To launch Google Ads in Germany, write ads, keywords and landing page in German: Google removed the language setting from Search campaigns and matches ads according to their language. Target the country, rebuild your keywords on German Google instead of translating them, exclude Austria if needed, and prepare your Impressum and VAT. The facts table follows right below.
Key takeaway: Write everything in German, target people located in Germany, exclude Austria if needed, prepare your Impressum and your VAT self-assessment, then check every keyword on German Google before you bid.
| Fact | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Official languages | German: “the official language is German” for public authorities, under the federal Administrative Procedure Act (section 23) | Federal Administrative Procedure Act (VwVfG), section 23, Gesetze im Internet |
| Languages Google Ads supports | German. Among Germany's regional and minority languages, Google Ads supports Danish; Frisian, Sorbian, Romani and Low German are not in its list | Google Ads API, language codes |
| Currency | Euro (EUR), in use since 1999; notes and coins since 2002, replacing the Deutsche Mark | European Central Bank |
| Search engines (share of searches) | Google 87.84%, Bing 6.49%, Yahoo! 1.71% (September 2026) | StatCounter Global Stats |
| Mobile vs desktop | Mobile 59.85%, desktop 38.31%, tablet 1.84% of page views (September 2026) | StatCounter Global Stats |
| Google Ads billing entity | Google Ireland Limited | Google Ads Help, “Taxes in your country” |
| VAT on Google Ads | Business account with a VAT ID: Google adds no VAT (unless the “Eligible non-business” purpose is chosen) and the advertiser self-assesses VAT at its member state's rate (Article 44 of Directive 2006/112/EC) | Google Ads Help, “Taxes in your country” |
| Country VAT rate | 19% (standard rate of German turnover tax, Umsatzsteuer); 7% for reduced-rate supplies | Turnover Tax Act (UStG), section 12, Gesetze im Internet |
| Country-specific Google surcharge | No Germany-specific surcharge in Google's list. Neighbouring Austria is listed: ads served in Austria are subject to one | Google Ads Help, “Jurisdiction-specific surcharges” |
| Online gambling | Allowed (sports and horse betting, lotteries, virtual slot machines, online casinos, online poker) only for an operator or broker holding a licence issued by the competent German authority, after Google certification; the destination must provide an imprint (Impressum) that meets local legal requirements | Google Advertising Policies, “Gambling and games” |
| Online pharmacies | Allowed (pharmacies, medicine retailers, pharmacy associations) without promoting prescription drugs in ads and landing pages, if they are registered online medicine retailers, licensed pharmacies with a valid operating authorization or associations of licensed pharmacies; Google certification required | Google Advertising Policies, “Healthcare and medicines” |
| Website legal notice (Impressum) | German law requires providers of commercial digital services to keep a legal notice that is easy to recognise, directly reachable and always available: name and registered address, legal form and representative for a company, a quick way to make contact including an email address, commercial register and registration number, VAT ID where one exists | Digital Services Law (DDG), section 5, Gesetze im Internet |
| Day of German Unity | October 3, a statutory public holiday nationwide | Unification Treaty (Einigungsvertrag), Article 2, Gesetze im Internet |
| Other public holidays | Only October 3 is set by federal law; the other public holidays are set by the federal states, whose laws all protect nine holidays common to the whole country | Federal Ministry of the Interior, “Nationale Feiertage” |
Data verified on . Each value was read on its source on the date shown. It may have changed since: the source prevails.
One campaign per country, with at least one ad group per language, keeps budgets, bids and reports readable. In the settings, pick Germany as the location: it is what aims the campaign at the audience. For a first launch, the “Presence” option limits delivery to people located in Germany; the broad option, which Google presents as a best practice on Search, also adds people who are interested in the country. Compare the two before you decide, using the Google Ads help on geographic targeting.
Google removed the language setting from Search campaigns: ads are now matched according to their language, with priority given to ads written in the language of the search term. So write ads, keywords and landing page in German. To reach another audience, for example the Danish minority, open a dedicated ad group in its language. Frisian, Sorbian, Romani and Low German are not in the list of languages Google Ads recognizes: do not count on a Google tool to isolate them.
German is also spoken in Austria and Switzerland: if you only want Germany, do not let the campaign serve elsewhere: the geographic location remains the setting that bounds the country of delivery. After a few days, open the user location report in the report editor. If ads are served outside Germany, explicitly exclude the country concerned.
