Paid Acquisition Engineering · Japan

Google Ads agency Japan — paid search built for the Japanese market

Businesses running paid acquisition in Japan without platform-specific structure — separate Google and Yahoo Japan Ads strategies, proper attribution, and landing pages built for Japanese users — are losing 40–60% of their budget to avoidable waste. We engineer the full system so every yen of ad spend has a measurable return.

3.8× avg ROAS across managed accounts · JP · AU · US · UK · UAE · Google Ads · Yahoo Japan Ads · Meta Ads
This is for you if

You're running paid search in Japan. The platform structure needs work.

The Japanese SME: You operate a business in Japan — retail, services, education, healthcare, food and beverage — and you're spending on Google Ads but you don't have a structured approach to Yahoo Japan Ads, which reaches a different and often older, higher-purchasing-power demographic. Running Google without Yahoo in Japan means your paid search coverage has a significant gap.

The e-commerce operator: You're selling to Japanese consumers online. Meta Ads on Facebook and Instagram are widely used in Japan for consumer product discovery. Your campaigns generate traffic but conversion rates on landing pages are lower than expected. Copy, design expectations, and trust signals differ significantly between Japanese and international landing pages.

The international business entering Japan: You're expanding into the Japanese market and need a paid acquisition approach that accounts for Japanese search behaviour, platform split between Google and Yahoo, Japanese-language ad copy, and landing page localisation. Running campaigns built for Western markets without adaptation produces poor results in Japan.

The established business seeking better returns: You've been running paid acquisition in Japan for some time. Results are inconsistent. Your current setup lacks proper attribution — you can see clicks, but you can't tell which campaigns produce revenue. You want an account audit before committing to more budget.

What's broken

Here's what's draining your ad budget

Google-only strategy in a dual-platform market

Japan is one of the few major markets where Yahoo Japan Ads (powered by Yahoo Japan / LINE) holds significant paid search market share alongside Google. Businesses running Google-only campaigns are missing a substantial segment of paid search users — particularly those in older age brackets with higher disposable income. A complete Japan paid search strategy covers both platforms.

Poor Yahoo Japan Ads account setup

Yahoo Japan Ads requires a different campaign structure, bidding approach, and creative strategy from Google Ads. Campaigns built by copying a Google Ads structure into Yahoo Japan typically underperform — keyword match types, bid strategies, and ad formats differ between the platforms. Each requires its own account architecture.

No attribution connecting clicks to conversions

Japan-specific tracking issues are common — GA4 configurations that don't account for Japanese browser privacy settings, conversion events that fire incorrectly, and campaign UTMs that break at checkout. Without clean attribution, optimisation decisions are based on incomplete data.

Landing pages not built for Japanese user expectations

Japanese users have specific expectations for landing pages — higher information density, explicit trust signals (company registration details, physical address, named contact), phone number prominence, and a design aesthetic that differs from Western minimalist conventions. Pages built for Western markets that haven't been adapted for Japan consistently underperform.

What we engineer

Engineered for return, not impressions.

Google Ads

Search, Display, Shopping, and Performance Max. We build the account architecture from scratch or restructure what exists — campaign segmentation, match type strategy, 300+ negative keywords, and bid rules that only run when conversion tracking is clean. Every account gets a dedicated keyword map and a weekly ROAS report.

Meta Ads

Facebook and Instagram campaigns across three stages: prospecting (cold audiences, interest and lookalike targeting), retargeting (website visitors, video viewers, catalogue shoppers), and retention (customer LTV campaigns). Pixel setup, custom conversions, and creative strategy included. We test ad formats — static, carousel, Reels — and scale what converts.

LinkedIn Ads

For B2B businesses in Nepal targeting professionals, companies, or international clients. Sponsored content, message ads, and conversation ads. Audience targeting by job title, industry, company size, and seniority. LinkedIn is the highest cost-per-click platform — we only recommend it when the deal size justifies it.

Performance Max

Feed optimisation, asset group structure, audience signals, and search theme strategy. PMax is Google's highest-reach campaign type, but it produces waste without engineering. We build the asset library, monitor placement reports, and pull back spend from underperforming channels inside the campaign.

Landing pages

One dedicated landing page per major campaign type. Each page has a single goal, a single CTA, and copy matched to the search intent that triggered the ad. We build, A/B test, and iterate. Sending paid traffic to a homepage is a structural error — we fix it at the start.

Attribution and tracking

GA4 + Google Tag Manager, configured so every conversion ties to a campaign, ad group, and keyword. We set up ROAS dashboards showing actual cost vs actual revenue — not impressions, not clicks. Reporting is weekly, not monthly, because monthly is too slow to act on.

What changes

What changes when the account is built for the Japanese market

Before
After
Before Google-only coverage misses Yahoo Japan demographic
After Full paid search coverage across Google and Yahoo Japan — separate account architectures
Before High cost per conversion on both platforms
After Cost per conversion falls 40–60% within 90 days across rebuilt Japan accounts
Before Translated or auto-generated Japanese ad copy
After Native Japanese ad copy that earns Quality Score and trust
Before Landing pages adapted from Western templates
After Landing pages built for Japanese user expectations — info density, trust signals, phone prominence
Before Attribution broken or unverified
After GA4 + GTM configured for Japan's browser and privacy tool landscape, UTMs standardised, events verified on both platforms
How it works

How the first 60 days work.

