If you’re new to the realm of digital marketing and Google ads, it’s likely that you will need to know how to target audience on Google ads, how the different audience segments differ, and when to ask for assistance.
For those new to Google ads, setting the parameters of your target audience and cashing in on how to target audience on Google ads can seem a little daunting. In this article, we hope to provide some clarity around what to do to ensure your Google ads are working as effectively as they can and getting you potential customers that will convert to sales.
Know your target audience
As with any advertising campaign, you need to be aware of your demographic when designing and writing your ad for it to be effective and gain as much traction as possible from your marketing budget.
How to target audience on Google ads
Knowing how to target audience on Google ads is a relatively simple process if you know what you’re doing. We’ll take you through the steps:
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Go to your page menu in your Google ads account
After you log in to your Google ads account, you will need to go to the Audiences section under the page menu. From there, navigate your way through the drop-down menu, to the audience segment – edit audience segment button.
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Select your ad group
Once you’ve done this, you can select your ad group through that option and allocate a campaign to be distributed to Google ads. Through this option, you can also refine your demographic as needed and update the criteria Google needs to search for when running your ad.
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Edit, expand or narrow your audience parameters
It is here that you can edit, expand or narrow your audience parameters. This is particularly useful in knowing how to target Google ads as you can run various tests and ‘play the field’ until you find a solution that will suit your business and the campaign you’re running.
How audience segments differ
There are a few different segments that come into play when you learn how to target audience on Google ads, or are refining your demographic further after completing initial testing and running past campaigns. The segments you need to be aware of are related to:
Search campaigns
This will indicate data about potential customers who have previously interacted with your ad. This information will inform your next moves in knowing how to target audience on Google ads. For instance, you may wish to run follow up campaigns directed at those who have received ads on your search campaigns to entice them to buy from you.
Display campaigns
Display campaigns have three main subsections when you decide how to target audience on Google ads. These are affinity, intent and data. Data is the same across all campaigns and relates to those who have previously interacted with your business.
Affinity categorises potential customers into their interests, including hobbies and other long-term interests, lifestyle and previous buying habits.
Intent is where you can find potential customers who are actively searching for the product or service you provide.
Video campaigns
Video campaigns have all the same subsections as display campaigns, however it is a little bit more detailed in the affinity section, based on data related to your potential customers recent milestones. This includes things like whether they’ve recently got married or are engaged, whether they had a baby or changed jobs etc.
Under this subsection, you will also have access to more detailed demographics, which can spawn a different subsection grouping customers into common interests. This would come in handy if you were running future campaigns and wanted to know how to target audience on Google ads using this categorisation.
When to ask for help
Google ads can be tricky, particularly if you’re unfamiliar with analytics. It can take a bit of time to get used to when you first start out.
If your time is better spent on other tasks in your business, it’s best to contact the experts.
As a Google partner, we understand Google analytics and specialise in teaching you how to target audience on Google ads.
For assistance with Google ads, contact us today!