A word-for-word translation misses what people in Germany really type. Start from Keyword Planner set to Germany and German, note the variants of a single compound word (one word, two words, hyphenated), then check on the German results page that each search shows buying intent. Should I Bid intent analysis does that reading for you, keyword by keyword.
Write directly in German, with prices in euros and terms (delivery, returns, payment) that apply in Germany. Pick the formal (Sie) or informal (du) address once, keep it everywhere, and have a native speaker review it. Add an Impressum to the site, reachable from every page.
Google Ireland Limited serves the account. At signup, choose a business purpose and enter your VAT ID: this choice is permanent. With a VAT ID, Google adds no VAT and you self-assess it at your member state rate. With prepay, expect two invoices: one at payment, one at month end.
Gambling: a German licence and Google certification. Online pharmacies: registration or an operating authorization, and no prescription drugs in ads. For any other regulated sector, read the Google advertising policies that apply to Germany before you publish.
Set a test budget and exclude searches without buying intent from the start. October 3 is a holiday everywhere, like nine holidays that the laws of every federal state protect; the others vary from one state to the next: if you target a region, check its calendar before you plan budget increases. Our guide to choosing Google Ads keywords details the sorting method.
The language of the ads, the keywords and the landing page is German, and it is the only one a nationwide campaign needs. The federal Administrative Procedure Act says the official language is German. On the Google side, the language setting of Search campaigns has been removed: ads are matched according to their language, with priority given to ads written in the language of the search term. The facts table at the top of the page repeats the official language and the languages Google Ads recognizes, with their sources.
Regional languages are not all handled the same way. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Germany protects several minority languages as well as Low German. In the list of languages Google Ads recognizes, Danish appears, but Frisian, Sorbian, Romani and Low German do not. If your offer is aimed at one of those audiences, do not count on language to isolate it in Google's tools: rely on location, on the wording of the ads and on a dedicated ad group.
Writing native German takes more than a translation. German compound nouns can be written as one word, as two words or with a hyphen, and people do not always type the form you expect. Pull the variants people really search for from Keyword Planner, then compare the results page of each: they may not show the same ads. If your starting list is muddled, our guide to Google Ads Quality Score explains why ad relevance to the search matters.
Decide the tone once. Between the formal address (Sie) and the informal one, choose according to your audience and your brand, use the same one everywhere (ads, pages, emails) and have a native speaker in your sector approve it. It is a brand choice to test, not a universal rule.
Google dominates search in Germany, so Google Ads remains the main paid search channel. The facts table gives the share of Google and of the next two engines for the month shown. Bing comes second: Microsoft Advertising can complement a campaign, but Should I Bid only reads the Google results page.
Mobile accounts for most page views, but desktop keeps a sizeable share. Check your landing pages on a phone before launch, then on a computer: both matter.
A StatCounter measurement does not replace your own data. These shares describe all internet users, not the people searching for your product. Once the campaign is live, the Google Ads device report shows the real split for your keywords and lets you adjust bids device by device.
Google's page on taxes places Germany under Google Ireland Limited. The block that covers Germany is shared with several other countries of the European Union.
With a VAT ID, you self-assess VAT. Google does not add VAT to a business account unless you ticked the “Eligible non-business” purpose at signup. You then declare VAT yourself, at your member state's rate, under the EU VAT directive that Google cites in its help. Google states that it cannot give tax advice: have your accountant validate the set-up.
The German rate in the facts table is not the rate on your Google invoice. It describes the German turnover tax, which matters for your own sales in Germany; the VAT on your Google invoice follows your member state. Separate the two with your accountant before you compute profitability.
The purpose chosen at signup cannot be changed. Google writes that this setting is permanent and that it determines how you assess and report VAT. Open the account with the right purpose (business) and the right VAT ID from day one.
With prepay, expect two invoices. For Germany, Google says taxes are charged at the time of payment: a prepay account gets one invoice at payment and another at month end, while a postpay account gets a single invoice at month end. This changes your bookkeeping.
Germany is not in Google's list of country surcharges. Google adds regulatory operating costs or digital services tax fees to the invoice for ads served in certain countries only, Austria among them.
The trap is geographic: a surcharge applies where the ad is served, not where your business is. Google says it applies every time an ad is served in the jurisdiction, wherever your business is located, and that it does not refund surcharges resulting from legitimate clicks and impressions that match your targeting settings.
A German-language campaign can cross the border. Google warns that a campaign can serve in a country it does not explicitly target, for example because of a location of interest for the user. To check, build the user location report in the report editor, as Google explains, then explicitly exclude any country where you do not want to appear. The “Presence” option also helps keep delivery inside the country you aim at. The Austrian surcharge rate is on Google's page, not on this one.
