[GA4] About Google Analytics 4 audience builder

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) audience builder lets you create new Google Analytics audiences directly in your Google Ads account. You can create a GA4 audience in Audience manager, and when you create a campaign.

Account owners, managers and users can create campaign specific audiences without alternating between Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads. New GA4 audiences created through the GA4 audience builder in Google Ads will be automatically shared with all linked accounts with ‘ads personalisation’ enabled.

In this article, you'll learn how to create a Google Analytics audience with your linked Google Ads account.

Before you begin

Make sure that you link your Google Analytics 4 account with your Google Ads account. You’ll need to use a Google Account that has the following permissions:

• In Google Ads, the Google Account needs administrative access to a Google Ads account (or a Google Ads manager account). You should also set up auto-tagging in the Google Ads account.
• The Google Ads Account needs at least 'Marketer' user access permissions level in the corresponding Google Analytics property Google Ads linking configuration. If you don’t have the ability to edit or create your Analytics Audiences within your Google Ads account, that means your account doesn’t have enough permissions.

How it works

Learn more about migrating audiences to Google Analytics 4.

Create Google Analytics segment for a new campaign

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Campaigns.
4. Click the plus button , and then click New campaign.
5. Choose your objective and select your campaign type, then click Continue.
6. While creating the campaign, on the 'Audience' card click Add an audience.
7. Click + New Audience in the new window.
8. Click on the search bar of the 'Your data' section, and click + Your data.
9. Under the 'Segment types powered by other products' select 'Google Analytics segments'.
10. Scroll down and click on the search bar under 'Select a Google Analytics property'.
11. You can view all the Google Analytics properties listed in the drop-down menu.
    • If the desired GA4 property isn’t linked:
      1. In the drop-down menu, click Link new property.
      2. In the new window, select a Google Analytics property that you want to link, and click Next.
      3. Switch the toggle on for all the data that you want to share with Google Ads, and click Link.
      4. When your property is linked, click Done.
    • If the desired property isn’t enabled:
      1. Click on the listed property.
      2. Click Manage settings.
      3. Switch the toggle on for 'Import Google Analytics audiences', and click Save changes.
    • If the user doesn’t have permission to create audience for the desired property:
      1. Click on the listed property.
      2. Click Request access to ask the property owner for permission.
      3. You’ll receive an email when your request is approved.
12. Select the desired GA4 linked property and click Continue.
13. You’ll receive a notification confirming creation of your new audience, then click Done.
14. On the 'New audience' window, click Save Audience and resume to campaign creation.

Learn how to create an audience.

Create Google Analytics audience in Audience manager

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon .
2. Click the Shared library drop-down in the section menu.
3. Click Audience manager.
4. In the 'Your data segments' tab, click plus button and from the drop-down list, click + Google Analytics segments.
5. Search for the GA4 linked property and click Continue.
6. In the 'Build new audience' window, click Create a custom audience in the 'Start from scratch' section.
7. Create an audience as per your requirement and click Save and publish.
8. You’ll receive a notification confirming creation of your new audience, then click Done.

Related links

• Switch to Google Analytics 4 key events
• Best practices to mitigate performance fluctuation due to changes in key event settings
• How automatically created GA4 properties impact your Google Ads account