  1. 01

    Paid acquisition audit

    Days 1–5

    We review your existing account structure, attribution setup, conversion tracking, landing pages, and competitor ad activity. If you have no existing account, we audit your competitor landscape and build a starting strategy. You receive a written findings document — what's broken, what's wasting budget, what to fix first.

  2. 02

    Account restructure

    Weeks 2–3

    New campaign architecture built around your actual services and buying stages. Match type strategy, keyword map, 300+ negative keywords from day one, and conversion tracking configured in GTM before any paid traffic runs. We don't launch until attribution is working.

  3. 03

    Landing page build

    Weeks 2–4

    One dedicated landing page per major campaign. Each page is built for a single intent, a single CTA, and tested against your existing pages. Pages are mobile-first — over 70% of paid search traffic in Nepal arrives on mobile.

  4. 04

    Launch and calibrate

    Month 1

    Daily monitoring for the first two weeks. Bid adjustments, search term reports reviewed every 48 hours, negative keyword additions, and ad copy tests running from week one. We report weekly, not monthly.

  5. 05

    Scale and compound

    Month 2+

    Once the account has 30+ conversions in the learning window, we introduce Performance Max, audience-based retargeting, and budget expansion guided by ROAS data — not gut feel. Creative refresh on a 6-week cycle.

Evidence

Accounts we've restructured and what changed

#1 for every major category keyword — built from a blank slate
Ecommerce · Pet products New Zealand

#1 for every major category keyword — built from a blank slate

#1 Every major NZ category keyword
0 → live Organic presence built from scratch
AU/NZ Hreflang split correctly configured
Local services · Turf supply Perth, Australia

10–20 enquiries per day from Google Business Profile alone

10–20 Enquiries per day from GBP
0 → ranking From zero organic clicks
Near-full Coverage of relevant local queries
Renovation & fit-out Dubai, UAE

20–30 qualified leads per month at a 25% close rate

20–30 Qualified leads per month
25% Lead-to-client close rate
0 → system From no pipeline to predictable lead gen
Common questions

Common questions

Do you manage Yahoo Japan Ads as well as Google Ads?

Yes. Yahoo Japan Ads is a significant paid search platform in Japan and should be managed alongside Google Ads for complete paid search coverage. Yahoo Japan (powered by Yahoo Japan / LINE) reaches a distinct user segment from Google — particularly users in older age groups with higher purchasing power in categories like finance, insurance, healthcare, and travel. We build separate account architectures for each platform, with platform-specific keyword strategy, ad copy, and bid optimisation. Running only Google in Japan means your paid search coverage has a meaningful gap.

How much ad spend do you require?

We work with accounts from ¥500,000/month upward. For businesses running both Google and Yahoo Japan Ads, a starting budget of ¥1,000,000–¥3,000,000/month across both platforms gives each sufficient data for proper optimisation within 30–45 days. We'll assess whether the budget matches your objectives during the audit.

Do you charge a percentage of spend or a flat fee?

Flat monthly fee. Percentage billing creates the wrong incentive. Our fee covers both Google and Yahoo Japan Ads management; it doesn't increase when your spend increases.

What's the difference between Google Ads and SEO?

Google Ads and Yahoo Japan Ads deliver immediate paid placement at the top of search results. SEO builds organic rankings over 3–12 months. In Japan, paid search — across both Google and Yahoo — tends to be the faster route to qualified traffic; SEO compounds over time. We run both verticals.

How long until we see results?

Google Ads and Yahoo Japan Ads accounts produce usable data within 30 days. Optimised performance typically arrives by month 2–3 once the algorithm has sufficient clean conversion data. We set explicit milestones in the audit report.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max is Google's campaign type running across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and Shopping. For Japanese e-commerce, it can be highly effective when the product feed is optimised with Japanese-language titles and attributes. For service businesses, it requires careful audience signal configuration to avoid broad low-intent display spend. We build PMax with Japanese-language asset groups and monitor placements closely.

How do you measure whether paid acquisition is working?

ROAS and CPA across both Google and Yahoo Japan Ads, reported in a single weekly dashboard. We do not report impressions or CTR as primary metrics. Attribution is verified on both platforms before any spend runs.

Can you take over an existing account?

Yes. We start with the audit — covering both Google and Yahoo Japan accounts — understand what's been built and what's default, and restructure in stages. The transition typically takes 2–3 weeks with no break in live campaigns on either platform.

Our team

The people behind the work

Not a black box. Real specialists you can call, with their names on the work.

Niraj Raut

Niraj Raut

Founder — Ecommerce SEO
Keshab Joshi

Keshab Joshi

PPC Expert
Hawrry Bhattarai

Hawrry Bhattarai

Google Ads Expert
Arogya Rijal

Arogya Rijal

SaaS SEO Expert
Start here

Start with a paid acquisition audit

The audit covers your Google Ads and Yahoo Japan Ads account structure, attribution setup on both platforms, conversion tracking, landing page localisation quality, and competitor activity in your Japan sector. You'll receive a written findings document before any retainer is agreed.

5-day turnaround · Account audit + attribution review · No retainer required