Impact of the new Google Ads surcharges

Starting July 1, 2024, Google Ads will apply new surcharges for ads served in Spain, Italy, and Turkey due to regulatory costs associated with local digital services laws. 

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This change has direct implications for hoteliers who promote their establishments in these markets through Google Ads. Below, we detail how these changes will affect your advertising campaigns and what strategies you can adopt to minimize the impact.

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What's Changing?

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-Additional surcharge per country. 

Ads served in Spain, Italy, and Turkey will be subject to an additional surcharge on Google Ads invoices. This means that the August 2024 invoice will already include the updated surcharges. 

       - Ads served in Spain will have a 3% surcharge for regulatory operating costs (increase compared to the previous 2%). 

       - Ads served in Italy will have a 2.5% surcharge for regulatory operating costs (compared to the previous 2%) that will be added to your invoice.

       - Ads served in Turkey will have a 7% surcharge for regulatory operating costs (increase compared to the previous 5%). 

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- Budget Impact:
Hoteliers should adjust their advertising budgets to include this additional surcharge. For example, if a hotel has a monthly budget of 1000 euros for ads served in Spain on Google Ads, it should now consider an additional expense of 30 euros due to the surcharge, totaling 1030 euros before other applicable taxes such as VAT.

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- At the billing level:
These surcharges will appear as a separate item on invoices and in the "Transactions" section of the Google Ads account. This provides transparency from Google about the specific additional costs for ads served in the mentioned countries. 

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Strategies to mitigate the impact

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Campaign Optimization: 

As you know, one of the obsessions of our Roiback Digital Marketing team is the profitability of campaigns. If you are the one managing them, we recommend even more that you review and optimize advertising campaigns to ensure they are getting the maximum possible performance. This includes adjusting keywords, improving audience segmentation, and increasing ad relevance to maximize return on investment.

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Budget Evaluation: 

Re-evaluate and adjust advertising budgets to absorb the impact of the new surcharge without compromising the visibility and reach of the campaigns. Consider a redistribution of the budget based on the performance metrics of current campaigns. Here you can see how to create and edit the budget. 

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Platform Diversification: 

Explore other advertising platforms and digital marketing strategies to diversify customer acquisition channels. This may include social media advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and content marketing, which can offer complementary alternatives to Google Ads.

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Continuous measurement and analysis: 

Implement a measurement and analysis system to track the performance of advertising campaigns. Use analytical tools to identify areas for improvement and adjust the strategy in real time. 

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These new Google Ads surcharges in Spain, Italy, and Turkey represent an additional challenge for hoteliers who depend on digital advertising to attract their customers. However, with careful planning and the implementation of effective strategies, it is possible to mitigate the financial impact and continue generating a high return on advertising investment. As we have mentioned, the key is to continuously optimize campaigns and explore various platforms and marketing methods to maintain a strong and effective presence in the market. 

If you have any questions, contact us.