The facts table lists three rules specific to Germany: gambling, online pharmacies and the legal notice. Each has its own source, detailed here.
Online gambling is only allowed for an operator or broker holding a licence issued by the competent German authority. Google also requires certification. An agency or provider that is not an operator itself must be authorized by the licence holder, with a signed letter as proof. The destination site must show a legal notice that meets local requirements. In Google's policy, the list of allowed products covers sports and horse betting, lotteries, virtual slot machines, online casinos and online poker.
Online pharmacies are allowed with conditions, with no prescription drugs in ads or on landing pages. Google accepts registered online medicine retailers, pharmacies with a valid operating authorization and associations of pharmacies that represent them, again with Google certification. If you sell health products, read the full rule before you publish a single ad.
German law expects an Impressum on a commercial website. The German law on digital services asks that the name and address of the business, a way to reach it quickly including an email address, the commercial register and the VAT ID, where there is one, be easy to recognise, directly reachable and always available. The obligation targets providers of commercial digital services: if your company is established outside Germany, ask a lawyer whether it applies to you, and plan an Impressum link in the footer anyway if you aim at this market.
The Tag der Deutschen Einheit, October 3, is the only public holiday set by federal law. The unification treaty declares it a statutory public holiday. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, all other public holidays are set by the federal states, whose laws all protect nine holidays common to the whole country.
So there is no single calendar for the whole of Germany. When you plan budget increases, promotions or delivery pauses, look at the calendar of the federal state you target. The same day can be a holiday in one state and a working day in another, which can change search behaviour: check in Google Trends, set to the region concerned, when your searches rise.
If you target regions, Google Ads can target and exclude areas finer than the country. To set delivery hours, rely on ad scheduling and on the daily and hourly reports of your account rather than on a guess.
A keyword that converts in your home market can have no buying intent on German Google. The only way to know is to read the German results page: ads, comparison sites, articles, shops. Our guide to search intent in Google Ads explains how to read it.
Should I Bid does that reading for Germany. You choose the country and the language, the tool reads the matching Google page and recommends Bid, Test or Skip for each keyword. Germany is one of the 50 countries available, as are Austria and Switzerland: analyse the same keyword in each country where you serve. The pricing page explains how credits work: one credit per keyword analyzed.
Also look at who is already bidding. The Google Ads Transparency Center shows the ads of an advertiser, and our guide on who bids on your keywords lists other ways to find out. To size up competition before you set a budget, these two readings beat a market average.
Create a dedicated campaign that targets Germany and write ads, keywords and landing page in German: Google removed the language setting from Search campaigns and matches ads according to their language. Rebuild your keywords from German searches, then check billing and the rules of your sector. Exclude Austria if needed. The detailed steps are higher up on this page.
Not for Search campaigns: Google removed that setting and matches ads according to their language, giving priority to ads written in the language of the search term. So write ads, keywords and landing page in German, open one ad group per language if you aim at several audiences, and aim at the country through the geographic location.
Better to rebuild them. A translation keeps the logic of your home market and misses what people in Germany type, notably compound nouns, which can be written in several ways. Start from Keyword Planner set to Germany and German, then check on German Google that each search shows buying intent before you bid on it.
According to Google's help, a business account with a VAT ID is not charged VAT by Google: the advertiser self-assesses it at its member state's rate. The German rate in the facts table concerns German tax, not this invoice. Google does not give tax advice: have your accountant validate the treatment.
Germany is not in Google's list of country surcharges, unlike neighbouring Austria. The Austrian surcharge applies to ads served in Austria, even if your business is elsewhere. Click prices depend on each keyword and its competition: we do not publish a country average, because we do not have a reliable measurement.
The German law on digital services requires providers of commercial services to keep a legal notice that is easy to recognise, directly reachable and always available. Google also requires an Impressum that meets local law on the sites of gambling advertisers. If your company is established outside Germany, ask a lawyer whether German law applies to your website.
Yes. You choose the country and the language, and the analysis reads the matching Google results page, among 50 countries. For each keyword, Should I Bid recommends Bid, Test or Skip based on what Google really shows. For Germany, pick Germany and German, then run the analysis again for Austria if you also serve there. See intent analysis.
October 3, the day of German unity, is a public holiday nationwide. All other public holidays are set by the federal states: nine are common to the whole country, the others vary with the region you target. Check the calendar of the federal state concerned and, in Google Trends set to the region, when your searches rise before you decide on budget increases.