How do I set up remarketing in Google Ads?

February 01, 2023

Table of Contents:

Remarketing is an advertising tool that targets users who have visited the site or interacted with the advertiser's app.

In this article we:

  • Let's take a closer look at the two most popular types of remarketing - KMS remarketing (standard remarketing) and search engine remarketing;
  • let's break down how to create your own remarketing lists in Google Analytics;
  • We'll tell you how to set up remarketing in Google Ads;
  • pay attention to the important points; tell us how not to make a mistake.

When you create Remarketing in KMS, ads can be shown to visitors when they browse Google's contextual-media network sites. KMS includes more than two million sites, reaching more than 90% of users on the Internet.

You can display ready-made graphic ads (banners), or create your own using the Ad Format Gallery.

Search Remarketing

Search engine remarketing allows the advertiser to reach the audience of their site on the Google search network.

After the user has visited your site, but for some reason did not order the product / left a request, you can show him your ads in search, if he is still looking for the same product or service.

Setting up remarketing for all users is easy, but most often wrong. There can be different types of users on a site. For example, those visitors who have made a conversion on the site no longer need the product. Instead, you can offer them related products. Visitors who viewed a particular product, let's say a phone, will be interested in a discount, special offer, or new model.

Possible remarketing strategies:

Site visitors can be segmented as follows:

  1. Users who have made a purchase/ordered/furnished a request.
    Strategy: increase the average bill, offer related products.
  2. Infrequent visitors
    Strategy: "Engagement. Offer a discount that is valid for old customers. Offer a new product or service.
  3. Visitors who left the site without making a purchase
    Strategy: "Sell/Aggressive Strategy. Use a call to action. Inform about the limited offer, about current discounts.

How to set up remarketing

First you need to place a special code fragment on the pages of the site. Use one of the following options:

  1. Through the Google Ads tag
    The code to place on those pages of the site from which you want to re-attract visitors can be found in your Ads account. This method is not very convenient, because it is less flexible in configuration. In addition, you will have to create audiences in the Ads interface, which offers far fewer variations for combining visitor attributes than does Analytics. Therefore, we recommend using the second method, especially if you already have Google Analytics installed.
  2. Via Google Analytics

    If you don't already have Google Analytics, this is a good reason to install it, because in addition to remarketing, it has many other interesting features. Including a link to Google Ads at a deep level of detail, which allows you to track your advertising ROI right down to the keyword phrase.

    Linking between accounts is also necessary for remarketing to work. The ad account must have administrator access to analytics in order to be linked. Your accounts may already be linked.

How to check if accounts are linked from Google Analytics

Go to Google Analytics Go to "Administrator" ( in the bottom left corner) At the "Resource" level, select "Link to Ads".

The linked accounts will be listed to the right. If in doubt as to whether an account is connected, compare the ad ID (number in brackets) with the number in Ads in the upper gray box on the right.

If the list is empty, set up a link by clicking "+Group". If the ad account has administrator access, Analytics will offer it for linking, you only need to confirm.

How to check if accounts are linked from Google Ads

Go to your account Click in the upper right corner "Related Accounts" Select "Google Analytics" sub-item Related Views.

All associated accounts will be listed to the right. If necessary, compare counter numbers (format number UA-111111-1).

If the connection is not set up, set it up through Analytics.

The next step is to enable data collection in Google Analytics.

Under "Administrator", go to the "Resource" level "Tracking Code" "Data Collection" Enable the "Remarketing" switch "Save".

Now everything is ready to set up the audience.

How do you create an audience?

Under "Administrator", go to the "Resource" tab "Audience Setup" "Audiences" "+Audience

Next, it will be necessary to select:

    • "View" - the source of the information (by default there is only one view in the account, if you have more than one, consult with your technician on which one to choose);
    • "Target Account" is the advertising account that will use this audience (your Ads account).

Then you can choose to set up an audience, or create your own.

When you select "Create New Audience", a setup window appears with a set of different attributes, such as gender, age, location, device, etc.

Let's say you're interested in an audience that hasn't made an order on the site.

Select "Terms and Conditions" In the "Agglomeration" section, find "Order on Site" In the field, specify the formula "=0" "Apply".

Add the name of the audience, specify the participation period, and save.

It is important to specify the optimal period of participation*(allowed period is not more than 540 days). The period of participation depends on the subject. Think about how much time the potential customer takes to make a decision, and after how much time the advertising planned for this list will no longer be relevant. This creates a remarketing list of those visitors who have been on the site and have never made an order.

* The participation period is the period during which the user enters the audience.

How do I set up remarketing in Google Ads?

Now you can move on to setting up a campaign in Google Ads to advertise your product to this audience.

Go to your Ads account Select "+Campaign" "Context Media Network Only" "No Marketing Target" Enter campaign name, display region, daily budget and display frequency "Save".

Pay special attention to the selection of the maximum number of impressions of the ad one user.

Too infrequent displays will cause ads to get lost in the mix. Frequent display of the same ads may cause a negative reaction, or the user will simply stop noticing the same ads.

The optimal number of impressions depends on the theme and varies from 3-5 per day to 5-7 impressions per week. If there are several groups with different ads in the campaign, set a limit on the group; or if you want to automatically select a more clickable ad, select a limit on the entire campaign.

After creating a campaign, Ads will immediately prompt you to create the first group of ads. Specify the name and the maximum price per click.

In the "Choose ad targeting method" box, check the "Interests and remarketing" box.

From the drop-down menu, select "remarketing lists" and all created audiences will be displayed.

Select the desired audience and click "Save and Continue".

Please note! Users begin to get to the list only after its creation. Therefore, it may take time to collect the minimum number (100 unique cookies for advertising in KMS and 1000 on the search). The speed of readiness of the list depends on site traffic.

You can then customize your ads by uploading ready-made banners or creating images directly in the Ads interface using the Ads Format Gallery.

How to add a Remarketing list to an existing campaign

Go to the group of the campaign where you plan to add the remarketing list Go to the "Contextual Media Network" tab Select "Interests and remarketing" "+Targeting" Select the desired list Save.

Go to the campaign and click the "Audiences" tab click "+Targeting" Leave the default "Campaign" Select the "Interests and Remarketing" targeting Select the desired list "Assign Bids Only".

It is very important to select the "Bid Assignment Only" type of search remarketing. If you select "Targeting and Bid Assignment," the ads will be shown only for search queries and only to those who have been on the site.

Now you can adjust bids for the audience that has already been on the site and continues to search using the words that are listed as keywords in your ad campaign.

Most often, this audience is of greater interest to the advertiser, so it makes sense to increase the rate, for example, by 50% (you can specify any percentage) of the normal rate for the keyword phrase.

Choosing the right audiences, prices and strategies for you on the first try may not be entirely successful.

If you see that remarketing isn't getting results, it's a sign that something needs to be changed in the settings.

Keep experimenting, and you're sure to succeed. We wish you the best of luck!

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