If you've set up remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) in Google Ads or in Search Ads 360, you can use Search Ads 360 to:
- Target search ads, prevent ads from displaying, or adjust keyword bids based on inclusion in a Google Ads remarketing list.
- See how performance is affected by the remarketing list. You can then download the performance data for offline analysis.
If you use Campaign Manager 360 to manage your display advertising, you can sign into Campaign Manager 360 and create audience lists of visitors who complete a Floodlight activity on your site. In Search Ads 360, you can see which Campaign Manager 360 audience lists are also responding to your search ads. If you see that a display audience generates paid search conversions at a significantly different rate from other audiences, you may be able to increase the efficiency of your search campaigns by setting up search remarketing targets for this audience.
For example, Campaign Manager 360 collects an audience of visitors who land on the "Winter jackets sale" page. If Search Ads 360 shows that this audience later clicks your search ads and converts at a significantly lower cost, you may see more conversions if you use search remarketing targets to increase bids for this audience.
Why use remarketing lists?
Target your messageTo bid differently to reach potential customers or to display certain ads only to previous customers, you can set up various remarketing lists to target these customers with a different message and offers.
You may want to increase bids to target a remarketing list when members search for the keywords in a campaign because people who have previously visited your site are more likely to buy,
For example, an athletic shoe company can encourage a second visit to their site by raising bids 25% when remarketing list members search for keywords such as “compare brand x prices".
Another way to target remarketing list members is to only display certain ads to, for example, people who visited your site without converting.
To target these potential customers, the athletic shoe company sets up a Google Ads remarketing list to contain customers who have visited their site recently but didn't buy. The ads that display for these customers includes a 25% discount.
To focus advertising on new customers who have never visited your site, you can prevent ads from displaying for current customers by excluding a remarketing list members from your advertising.
For example, to prevent barraging current customers with a new campaign ad blitz, the athletic shoe company excludes the remarketing list in the campaign. Ads from that campaign will not display for existing customers.
A few things to consider when using Google Ads remarketing lists in Search Ads 360
Apply remarketing lists only in a campaign or only in ad groups
Within a Google Ads campaign, remarketing lists can be applied only to a campaign or only to ad groups. Remarketing lists, even different lists, can’t be applied at both levels, unless one list excludes members and the other list targets. That is, you can apply a remarketing list to a campaign, and exclude a different remarketing list in an ad group within the campaign.
Example:
If you have a campaign that contains five ad groups, and you want to target a remarketing list named PrevCust with all of the ads in the campaign, you would apply the remarketing list to the campaign. The remarketing list is inherited by all of the ad groups.
If you wanted to apply a different remarketing list named PotentialCust to one of the ad groups, you’d need to first remove the PrevCust remarketing list from the campaign. Then you could apply the PotentialCust remarketing list to the ad group. You'd also want to apply the PrevCust remarketing list to all five ad groups.
In Google Ads, you can set up both search campaigns and display campaigns to use remarketing lists. Search Ads 360 only manages Google Ads remarketing lists in search campaigns. You'll need to sign in to Google Ads to set up remarketing on Display Network campaigns.
Some types of remarketing lists that you can create in Google Ads can only be used in display campaigns. However, all of the lists you've set up in Google Ads appear in Search Ads 360 no matter which network they can be used in. This means that you could apply a remarketing list in Search Ads 360 that will never be used because it isn't valid for the type of ad network that a campaign is targeting.
The source of a remarketing list determines where the list can be used:
| Remarketing lists collected from... | Can be used for ads in the... |
|---|---|
| Google Search Network | |
|
Google Display Network |
|
Google Search Network Google Display Network |
|
| Google Display Network |
If you apply a remarketing (audience) list that was collected by Campaign Manager 360 to Google Ads campaigns or ad groups in Search Ads 360, the list is used only if the campaign targets the Google Display Network. The third-party lists won’t be used to target search ads or adjust bids.
You can use Search Ads 360 to create remarketing lists from search ads that allow you to remarket to specific audiences via Display & Video 360 or the Google Display Network. These remarketing lists add people to a remarketing list based on the label of a keyword that was served.
Search Ads 360-created remarketing lists can't be used to target search ads or adjust bids.
Remarketing lists for search ads contain only the cookie IDs (without any personally identifiable information) of customers who have visited your website or completed some other desired conversion action, such as signing up to receive a newsletter.
Overview of how to apply Google Ads remarketing lists in Search Ads 360
The following steps provide the general process for using Google Ads remarketing lists in Search Ads 360. For more detailed steps, see the other articles in this section.
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Create remarketing lists in Google Ads or in Search Ads 360.
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If you created the remarketing list in Google Ads, sync the remarketing lists into Search Ads 360.
If you've scheduled engine changes to sync on a regular basis, make sure to wait until the next sync occurs. You'll only see your Google Ads remarketing lists after they've been synced into Search Ads 360. -
Apply the remarketing list to do the following:
- Display specific ads only to list members
- Prevent ads from displaying for list members
- Specify a bid adjustment to target a remarketing list
Google Ads remarketing lists and other Search Ads 360 features
Supported features
The following Search Ads 360 features work with Google Ads remarketing lists:
- Change history report. Changes to remarketing lists, as well as additions and removals are logged in change history.
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Conversion goals and bid strategies. A conversion goal or a Search Ads 360 bid strategy goal can be used to set or recommend remarketing target bid adjustments at the campaign and ad group levels.
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Budget bid strategies. If you use budget management to set and track spend in your campaigns, you can allow a budget bid strategy to optimize spend and set or recommend remarketing target bid adjustments.
Features that don't work with Google Ads remarketing lists
- Campaign copy. Remarketing lists aren’t included when you copy Google Ads campaigns.
Next steps
- Review campaign or ad group remarketing target setting to determine if remarketing targets are bid only or members only.
- Apply remarketing lists to a campaign or ad group.