How To Launch Your First Google Ads Remarketing Campaign

Remarketing is an essential part of any Google Ads strategy.

It’s no longer a question of whether you should run remarketing campaigns; This is how you should run remarketing campaigns.

With more devices in homes than ever before, remarketing is essential to win back and engage your audience for a second (or third or fourth) chance of attention.

In order to launch an effective Google Ads remarketing campaign, it’s important to master the setup.

In this guide, you’ll learn not only the basics of setting up a remarketing campaign, but also advanced tips and tricks to help you get the most from your marketing spend.

1. Make sure the correct label is in place

In order for remarketing to deliver impressions, it is important that proper tracking is in place on a website.

Most websites use either Google Analytics or Google Ads tracking, I recommend having both sources as options.

Google Ads tag

If your Google Ads account is starting from scratch, a Google tag needs to be implemented.

To find this specific to your account, navigate to Tools & Settings > Setup > Google Tag.

If you’re used to the name “Global Site Tag,” it’s now called the Google tag.

Google now offers an installation configuration with each of these website builders:

• drupal
• You there.
• MonsterInsights.
• typo3.
• wix.

If you install the tag manually, it must be installed immediately after the tag to be placed on every page of your website.

Finally, if you have Google Tag Manager, you can install the required code in your website container.

Google Analytics tag

Google Analytics tracking is required before a remarketing list can be created within the platform.

To find the tracking code, navigate to Admin > Property View > Tracking Information > Tracking Code.

Check for tag implementation

The easiest way to verify that tags have been implemented correctly is to download the “Tag Assistant for Conversions” beta extension in a Chrome browser.

Navigate to your website and run the tag wizard. If implemented correctly, the results should look similar.

The green checkmark means no tag setup issues were detected.

2. Build intended remarketing lists

Once you’ve made sure the tracking is set up, it’s time to create it intentionally remarketing lists.

Intent is extremely important when creating remarketing audiences.

If you simply target your site to “All Visitors,” you’re missing out on so many opportunities.

Google Analytics and Google Ads offer many options to segment your website visitors in as much detail as you want.

Remember, a list is that too narrow will have trouble serving.

The key is finding a balance between audience size and intent.

Google Analytics Lists

I prefer creating remarketing ads in Google Analytics (or GA4 if you’re already using it).

Because there is behavioral data on the ground that can be put on lists, there are more opportunities to qualify this audience.

To create an audience in Google Analytics 4, navigate to Configure > Audience Definitions.

note: This assumes a user has already linked the correct Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts for data sharing.

Now it’s time to get creative.

The key is to create multiple remarketing lists based on how your website is categorized.

Some starting ideas to consider when creating a remarketing list portfolio:

• Category page viewer.
• Buyers/Leads (to exclude in campaigns).
• All qualifying website traffic (determined by time on site, regardless of what amount is considered above average for your business).
• High quality blog viewers (determined by time on site, regardless of what amount is considered above average for your business).
• shopping cart viewer.

In this example, I want to create a remarketing list of everyone who visited a specific landing page and watched at least 50% of the video on that page.

The two most important pieces of information to enter would be “Side” AND “Video Percentage” (not “OR”).

Once you’re done, don’t forget to select your audience goals.

Always make sure to select the Google Ads account for the list to import.

This allows the list to be used for remarketing campaign purposes.

Google Ads Listings

To create lists in Google Ads, go to Tools & Settings > Audience Manager > Segments.

Five different types of remarketing lists can be created:

• website visitor.
• app user.
• YouTube users.
• customer list.
• Custom combinations.

This article describes in more detail how to create effective YouTube remarketing lists.

Depending on your goal, create your necessary remarketing lists and choose a list duration. The maximum length of time a user can remain in a list is 540 days.

The benefit of Google Ads remarketing lists is that they offer the ability to pre-populate the list with users from the last 30 days. Google Analytics does not offer retrospective audience filling.

3. Determine the right fortune

The most popular type of remarketing campaign is the Google Display Network (GDN). However, there are also remarketing search campaigns.

Before creating the right assets, first ask yourself these questions:

• What is the user prompted to do?
• What should the message be?
• Does the landing page experience match the advertising message?

There are important components to consider when creating remarketing assets. Below are some of them:

• Static image formats
• Responsive image formats
• Headings and descriptions (when using responsive format)
• Landing Page Experience

The full list of uploaded display ad specifications for Google Ads can be found here.

It’s important to note that when using the responsive ad format, images must be ratio-based and not the same as static image requirements.

4. Create a remarketing campaign

Remarketing campaigns can be created either in the Google Ads user interface or in Google Ads Editor.

Start with the campaign name, budget, and settings. If you create multiple remarketing campaigns, keep track of them by including the audience name in the campaign.

Campaign settings may affect or affect performance. If not properly managed or maintained, you must expect some volatility in performance. These include:

• Observation vs Target setting.
• Bid strategy setting.
• Alignment Extension Setting.
• location setting.
• Frequency Cap setting.

When adding audiences to a remarketing campaign, choose the “Targeting” setting instead of “Observation”.

By leaving it in “observation” mode, it doesn’t narrow down the targeting at all.

When choosing a bid strategy, make sure you choose one based on your goals.

For example, if you use Target CPA and set your bid too low, Google will throttle impressions and the campaign will run the risk of serving.

Finally, you should be competitive with bidding since the audiences have already been introduced to your brand.

The next setting, “Optimized Targeting,” is one that Google has conveniently hidden in the ad group settings.

Always leave this off in a remarketing campaign.

If you went to the trouble of creating a targeted list, why on earth would Google want us to expand to lookalike users in the same campaign?

The default setting is “People in or showing interest in your target regions”.

Although this is the recommended setting according to Google, I recommend changing it to “in or regularly at destination”.

By changing it to the middle selection below, it allows for tighter alignment.

Finally, the Frequency Cap settings are still important because showing the same ad multiple times a day results in a poor user experience.

Make sure you set frequency caps at a moderate level per user.

5. Analyze, refine and optimize

You’ve officially launched your first remarketing campaign!

That’s all, isn’t it?

Not correct.

It’s important to keep an eye on campaign performance early on. Some of the key points to look out for in the early days are:

• Make sure the audience is big enough to show impressions.
• Placements (where ads appear).

After a few weeks of data (give or take depending on audience size) you should have enough information to start performance-based optimization.

The aim is to continually improve.

Remarketing campaigns are not a “set and forget” strategy.

pull everything together

A remarketing strategy involves more than just targeting a group of users. It connects technology, audiences, messaging and more.

Without even one of these areas, a remarketing campaign cannot really achieve its potential.

Follow the tips above to ensure your next Google Ads remarketing campaign is a success (and don’t forget to monitor performance!).

More resources:

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