Tariffs – and other international trade turbulence – tend to live in the operations or finance side of the house.
In reality, these shifts disrupt marketing, media efficiency, and PPC strategy more than many brands are prepared for.
When the ripple effects hit, they often show up first in your performance metrics.
This month’s Ask A PPC is focused on:
- The impact of tariffs.
- What you can do about it.
- Adjacent implications.
National & International Implications Of Tariffs For PPC
When new tariffs are imposed or existing ones are expanded, they change the fundamental cost structure of goods.
That alone is enough to throw a wrench into your performance benchmarks, but the real chaos comes from how differently brands respond.
- Some advertisers raise prices, hoping to preserve margins.
- Others eat the cost, at least in the short term, to maintain market share.
- Still others pull back spend entirely in affected markets or shift budgets into “safer” channels.
This reshuffling affects auction dynamics. If big players reduce spend in your vertical, you might see the cost-per-click drop – temporarily.
But, if a price increase tanks your conversion rate and you’re still optimizing for return on ad spend (ROAS), your cost-per-acquisition can spike even with stable CPCs.
As Mike Ryan of Smarter Ecommerce (SMEC) reported, Temu’s sharp decline in impression share indicates fear in investing in a chaotic market:
Temu Google Shopping spend gone to zero. App rank plummeting. Here it is in one picture. Temu truly can’t last a day without ads.
(note: paid social and other channels are likely turned off as well, but I’m not in a position to confirm that) https://t.co/Q2QzaHGvXt pic.twitter.com/XPBG2BfSwA
— Mike Ryan (@mikeryanretail) April 14, 2025
For international brands, the implications are even more tangled.
A product line that’s suddenly 20% more expensive in the U.S. might still perform normally in the EU or Canada. That means different messaging, different ROAS targets, and possibly different bid strategies across markets.
This is why it’s really important to segment markets by Google campaign so you can dynamically adjust budgets. It’s worth noting that Microsoft, Meta, and LinkedIn allow for ad group/ad set location targeting.
How Tariffs Influence CPCs (Even When They Don’t Change the Bid)
One of the biggest misconceptions is that tariffs = higher CPCs. The reality is more subtle.
Tariffs increase the cost of doing business. For physical products, that usually means higher retail prices or tighter margins. And that, in turn, changes how efficiently your ads can convert.
- Higher prices can depress conversion rates, especially if your landing pages haven’t been updated to match the current world state.
- Softening conversion rates make your CPAs more expensive, even if the platform’s reported CPC hasn’t changed.
- Smart bidding reacts to this. If ROAS or CPA targets aren’t being hit due to lower conversion rates, Google and Meta will either scale back delivery or hunt for cheaper (possibly lower-intent) clicks.
So no, tariffs don’t directly change your bids, but they will change how your bidding strategy performs – and whether you’re hitting your key performance indicators (KPIs).
What Should Advertisers Do?
There is no right or wrong answer here. Developing a success plan in the tariff world requires balancing proven tactics and empathy for evolving consumer sentiment.
Here are some good places to start:
1. Your PPC Accounts
- Check your conversion rates by market. A dip in one region but not another could indicate a local pricing or availability issue. If a market is no longer profitable enough to justify the budget, consider pausing the investment and moving that spend to other regions
- Refine your audience targeting. Consider excluding in-market and life event audiences that are too far out of your core market, as well as layering on segments from YouTube content, custom intent, and lookalikes (Demand Gen only).
- Adjust your creative. Emphasize non-price value props: longevity, warranty, local support, sustainability. Also, make sure your creative doesn’t pigeonhole you into one country or another. This is a great time to audit your assets (formerly known as extensions) to ensure nothing comes across in a way you don’t intend.
- Recalibrate smart bidding. Adjust your ROAS or CPA targets to reflect new economic realities as well as any micro-conversions you may introduce. If performance is drastically different, you may need to input exclusions into Google’s algorithm.
2. On Your Landing Pages
- Be transparent about pricing changes. Consumers are more forgiving when they understand why something costs more, especially if the messaging is human and upfront. Additionally, make sure your language speaks to all customers, not just those in the U.S.
- Lean into trust-building elements: Shipping policies, customer reviews, and return guarantees help offset price sensitivity. This is especially important above the fold.
- Highlight sustainable or local production practices, but with care. “Made in USA” messaging can work for domestic campaigns, but be cautious with international audiences. What resonates in one market might alienate in another.
Bonus: Don’t Forget The Environmental Angle
Tariffs aren’t just about money. They often reflect or trigger shifts in global logistics. That means longer shipping routes, more warehousing costs, and bigger carbon footprints. Consumers are paying attention.
If your brand has made changes to source materials domestically or reduce emissions, that’s worth testing in ad copy and landing pages. Sustainability isn’t just a PR point; it’s a conversion lever.
Final Thought
PPC doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Every economic policy, trade shift, or tariff war changes the playing field, often before your attribution model can catch up.
As paid media managers, we can’t control tariffs, but we can recognize their downstream effects early, respond quickly, and guide our brands through the storm with a smarter strategy.
More Resources:
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
