How to Add Audience Targeting in Google Ads (And Actually Make It Work)

Audience targeting in Google Ads is one of the most underrated tools in your PPC arsenal. While keywords get all the love, audiences let you zero in on the right people — not just what they’re searching for, but who they are.

Whether you’re running lead gen, eCommerce, or local service campaigns, adding audience targeting to your Google Ads strategy can dramatically boost relevance, CTR, and conversions. Here's how to do it properly — and avoid the common traps.

What Is Audience Targeting in Google Ads?

Audience targeting lets you show your ads to specific groups of users based on things like their:

• Interests and habits (e.g. “home décor enthusiasts”)

• Search behaviour (e.g. “in-market for a car”)

• Life events (e.g. moving house, starting a business)

• Website visits (remarketing audiences)

• Customer lists (uploaded from your CRM)

• Demographics (age, gender, household income)

It works across Search, Display, YouTube, Discovery, and Performance Max campaigns — but the setup process and strategy differs per campaign type.

Types of Audiences You Can Use

Search Campaigns

You can layer audiences on top of your keywords to refine targeting. For example, only bid aggressively on people searching for "kitchen renovation" who are also in-market for home improvement.

Display, YouTube & Discovery

Audiences are the main targeting method here — you choose who sees your ads, not what they search for.

Performance Max

Google automates targeting, but you can steer it by adding audience signals to help the algorithm learn faster.

Audience Types (And How to Use Them)

Audience Type	Best For
In-market audiences	Finding users ready to buy
Affinity audiences	Reaching users based on long-term interests
Custom segments	Build your own based on search terms or URLs
Remarketing lists	Re-engaging past visitors or non-converters
Customer match	Target existing customers or email lists
Detailed demographics	Age, gender, parental status, income

How to Add Audiences in Google Ads (Step-by-Step)

Here’s how to add audience targeting manually to your campaigns.

For Search Campaigns

1. Go to your campaign or ad group

2. Click on Audiences in the left-hand menu

3. Click the blue “Edit audience segments” button

4. Choose from:

   • In-market

   • Affinity

   • Custom segments

   • Remarketing

5. Select Targeting or Observation:

   • Targeting = only show to this audience

   • Observation = show to everyone, but track/audit performance for each audience

6. Save and publish

Pro tip: Start with Observation mode — that way you can layer audiences without restricting reach and get data to guide future optimisation.

For Display/YouTube Campaigns

1. Go to your campaign settings

2. Under “Audience Segments,” click Edit

3. Choose the audience(s) to target

4. Save changes

Tip: Use Custom Segments to create niche audiences — for example, people searching for "solar panel installation York" or who visit competitor websites.

Creating Custom Segments (Goldmine Alert)

This lets you tell Google exactly who you want to target, based on:

• Keywords they've searched

• Websites they visit

• Apps they use

• Interests or purchase intentions

  
  

Example:Custom segment for a PPC agency in York:

• Users who searched “Google Ads expert in York”

• Visited pages like “/hire-ppc-agency”

• Are in-market for “business marketing services”

You can create custom segments inside Tools → Audience Manager.

Add Remarketing Lists

1. Go to Tools → Audience Manager → Segments

2. Create a new audience (e.g. All Website Visitors, Basket Abandoners)

3. Go back to your campaign and add that audience

   
   

Great for:

• Upselling

• Cross-selling

• Win-back campaigns

How to Use Audience Targeting to Optimise Campaigns

• Bid higher for your best-performing audiences (in Observation mode)

• Exclude low-converting audiences (e.g. 18–24s if your product is for professionals)

• Customise ad copy for different audiences using ad variations

• Create separate campaigns for different audiences to control budgets and messaging

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using Targeting mode too early → restricts traffic and learning

• Ignoring observation mode data → huge missed opportunity

• Not excluding irrelevant or cold audiences → wasted spend

• Forgetting about audience overlap → leads to duplicate ads

• Not testing custom segments → they often outperform defaults

Final Thoughts: Smart Audiences = Smarter Ads

Audience targeting turns Google Ads from a blunt instrument into a sniper rifle. It helps you refine, focus, and convert with fewer wasted clicks.

Start simple: layer Observation audiences onto search, test a few In-Market segments on Display or YouTube, and experiment with Custom Segments. Once the data rolls in, double down on what converts — and ditch what doesn’t.