INTRODUCTION
According to Statista, Google generates 62.5 percent of all core searches in the United States, easily making it the most popular search engine in the country. Similarly, its ad platform has the highest share of U.S. digital ad spend.
While many businesses are using Google Ads to improve brand visibility, only about half are using Google remarketing to enhance their efforts.
Remarketing (or retargeting) ads are a powerful way to reposition your brand in front of people who already have some familiarity with it. Essentially, the ads follow individuals who have visited your website around the internet as they browse other sites. That process can help keep your business top-of-mind and drastically increase conversions.
Following are some tips on how you can use Google remarketing ads for your businesses.
HOW TO TAG YOUR WEBSITE FOR GOOGLE REMARKETING
Before you can run retargeting ads, you must first install code on your brand’s website. Google Ads has a global site tag that should be added to every page of your website (between the <head></head> tags) so it can track site visits and behaviors.
You can also add optional event snippets to hone in on specific actions. These actions include page visits for certain products or services or purchases. Note that different actions have different item parameters.
To create your tags, log into the Google Ads account for your business and go to the tools icon. Then go to “Audience Manager” under “Shared library” and click “Audience sources” to view various data-sourcing options. Select the types of data you’d like to collect. Now click “create and continue” to get your global site tag and event snippet(s).
You may need to work with your web developer to ensure everything is installed correctly. Once everything is up and running, Google will start automatically collecting data.
HOW TO CREATE REMARKETING LISTS
Once Google collects enough data, you can build your remarketing lists within the Audience Manager. Go to “Audience lists” and click “+” to add website visitors.
Select the specific tags you set up or create lists based on page visits. For instance, you can remarket to people who viewed a specific product but failed to make a purchase, or to those who visited a service page but did not complete a contact form to learn more.
For the product example, choose “Visitors of a page” and “Match every rule group.” Then select “contains” or “equals” and fill in the URL (or a portion of the URL) that corresponds with the product. Click “and” to set another parameter and select “does not equal” to exclude the URL of the purchase confirmation page.
You can further refine your audience by choosing the membership duration (e.g. the number of days someone stays in the audience). Google will automatically set the duration at 30 days (and pre-fill the list), but you are able to extend it up to 540 days.
HOW TO LAUNCH A GOOGLE RETARGETING CAMPAIGN
Your remarketing lists must have a certain number of visitors for your ads to run. The Google Display Network requires at least 100 active visitors or users within the last 30 days, while the Google Search Network requires a minimum of 1,000 within that time.
Once you hit the minimum, you can launch your campaign. Set up the components of your Google ad campaign as usual (e.g. set location, bid strategy and budget) and select “Additional settings” to locate your remarketing lists.
Select the appropriate saved audience and create your ad. Remember, these people have already interacted with your brand, so make sure to use language that’s appropriate.
For instance, you could offer a discounted rate or limited time offer for individuals who viewed your product or service but did not take further action.