Remarketing campaigns show ads to users that have already browsed your website and products. They serve as a ‘reminder’ to users, advertising products they already showed an interest in. Thanks to the Google Display Network’s wide reach, it is uniquely positioned to be able to automatically track products browsed on a per-user basis and remarket to them on virtually any website online, including sites like Google and YouTube.
Data policy requirements
It should be noted that Google remarketing campaigns require the use of personalised data to be able to track users across websites. Users can choose to opt-out of personal data use for advertising purposes and using personalised data has policy implications as per legislation like GDPR, so remarketing campaigns must abide by Google’s policy for personalised advertising.
How to create a remarketing campaign
It’s easy to create a remarketing campaign from within Google Ads. Simply follow the steps to create a new advertising campaign as you normally would, but under ‘Audiences’ in the ‘People’ section, make sure you select ‘Remarketing’ and check the box next to the groups that you’d like to remarket to. This requires having at least one remarketing audience available to remarket to.
Creating a website remarketing list
In order to create a remarketing campaign, you need an audience to remarket to. To do this, you’ll need to use the Audience Manager tool within your Google Ads account. From there, click ‘Audience Lists’ and add a new list for website visitors by selecting the ‘Website Visitors’ option.
You’ll need to configure certain values depending on your data policies regarding using personalised data. You can choose from options such as which pages you collect data from using cookies and how long you maintain a user’s data on the list.
Best practices for remarketing
You can maximise your use of remarketing by following established best practises, regarding how efficiently you track and use data while staying compliant with relevant legislation.
Use Google Tag Manager sitewide
Use tags efficiently to track users in Google Tag Manager. This can be used to trigger on certain actions, such as when a user fills out a form, and assign a custom ‘tag’ to that user that you can track. If a user filled out a contact form on your website but didn’t return, you can target lapsed potential customers.
Remove restrictions on display marketing
Remove exclusions by filters such as location and language. You’re remarketing to users that have already visited your website, so they know your business.
Expand your list
Google remarketing allows you to generate lists of brand new users who match your remarketing audience profile to reach new audiences.
