Audience targeting in Google Ads Search campaigns: How to layer data for better results

In competitive industries where keywords are costly, every edge matters. 

Beyond keyword targeting, consider layering audience targeting onto your Search campaigns to gather richer performance data. 

This added layer can improve results within Search and provide valuable insights you can apply to other Google Ads campaigns – or even to PPC platforms like Microsoft Ads, Meta Ads, and TikTok.

Key audience targeting options for Search campaigns

Here’s a quick overview of audience types you can target in Search campaigns – and how to make the most of each.

• Demographic audiences.
• Custom audiences.
• Remarketing audiences.
• Interests audiences.
• Affinity audiences.
• In-market audiences.

Demographic audiences

Google offers several demographic targeting options based on its own data, including:

• Parental status.
• Marital status.
• Education.
• Homeownership.
• Employment (by industry and company size). 

This targeting helps ensure your keywords reach the right people – reducing wasted spend and improving profitability. 

However, it’s not perfectly accurate, so it’s best used for inclusion rather than exclusion.

Custom audiences

Custom audiences let you create highly specific segments tailored to your business goals. 

You can build them by:

• Uploading customer lists.
• Targeting people who recently searched for certain keywords on Google.
• Showing interest or purchase intent.
• Browsing particular websites.
• Using specific apps. 

This flexibility helps you design your ideal audience when Google’s default options don’t quite fit. 

Once created, layering custom audiences with high-intent keywords can be especially effective and profitable.

Remarketing audiences

Remarketing audiences focus on users who have already engaged with your brand, people who: 

• Recently visited your website.
• Made a purchase.
• Viewed a specific product or page. 

Adding this audience layer to existing Search campaigns helps you concentrate spend on high-intent users most likely to convert. 

It’s particularly valuable for longer sales cycles or higher-priced products and services.

Interests audiences

Targeting users based on their interests pairs well with keyword targeting. 

It helps ensure that people searching your chosen keywords are genuinely interested in your product or service – not just looking for information. 

This approach can reduce wasted spend and focus your budget on more qualified searchers.

Affinity audiences

Affinity audiences work similarly to interest audiences but focus on users who have shown strong, consistent engagement with a topic through their online behavior. 

Layering these audiences with Search keywords helps you reach people with deeper, long-term interest in your category or niche.

In-market audiences

In-market audiences consist of users who have been actively researching a product or service and are likely nearing a purchase decision. 

Adding this audience layer helps your ads appear in front of people ready to buy, rather than those still at the top of the funnel.

Real-world examples

Here are some practical ways to combine keyword and audience targeting in your Search campaigns:

• People searching for a new car can be targeted using an in-market audience for autos and vehicles.
• For users searching for accounting software, try a custom audience of those who recently searched for accounting services and software.
• When targeting people researching investing strategies, layer in an affinity audience of avid investors.
• If you’re going after interior design queries, use a demographics audience of homeowners.
• For branded or product-specific searches, add a remarketing audience of users who visited your site in the last 30 days and viewed your pricing page.

Once you’ve identified which audience combinations make sense for your goals, the next step is to test them – starting with Observation mode to gather performance data before committing to full targeting.

Dig deeper: Google Ads made simple: Using life events for audience targeting

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Test audiences in ‘Observation’ mode before targeting

You can start by adding audiences in Observation setting if you simply want to monitor performance data before deciding which groups to target. 

Testing multiple audiences at once can reveal which combinations of demographics, intent, and interests drive the best results.

Observation mode helps you build a solid data baseline without restricting reach – a smart move in competitive or high-cost industries. 

The insights you collect can then guide future decisions about which audiences or campaign types to scale. 

This approach is especially useful when planning new Performance Max, Demand Gen, or even social campaigns on platforms like Meta Ads or TikTok Ads.

Use audience performance data to expand campaigns

Once you’ve gathered performance data – whether through Observation mode or direct targeting – you can repurpose those insights to inform other campaigns. 

While audience categories differ slightly across platforms, the data you collect gives you a strong starting point for testing new audiences, demographics, and interests on Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, or even organic content.

Within Google Ads, you can test these same audiences across Display, Performance Max, Video, or Demand Gen campaigns, using your Search results as a performance benchmark. 

And it works both ways: audiences that perform well elsewhere can also be added back into your Search campaigns for refinement and retesting.

Apply similar tests in Microsoft Ads

Microsoft Ads offers even more audience targeting options, including Similar Audiences, along with the ability to observe audiences before targeting. 

The platform typically mirrors Google Ads features, though sometimes on a delay – so it’s a good idea to test your best-performing Google setups within Microsoft Ads as well.

That said, avoid auto-importing campaigns without review. 

Optimize each platform separately, since Microsoft Ads campaigns often perform differently from identical Google Ads setups, even with similar structures. 

This approach expands your reach across multiple search engines and content networks, not just Google’s ecosystem.

Dig deeper: Microsoft Advertising expands remarketing list sources to 20 campaigns

Worth testing?

If you have a larger budget or operate in a competitive industry, layering audience targeting onto Search campaigns can be well worth it. 

It’s particularly valuable for longer sales cycles or high-priced products and services, where multiple touchpoints are needed before conversion.

Dig deeper: B2B audience targeting: Meta Ads as an alternative to LinkedIn