This guide will show you how to set up your campaign in Google Ads for use with a Multi-Location Automation workflow in WeatherAds. If you are unsure which type of automation flow is best to use, please review our guide on Single Location vs Multi-Location Automation.

A WeatherAds Multi-Location Automation is compatible with all campaign types in Google Ads. However, for some campaign types certain automated actions are not available.

Search campaigns, Display campaigns (GDN), and Shopping campaigns are fully compatible with WeatherAds, meaning all Multi-Location actions are available for these campaigns.

App campaigns (formerly UAC), Smart campaigns, and Discovery campaigns are partially compatible, meaning that the scope of actions is limited for these campaigns.

For App campaigns, Smart campaigns and Discovery campaigns you can use WeatherAds to turn on/off your campaign, and add/remove locations. However, App, Smart and Discovery campaigns are not compatible with weather based bid adjustments.

Note: Video campaigns are currently unsupported. We are working on video campaign compatibility via our YouTube integration (coming soon!).

For a Multi-Location Automation setup, WeatherAds can be used in three distinct ways:

Options A and B will work with all bidding strategies. For option C (weather-based bidding), we recommend manual CPC. You can use some automated bidding strategies as long as they are compatible with location bid adjustments. These include:

All other Smart/ automated bidding strategies such as Target CPA, Target ROAS etc will not work with weather based bidding (but will work for switching on/off delivery via geo-toggling) for a Multi-Location Automation.

Note: Multi-Location Automation operate at the campaign geo level for Google Ads. They are not ad group/ ad or keyword specific. If you are adjusting bids, all keyword bids will be adjusted by the same percentage for a ‘weather-positive’ geo. Similarly, if you are activating / pausing delivery, all ad groups and ads within your campaign will be eligible to show for a weather positive geo.

Note: To switch creative / rotate ads based on weather for a multi-location campaign, read this guide. Alternatively switching to a Single Location Automation Setup will enable you to create actions at the ad, ad group, campaign and label levels, though may require some campaign restructuring.

All geo targeting is set up in the Google Ads platform. WeatherAds detects your campaign's geo targeting settings and works with these. Compatible types of geo targeting include:

Note: When selecting your geo targeting settings in Google Ads, be sure to select ‘People in or regularly in your targeted locations’.

Targeting Multiple Locations

You can add multiple locations within your campaign, as long as they are all the same type (e.g. all cities). Do not combine two different location targeting types (e.g. states and cities) within the same campaign.

If you are targeting multiple large countries or territories within your campaign (e.g. USA and Canada), or if you are targeting more than 10,000 locations, then please review this guide on How to Set Up Global or Multinational Google Ads Campaigns for Weather Targeting.

Targeting Large Geographical Regions

With a Multi-Location Automation, your campaign can target large geographical regions (e.g. a country or a collection of states) without issue. WeatherAds atomizes your geo target into smaller constituent parts (sub-regions, also called 'child geos'). For example, if your campaign was targeting the United Kingdom, your geo targeting would be converted to cities (e.g. London, Edinburgh, Manchester, etc). This geo breakdown is necessary to enable accurate weather targeting at a granular level. You will be able to see the new geo breakdown in your location targeting settings in Google Ads once your automation is live in WeatherAds.

If you are adjusting bids based on weather, ensure that your campaign is enabled in Google Ads at launch.

If you are turning on/off your campaign & adding/ removing geos based on weather, then your Google Ads campaign should be paused at launch. Once the automation is set live, WeatherAds will activate your campaign when a geo target matches your weather parameters.

Note: If no geos match your weather rules, WeatherAds will pause your campaign. Do not be alarmed if you find your campaign is in a paused state in Google Ads. Do not attempt to manually restart your campaign; WeatherAds will reactivate it as soon as your weather moment happens.

Once your automation is switched on, WeatherAds makes updates to your campaign as often as every 15 minutes.

Do not make any changes to your Google Ads campaigns’ geo targeting settings whilst your automation is live.

If you need to make changes to your campaign’s geo targeting, please follow these steps:

Changes to other settings such as budgets, bids, ad groups, ads, keywords etc can be made without issue.

Please be aware that WeatherAds can reactivate any campaigns that you pause in Google Ads if they are part of a live automation. To deactivate your campaign, you must first either pause your automation, or remove the campaign from your automation in WeatherAds, before then deactivating your campaign in Google Ads.

Please note that switching off your WeatherAds automation does not automatically switch off your campaign in Google Ads, as these are two independent platforms. As noted above, it is recommend to pause your automation in WeatherAds prior to pausing your campaign in Google Ads.

Please also note that when your automation is switched off in WeatherAds, your campaign will not be reverted back to its original ‘clean’ state. The changes made by WeatherAds in the most recent update cycle will remain in place. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure their campaign settings are correct once the automation has been deactivated.

Next: How to Create a Google Ads Multi-Location Automation in WeatherAds