Does Google use a daily conversion rate, pegged to the currency markets, or is it just fixed at £0.60 = $1 = CHF1.3 = EUR0.8 (for example)?
I'm getting the feeling it's just fixed at a constant value (perhaps updated occassionally if there's a big shift in the markets), but would be good to get some clarification from Google if possible?
If two ads have an identical CTR but one is bidding in GB pounds and the other is bidding in US dollars, the currency conversion method becomes important...
I'm getting the feeling it's just fixed at a constant value...but would be good to get some clarification from Google if possible?
Chrisk999, do I detect a hint? ;)
This has come up a couple of times in the recent past, and it's not really an area in which I have personal experience - so I am just going to post the same quote that I've used in past threads, made by a more informed Googler than myself:
Google converts the bid value to the US Dollar and than determines the ad rank.Before entering the auction, the CPC's are converted into what we call micro-currency. Basically, we calculate currency down to 6 decimal points. Highly exact exchange rates are retrieved daily.
The base currency is the US dollar, or more specifically, one hundred-thousandth of a US dollar, so even dollars are converted, really.
Because this is so granular a calculation, there is no advantage to bidding in one currency rather than another.
AWA
This is the case where the bidding is not near the minimum amount of US$0.05, but if it is then there is a major problem.
The minimum I can bid in Australian dollars is A$0.09 or about US$0.0693, thus we are paying 38% more than we would if we had a US dollars account.
Ok, for most campaigns you don't bid this minimum amount, but it is a real problem if you want to.
I have asked Google about this and the only option I have been given is to close my Australian dollars account with all its history and open a US dollars account.
This is a major pain and not very good customer service.
