The main audience types
| Audience | Who it reaches | Example |
|---|---|---|
| In-market | People actively researching a purchase | Homeowners shopping for HVAC services |
| Affinity | People with lasting interests and habits | Home improvement enthusiasts |
| Your data | People who visited your site or app | Visitors who viewed a pricing page |
| Customer Match | Your own customer email list, matched to accounts | Past customers due for a service |
| Demographics | Age, household income and parental status | Homeowners in a set age range |
Google groups these as audience segments. Meta offers similar options, plus lookalike audiences built from your customers.
How audiences work with search
On search campaigns, keywords show intent, and audiences add context. Add an audience in observation mode to see how it performs without limiting reach. Then raise bids or narrow targeting for groups that convert better.
Rules that limit targeting
Some categories carry restrictions. In the U.S. and Canada, Google's policy blocks targeting housing, employment and credit ads by age, gender, parental status, marital status or ZIP code. Health is a sensitive category with its own limits. Check the rules for your industry before you build audiences.
Good example. A roofing company's search ads target roof repair keywords and add an in-market audience for roofing services. It bids higher for that audience, which converts better.
Bad example. The same company runs display ads to anyone with a broad interest in "home." It gets thousands of cheap clicks and no estimates.
Privacy changes audiences
Browser privacy controls and consent rules shrink tracking-based audiences over time. Your own data, like customer lists and website visitors who consent, grows more valuable.
Read what remarketing is. Our PPC management builds audiences from your own data first.