Better Audience Targeting in Google Ads

"Search and Shopping campaigns take advertisers only so far. Display campaigns can help by building top-of-funnel prospects via custom audiences. A "custom audience" is any group of consumers chosen by an advertiser, such as: Visitors to a contact-us page who don't convert, Email newsletter subscribers, Searchers with specific needs, such as queries for "electrician services" or "wireless headphones," Shoppers who browse a category of websites, such as those similar to ESPN, Searchers who query "wireless headphone" terms but don't browse ESPN-like sites."

"Depending on the campaign type, Google either targets these audiences or uses them as a signal. For example, a Display campaign would target prospects in "electrician services" for an in-market audience. A Performance Max campaign would use "electrician services" as a signal and show ads to prospects inferred by Google. Custom audiences are limitless, which is why advertisers should continually test to identify the top performers."

Google Ads is shifting focus from keywords to campaign types like Performance Max and Demand Gen, increasing the importance of audiences. Google has enhanced Display audience targeting to match capabilities on Meta, LinkedIn, and other social channels. Custom audiences enable advertisers to group users by behaviors, interests, or search terms, including site visitors, newsletter subscribers, and category shoppers. Different campaign types either target those audiences directly or use them as signals for inference. Display campaigns can target in-market segments, while Performance Max treats segments as signals. Custom audiences are unlimited, so advertisers should continually test creative segments to find top performers.

Read at Practical Ecommerce