” (set in Google Merchant Center) and “Targeting location” (set in Google Ads) must match. If the country of sale is the US, the campaign must target the US; choosing a different country won’t work, so ads effectively show only in that country.

Clarifications:

  • Country of sale defines where products are sold; targeting location defines where ads are shown. For Shopping, these are effectively identical and need to align.
  • Ads will not automatically show in all eligible countries; they’re restricted to the country of sale/targeted country pairing.

Currency/localization:

  • You can target Australia while pricing in USD, but performance may be weak. Best practice is localization: use local language and local currency (e.g., Australia: English + AUD).
  • Targeting the US from an Australian-based Merchant Center is fine with USD, but changing your default currency can negatively impact Australian users. Consider multiple country-specific feeds with local currency (tool example provided via Shopify app).

Status: Core confusion resolved (must-match rule). The notion of “localization” is presented as aligning language/currency, not as an algorithmic feature.

Summarized with AI on December 28. AI used: gpt-5.
1

As I know in search campaigns, If I have set a targeting location (for example United States), then my ads will only show on targeted country United States.

But now, when I creating a smart shopping campaign, there have a country of sale and targeting location option. I upload product feeds to the United States so when creating a smart shopping campaign, I set the country of sale as the United States, then the question is coming. After I set a country of sale, is that mean my shopping ads will only show in the United States even I don’t set a targeting country?

If not, is my shopping ads will show in all eligible countries unless I set a targeted country?

2

The sentence, country of sale, is used in Google Merchant Center to define which country you want to sell in.

Targeted Country is the sentence used in Google Ads

With respect to Shopping Ads, both country of sale and targeted country are identical as in, if your country of sale is US, your targeted country has to be US. You can not choose any other option as it will simply not work.

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3

Hey Emmanuel, In google merchant can i set my target country as Australia but have my main currency as USD. Will this be accepted? Thanks

4

Yes you can, but don’t expect much or any performance.

The key to success is localization. Meaning, if you want to advertise in Australia, target the country using the English language and AUD currency.

You can do this using: https://apps.shopify.com/multiple-google-shopping-feeds

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5

Thanks for the fast reply Emmanuel! Quick question, if i am based in Australia and my google merchant address is based in Australia. Is there going to be a problem if i set my target audience as United States then with my main currency as USD? So i can advertise to them?I’ve tried my store in Australia and we sell a lot more to the US even though we are Australian based.

6

I apologise if i’m asking too many questions! When you say localisation is this algorithmic thing?

7

I don’t see any issue. But changing th default currency will affect your Austalian users. Not sure that is a good idea.