Create a custom combination segment

Starting on May 1, 2023, similar audiences (or segments) will be gradually phased out as a targeting feature. Learn more about this latest change to audience targeting

You can create a combined segment by combining your data segments in an AND, OR, or NOT relationship. Custom combination segments let you create advanced segments out of your existing data segments. Say that you want to offer a special price to people who buy three products as a set -- for example, a mobile phone, a headset and a charger--but these products are in three different URLs. To create your data segment of people who visited the three products, you could create one segment of "people who visited the mobile phone page," one segment of "people who visited the headset page," and a third segment of "people who visited the charger page". Then, you could create a custom combination segment to reach people who saw the mobile page AND the headset page AND the charger page.

Before you begin

You can choose how to combine segments based on your preferences. For example, you can select five segments in an AND relationship by either selecting the "Match any of these segments" and add five segments, or by clicking the AND button and adding five segments in five separate lines. When you create a combined segment, membership durations remain intact for each of your data segments that are part of the combination. Note that the number of users in your combination is updated every few hours and if your segment is being actively targeted, the customers in your segment are updated near real-time.

Custom combination segments can be created by combining any of the following segment types:

• Website visitors
• App users
• Customer segment
• Video users

Use caution when combining an App segment with another segment type, as it may result in zero users.

Similar segments can only be used in a single OR condition. This means that they can’t be used for AND conditions or multiple OR conditions with any other segment type, including another Similar segment.

Once you've created custom combination segments, you'll need to add them to your campaigns or ad groups.

How to create a custom combination segment

Set up custom combination segments from Audience Manager

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. Click the tool menu to locate the "Shared Library", then click Audience manager.
3. From the menu at the top, select the Your data segments page.
4. Click the plus button and select Custom combination from the drop-down menu.
5. Fill in a name for your combined segment.
6. Then select
   • Include people who match the following conditions (Narrow your segment (AND)). Add segments by “Search” or “Browse” options from the dropdown. A combined segment lets you reach people who belong to more than one audience segment.
   • Exclude people who match the following conditions (Exclude segments (NOT)). Select audience segments that aren't a good fit for what you’re advertising. Your combined segment won’t include people who belong to these audience segments.
7. From Segment estimate settings, you can add Country and Languages segments.
8. After you add all the segments, click Create.

Set up custom combination segments within your campaigns/ad groups

1. Sign in to your Google Ads account.
2. Go to Audiences from the left page menu.
3. Click Edit audience segments.
4. From the add to dropdown, select Ad group or Campaign.
5. Click on the pencil icon .
6. Add campaign ID or an Ad group.
7. Then select
   • Targeting: To narrow the reach of your campaign to the selected segments, with the option to adjust the bids
   • Observations (recommended): To view reports on additional criteria without further narrowing your targeting to only show ads for the selected criteria.
8. Select Browse.
9. Click on Your combined audience segments, then New combined segment.
10. Fill in a name for your combined segment.
11. Then select
    • Include people who match the following conditions (Narrow your segment (AND)). Add segments by “Search” or “Browse” options from the dropdown. A combined audience segment lets you reach people who belong to more than one audience segment.
    • Exclude people who match the following conditions (Exclude segments (NOT)). Select audience segments that aren't a good fit for what you’re advertising. Your combined audience segment won’t include people who belong to these audience segments.
12. From Segment estimate settings, you can add Country and Languages segments.
13. Click Create.

Related links

• About audience targeting
• About Audiences reporting
• Evaluate ad performance on the Display Network