[UA] Create audiences from segments [Legacy]

An additional benefit of being able to isolate subsets of your data is that you can use them as the basis for audiences (e.g, specific groups of users you target with Google Ads campaigns or Optimize experiments). For example, if you identify a subset of users who have placed items in their shopping carts but who have not completed their purchases, then those users are a perfect audience for a remarketing campaign: you can show them ads for discounts on the items in their carts, ads for free shipping, or new ads for those same products in an effort to nudge them forward in the purchase process.

You can use any segment as the basis for an audience.

Create audiences from segments

To create an audience from a segment:

1. Sign in to your Analytics account.
2. Open the view that includes the segment you want to use.
3. Open Reports. You can start with any report.
4. Click + Add Segment...

   

   ...to open the segments list.

   

5. Find the segment you want as the basis for your audience (in this example, Sessions with Transactions).

   

6. Click Actions > Build Audience...

   

   
   ...to open the Audience configuration page.

   

7. Set the linking options:
   • View: Select the Analytics view in which you want to save the audience.
   • Destination account: Select the account you want to share the audience with (e.g., Google Ads, Display & Video 360, or Optimize).
8. Click Next step to open the Define Audience controls.

   

   
   For segments that are scoped to hits or sessions, you have only the Users over last 7 days and Membership duration options seen above.
   
   When you create a segment that is scoped to users, you have the additional option of setting a lookback window of 7, 14, or 30 days.
9. Set the definition for the audience:
   • Lookback days (user-scoped segments only): Set a lookback window of 7, 14, or 30 days to specify a time frame for evaluating the behavior that qualifies users for your audience. For example, if your filters include users from Central Asia, and Transactions Greater than 2, and you set the look-back window to 14 days, then any user from Central Asia whose cumulative transactions exceed 2 during the last 14 days is added to the audience.
   • Users over the last 7 days (read only): Estimate the size of your audience based on the number of users to your site or app over the last 7 days who meet the criteria of your audience.
   • Membership duration: Set the number of days that users who meet the definition of your audience are eligible to be served ads. You can set this value to a maximum of 540.
   • Eligibility: The destinations to which you can publish this audience based on its definition. Destinations include Google search and display advertising (like Google Ads Display, Google Ads RLSA, Display & Video 360), and services like Google Optimize in which you use audiences for experimentation or personalization. If you have a Google Ads My Client Center (MCC) account, that is also included as part of Google Ads eligibility.
     
     If your audience includes Age, Gender, or any of the Interest dimensions, you can use that audience only with Google Ads Display.
   • Audience name: Enter the name you want to use for the audience.
10. Keep the current definition of the audience, which is the same as the segment, or click the edit icon (pencil)...

    

    
    ...to change the definition. If you choose to edit the definition, the segment builder opens.

    

    
    Make any necessary changes, then click Apply to return to the Audience configuration page.
11. Click Save.

Next steps

After you create an audience, you can use it in the account you shared it with. For example, if you shared the audience with a Google Ads account, you then add it to one of your ad groups so that users in the audience are eligible to see ads in your Google Ads remarketing campaign.

Learn more about using remarketing audiences in Google Ads.