TLDR;
- Stop mixing high and low CPM countries: The algorithm will always chase the cheapest clicks (usually low-quality traffic) if you group the US with developing nations.
- Implement a Tiered Country Structure: Split your campaigns into Tier 1 (High Value), Tier 2 (Mid), and Tier 3 (Volume) to control costs and quality.
- Consolidate your audiences: Over-segmenting broad international traffic dilutes your data. Group interests into larger themes.
- Use the Interactive Calculator below: I've built a tool to help you estimate how splitting tiers impacts your blended CPA.
- The most important piece of advice is... Never let the ad platform decide your geographic allocation for you; force the split to protect your ROI.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
I'm really glad you asked about this because, quite honestly, account structure for international campaigns is where I see most businesses absolutely torch their budget. It's a proper mess out there. I've audited so many accounts where they just flick the switch to "Worldwide" or "English Speaking" and then wonder why they have 10,000 clicks but zero sales from the customers they actually wanted.
Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on this. The short answer is that you need to take back control from the algorithm regarding where your money is spent, while giving it freedom on who it targets within those boundaries. If you get this structure right, you stop paying for junk traffic and start scaling efficiently.
I'm going to walk you through the exact tiered structure I use for clients running global campaigns. It's not rocket science, but it requires being a bit strict with your setup.
We'll need to look at the "Cheap Click" Trap first
Here is the biggest issue with running broad, international traffic without a proper structure: The ad platforms (Meta, Google, TikTok, all of them) are designed to get you the "cheapest result" that meets your objective.
If you have a campaign targeting the US, UK, India, and Brazil in the same ad set, and you are optimising for "Link Clicks" or even upper-funnel "Leads", the algorithm is lazy. It looks at the auction prices. It sees that a click in the US costs £1.50 and a click in India costs £0.10. It thinks, "Brilliant, I can get this user 15 clicks in India for the price of one in the US!"
So it dumps 90% of your budget into the cheaper countries. Your metrics look great on paper—low CPC, loads of traffic—but your bank account suffers because that traffic often doesn't convert to paid customers at the same rate, or at all.
For example, in a campaign for a software app where we generated over 45,000 signups at under £2 per signup, the key to success was a rigorous structure. We ensured the budget was directed toward high-quality users rather than just the cheapest clicks, preventing the budget from being drained by regions that wouldn't drive meaningful engagement.
To visualize this, I've put together a chart showing what typically happens to budget allocation in a mixed campaign versus a structured one.
Budget Drain: Mixed vs. Structured
I'd say you implement the "Tiered System" immediately
This is the bread and butter of scaling internationally without losing your shirt. You shouldn't group countries by geography (e.g., "Europe" or "Asia"). Group them by Willingness to Pay and Cost to Advertise (CPM).
Here is how I usually structure it for clients. You create separate campaigns (or at least separate ad sets with dedicated budgets) for each tier.
Tier 1: The "Expensive but Worth It" Club
These are your English-speaking (usually), high-income countries. Competition is high, CPMs are high (£10-£30+), but the conversion rate to paid is usually the best.
- USA
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Australia
- New Zealand
Strategy here: Dedicate 60-70% of your budget here if this is where your paying customers are. Don't let India or the Philippines steal budget from this group.
Tier 2: The "High Potential" Zone
These are developed European or Asian countries with strong economies. They have money, but the CPMs are often slightly lower than the US, or there might be language nuances (though many browse in English).
- Germany, France, Netherlands, Nordics (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland)
- Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea
- UAE, Switzerland, Ireland
Strategy here: Keep this separate. The performance here can be volatile. Sometimes Germany performs better than the UK, sometimes worse. If you group them with the US, they might get ignored. If you group them with Tier 3, they get starved.
Tier 3: The "Volume" Players
These are developing nations with massive populations. Traffic is incredibly cheap (CPCs of £0.05 are common). However, fraud/bot rates can be higher, and purchasing power is lower.
- India, Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Pakistan, Nigeria, etc.
Strategy here: Only target these if you have a specific monetization strategy for them (e.g., ad-supported app, lower pricing parity, or just need raw brand awareness numbers). If you are selling a £500 B2B consulting service, honestly? I'd probably exclude these entirely unless you know for a fact your ICP is there.
I built a little calculator below so you can see how mixing these tiers affects your "Blended CPA" (Cost Per Acquisition). It's quite eye-opening to see how a few cheap conversions can mask the fact that your US conversions are actually way too expensive.
Blended CPA Estimator
You probably should consolidate your audiences
Now that you've split your countries, you need to be careful not to over-segment your audiences inside those campaigns. This is a classic mistake I see all the time.
