Add remarketing lists to ad groups

To use remarketing lists on the Display Network, add them to ad groups in your “Display Network only – Remarketing” (recommended) or “Display Network only – All features” campaigns. If you create a new remarketing campaign, you’ll find an “All visitors” list created for you.

1. Click the ad group to which you want to add a remarketing list.
2. Click the Display Network tab.
3. Click + Targeting.
4. Click the Add targeting drop-down menu and select Interests & remarketing.
5. Click the Select category drop-down menu and select Remarketing lists. Existing remarketing lists are displayed.
6. Click the double arrows » next to each list you want to add to the ad group. Once you add a list, it’s displayed in the “Selected” column.
7. When you’re done, click Close and Save.

To use remarketing lists for search ads, add them to ad groups in your “Search Network only – All features” or “Search Network with Display Select – All features” campaigns.

1. Click the ad group to which you want to add a remarketing list.
2. Click the Audiences tab.
3. Click + Remarketing.
4. Click the Add targeting drop-down menu and select Interests & remarketing.
5. Click the Select category drop-down menu and select Remarketing lists. Existing remarketing lists are displayed.
6. Click the double arrows » next to each list you want to add to the ad group. Once you add a list, it’s displayed in the “Selected” column.
7. When you’re done, click Close and Save.

Only these types of lists can be used on the Search Network.

• Tag-based lists are lists based directly on the tags on your website.
• Rule-based lists are lists based on rules about the URLs visited.
• Combination lists are any combination of the two types of lists above.

Multiple ad groups or campaigns can target the same remarketing list. If more than one of your ads targets the same remarketing list, each ad is eligible to show. If a visitor is on more than one of your remarketing lists, ads in remarketing campaigns for those lists are eligible to show. In both cases, AdWords chooses the ad with the highest ad rank to compete in the ad auction.

Adding other targeting methods to your Display Network remarketing campaign might narrow your audience. For example, if you add Display keywords to an ad group in your remarketing campaign, and select the “Target and bid” setting for both remarketing lists and keywords, your ads can show only to people on your remarketing list when they visit websites that match your keywords. If you select the “Bid only” setting for remarketing lists and the “Target and bid” setting for keywords, your ads can show to people when they visit websites that match your keywords. If people visiting those websites are on your remarketing list, your remarketing list bid applies.

Once you’ve set up remarketing lists for one ad group, you can copy and paste it to other ad groups.

To copy your remarketing lists:

1. Check the boxes next to the remarketing lists you want to copy.
2. Click the Edit drop-down menu and select Copy.

To paste your copied remarketing lists:

1. Click the Campaigns tab.
2. Choose a campaign.
3. Check the boxes next to the ad groups where you want to paste your remarketing lists.
4. Click the Edit drop-down menu and select Paste.

For a potentially higher return on investment or to increase your chances of showing your ads to people who are more likely to buy your products, set bids strategically for different remarketing lists.

Keep in mind: If you’re running Conversion Optimizer, any audience bids you set won’t apply because you’ve already set a target cost per acquisition (CPA) for the entire ad group.