About Google Ads adaptive remarketing targets

A remarketing list, when applied to a campaign or ad group, becomes a remarketing target that you can set a bid adjustment on to reach potential customers.

Remarketing targets, created in Search Ads 360, allow you to display ads from your search campaigns to customers as they search the web, reminding the potential customers about your product or to return to your site.  

Create remarketing targets automatically

Search Ads 360 can automatically create (or adapt) remarketing targets for you and set the bid adjustments if you have applied a conversion goal or bid strategy to a campaign. Search Ads 360 continuously looks for potential remarketing targets and assesses auto-generated remarketing targets that will help achieve the goal.

Search Ads 360 can create campaign or ad group - level remarketing targets in the following types of Google Ads campaigns:

• Manual campaigns
• Shopping campaigns

Note that within a campaign, remarketing lists can only be applied at the campaign level or the ad group level, but not both. When Search Ads 360 autogenerates a remarketing target, it will be created at the same level as any existing remarketing targets. That is, if a campaign includes campaign-level remarketing targets, Search Ads 360 will only create other campaign-level remarketing targets. If a campaign includes ad group-level remarketing targets, Search Ads 360 will only create other ad group-level remarketing targets.

If a campaign doesn't contain any remarketing targets, Search Ads 360 will autogenerate remarketing targets at the ad group level.

How Search Ads 360 creates remarketing targets 

Search Ads 360 evaluates and re-evaluates your remarketing lists using several factors such as the conversions that have the highest bid adjustment and whether there's a significant difference between the remarketing list's conversions and the campaign's or ad group's conversions.  Search Ads 360 then applies the remarketing list to a campaign or ad group, and sets or recommends a bid adjustment.

Search Ads 360 removes an auto-generated remarketing target if there is no longer a significant difference between the remarketing target's conversions and the campaign's or ad group's conversions.

Overview of how to turn on adaptive remarketing targets

Here's an overview of the steps required to allow Search Ads 360 to autogenerate remarketing targets. 

1. Create remarketing lists in Google Ads.

2. 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.

3. Set a goal for the campaign.  

   A campaign's goal can be derived from a campaign's conversion goal or a Smart Bidding strategy (a bid strategy with a conversions or revenue goal) when applied at the campaign level. Search Ads 360 uses the goal's conversions and performance history to auto-generate remarketing targets.

   If you want Search Ads 360 to use a bid strategy's goal to auto-generate remarketing targets, the bid strategy must be applied at the campaign level and not at the ad group level. 

4. Optional, but recommended step. In campaign settings, select the Remarketing target bid adjustments check box to let Search Ads 360 set the bid adjustments. When adaptive remarketing targets are combined with automatic remarketing target bid adjustments, Search Ads 360 maximizes your return on investment.

   A conversion goal or Search Ads 360 bid strategy's goal is used to continuously (approximately every six hours) evaluate and reset remarketing target bid adjustments. 

5. Turn on adaptive remarketing in a campaign and ad group:

   1. In the campaign's settings, select the Remarketing targets  and Use bid adjustment only check boxes. 

   2. In the ad group's settings, select the Use bid adjustment only check box.

   To allow Search Ads 360 to auto-generate remarketing targets, the Use bid adjustment only option must be selected in the campaign and in the ad groups because the setting isn't inherited by ad groups.

   Search Ads 360 won't evaluate members-only remarketing targets. 
6. Optional. Receive an email approximately twice a day that includes the number of remarketing targets created or removed. The email includes a link to the change history report that lists the actual names of the remarketing targets that have been changed. 
   If a campaign doesn't already include remarketing targets, Search Ads 360 creates ad group-level remarketing targets by default. Only ad group adapted remarketing targets ​are continuously reevaluated and may be updated at least once a day.