Targeting The Audience For Google Search Ads

In our first article, we explored the benefits of using paid ads that appear at the top of Google Search results. In this article, we dive deeper into the options that you have to ensure that your ads appear to the most relevant customers at the most relevant time.

Who vs. What vs. Where

There are three main ways in which you can control when your search ad is displayed. Most people are familiar with the concept of keywords. The choice of keywords controls where the ad is displayed based on what the user is searching for. In addition, there are settings in Google Ads that allow you to display the ad based on the user’s location (where). However, there is another layer to search that you should consider when running your campaign, who is conducting the search.

The question of who is addressed in Google Ads with the use of Audiences. These can be applied not just to search ads but also display, discovery, video and shopping ads. We will address these other types of ad campaigns in future posts. For now, we will focus on targeting options that are applicable to search ad campaigns.

There are two main types of groups that you can use to target your search ads. The first (Google Audience Segments) is based on all Google users. The second (Your Data Segments) is based on data gathered as customers interact with your business e.g. through your website. Think of the first group as new customers and the second as existing customers. Let’s take a look at each in turn.

Google Audience Segments

Google has four choices of pre-configured audiences which all advertisers have access to. These groups of users are created based on specific criteria that Google has collected.

Detailed Demographic Targeting

This type of audience targeting includes additional options over and above the basics of gender, age etc. The other available options are based on life and career stages such as marital status, homeownership status, education and employment.

Affinity Segment Targeting

With this option you can target groups of customers that share similar hobbies and interests such as finance, beauty and wellness, food and dining etc.

In Market Segment Targeting

The people in these groups are those that are getting ready to purchase a specific service or product. These groups tend to be quite fluid as it tracks their changes in shopping behavior over time. Examples of in-market segments include autos and vehicles, beauty and personal care, baby and childrens products etc.

Life Event Targeting

As the name suggests, these groups target people who are going through some kind of major life event such as getting married, moving house or adding a pet to their family.

Your Data Segments

The prior set of users included people who may have never encountered your product or service before. The groups under this section are made up of users that have previously interacted with your business or website on a previous occasion.

There are four specific groups of users that you can target under this section.

Website - Users that have previously interacted with your website.

App - A list of users that have previously used your app

YouTube - Users that have viewed your YouTube Channel or content

Customer Match - A customer list which you have uploaded to Google Ads

Similar Segments

In addition to the four options listed above, the Similar Segments option is also based on data gathered from previous customer interactions. When Google Ads has enough data on the types of customers that interact with your business, it can generate groups of new customers that exhibit similar online behaviors. This can be a great way to identify potential new customers.

Summary

As you can see, there are multiple options to evaluate (in addition to keywords) to ensure that your ads are seen by the right people. Considering who, is as important as what they are searching for when it comes to your ad spend. In our next article we will take a deeper dive into the, where when we explore the options for location based ads.

Until then, if you would like to run a Google Ad campaign for your own business but you're not sure how to get started, please reach out to us here.