In a "No location specified" or broad environment, you might be tempted to test "Software Interests" vs "Marketing Interests" vs "Small Business Owners" all in separate ad sets for each Tier. Don't do it.
Why? Because when you split your geo targets, you are already shrinking your audience pools. If you slice them further by 10 different interest groups, you dilute your data. The algorithm needs about 50 conversions per week per ad set to exit the "learning phase" and optimise properly.
Here is what I suggest for your structure inside the Tiered Campaigns:
1. Broad (No Targeting)
Especially for Tier 1 and Tier 2. Trust the algorithm (once you have enough data). If your creative calls out the specific problem (e.g. "Struggling with international payroll?"), the right people will click. The creative does the targeting.
2. Stacked Interests (The "Super" Audience)
Instead of 5 ad sets with different interests, group them. Put all your competitor interests, software interests, and job titles into ONE big ad set. We call this a "Super Lookalike" or "Super Interest" stack. It gives the algorithm a nice big playground to find people.
3. Lookalikes (If you have data)
Create a 1%, 1-5%, and 5-10% stack. But honestly? Lookalikes have been performing a bit worse lately compared to Broad targeting in many accounts I manage. It's worth a test, but don't rely on it solely.
You'll need strict exclusion lists
This is crucial. If you are running a Tier 1 campaign targeting the US and UK, and a Tier 2 campaign targeting Germany and France, make sure your settings are watertight. But more importantly, if you are running a "Rest of World" campaign to catch everything else, you MUST exclude your Tier 1 and Tier 2 countries from it.
If you don't, the "Rest of World" campaign will occasionally snipe a cheap user in the UK who happens to be online at 3 AM, muddling your data. Keep the borders clean.
I'd say you look at Cost Caps for Lower Tiers
If you decide to run Tier 3 (developing nations) because you want the volume or you have a global app, use Cost Caps (or Bid Caps). Do not use "Lowest Cost" (or "Maximize Conversions" without a cap).
If you use Lowest Cost in India or Brazil, Meta/Google will spend your entire daily budget by 10 AM because the inventory is so vast and cheap. By setting a Cost Cap (e.g., "I am not willing to pay more than £0.50 per signup"), you force the system to only buy the traffic that is likely to convert at that price, acting as a quality filter.
For Tier 1 (US/UK), I usually start with Lowest Cost to ensure spend, then move to Cost Caps once I know my baseline CPA.
Tier 1 (US/UK/AU)
Tier 2 (EU/Asia High)
Tier 3 (ROW)
A quick note on Creatives and Language
One thing that trips people up with international structures is language. If you are targeting Tier 2 (e.g., Germany, Netherlands), do you need ads in German?
From my experience: Not necessarily.
If your landing page and product are in English, run your ads in English. There is no point getting a cheap click with a German ad if they land on an English site and bounce because they don't understand it. English ads act as a filter—if they understand the ad, they'll understand the product.
However, if you have localized landing pages, then absolutely localize the ads. Just remember, if you mix languages in one ad set, the algorithm might get confused. Keep languages separate if you can, or stick to English globally for simplicity if you're just starting out.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Problem Area | Why it fails currently | Recommended Action |
|---|---|---|
| Budget Allocation | Algorithm spends 90% on cheap countries with low conversion value. | Split campaigns into Tier 1 (High Value), Tier 2 (Mid), Tier 3 (Low). Hard cap the budget for each. |
| Audience Targeting | Over-segmenting (too many ad sets) leads to "Learning Limited" and unstable results. | Consolidate interests into "Super Stacks" and use Broad targeting for major markets. |
| Bidding Strategy | Using "Lowest Cost" in developing nations floods you with low-quality bot traffic. | Use Cost Caps for Tier 3 countries to enforce quality control. |
| Measurement | Looking at a "Global CPA" hides the fact that your US ads are unprofitable. | Track CPA and ROAS per Tier. Do not aggregate them into one metric. |
Structuring your account like this might seem like a bit more work initially, but it saves you a fortune in wasted spend down the line. It stops you from waking up to find you've spent £500 on clicks from a region you can't ship to or monetize.
It's not about being a wizard with the settings; it's about not letting the platforms take the easy way out with your money.
If you're finding this all a bit of a headache to implement, or if you want someone to look over your specific tier lists and bid caps, it might be worth getting some expert eyes on it. We offer a free initial consultation where we can review your current structure and spot where the leaks are. It's usually pretty helpful to just walk through it with someone who's seen the backend of a few hundred accounts.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
