As announced on November 1, 2022, similar audiences will be transitioned to more durable solutions. Starting August 1, 2023, similar segments will be gradually removed from all ad groups and campaigns in Google Ads and should be completed by the end of the month.
- Display, Discovery, and Video action campaigns that are still using similar audience segments after August 1, 2023 will be opted into optimized segments.
- Learn more about how to Use optimized segments.
- Video campaigns with “Product and brand consideration” or “Brand awareness and reach” objectives will be opted into audience expansion.
- Learn more about Using audience expansion.
- If you opted out before August 1, 2023, ad groups and campaigns targeting similar segments will be paused. Make sure to unpause them and add relevant targeting criteria.
Learn more about the Changes to audience segments.
To provide a comprehensive and consolidated view of your Audiences and make audience management and optimization simpler, you’ll find the following improvements in Google Ads:
- New audience reporting
Detailed reporting about audience demographics, segments, and exclusions is now consolidated in one place. Click the Campaigns iconand open the “Audiences, keywords and content” tab and click Audiences. You can also easily manage your Audiences from this report page. Learn more About Audience reporting.
- New terms
We’re using new terms on your audience report and throughout Google Ads. For example, “audience types” (these include similar, custom, in-market, and affinity) are now referred to as audience segments and “remarketing” is now referred to as “your data”. Learn more about the Updates to Audience terms and phrases.
Your data segments allows you to reach people who previously visited your website or used your app, and match the right people with the right message. While it can be a great way to attract past visitors back to your site or app, you should inform these people that you gather information for your data segments on your website or in your app.
When you use your data segments in your website or your app, you're required to have the following information in your privacy policy:
- An appropriate description of how you're using your data to advertise online.
- A message about how third-party vendors, including Google, show your ads on sites across the Internet.
- A message about how third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies and/or device identifiers to serve ads based on someone's past visits to your website or use of your app.
- Information about how your visitors can opt out of Google's use of cookies or device identifiers by visiting Google's Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can point your visitors to opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page or control the use of device identifiers by using their device’s settings.
Using Google Marketing Platform's pixels for your data segments
If you're using Google Marketing Platform's pixels for your data segments, your privacy policy can instead tell people to opt out of Google Marketing Platform's use of cookies by visiting the Google Marketing Platform opt-out page or the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page.
