How and Why to Use AdWords Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

By May 1, 2015April 25th, 2017Google Adwords

Learn How To Leverage AdWords Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

Remarketing lists for search ads (or RLSAs) give you the power to customize search ad campaigns to better target those people who’ve already come to your site. RLSAs will allow you to make changes to your bids and ads so that they’re more in line with the mindset of these searchers.

But why is this so important to utilize?

There are a number of reasons why people leave your site. Take, for example, the user who leaves your site without buying a single item. RLSAs allow you to connect with these people as they continue their quest to find their item on Google Search.

Remarketing lists will let you select keywords, set bids, and create ads tailored to the customer who’s already seen your site, to encourage them to come back and complete their purchase.

But remarketing lists can also help you tailor your ads to customers who’ve already come to your shop and made a purchase.

The Two Strategies Used For Remarketing Lists

  1. The new approach – Here, you can bid on keywords you typically don’t bid on. These keywords would be customized to those people who’ve visited your site in the past, or who have already made a purchase on your site. One tactic often used here is to bid on more generic terms for people who’ve made a previous purchase from your site.
  2. Keeping the same – With this approach, you optimize bids for your existing keywords. For example, you could choose to increase your bid by 20% for visitors who’ve viewed your website in the last 30 days. Or, you can choose to display a different ad to visitors who’ve left an abandoned cart.

RLSA in action

Let’s say people are searching online for digital cameras. They come to your site, check out the models, and then leave the site. You could have these visitors added to a remarketing list known as “Digital Cameras.” Then you can choose to bid higher for these visitors the next time they use Google to search for digital cameras.

How Do I Create Remarketing Lists For Search Ads?

You’ll need to create a remarketing list, then add a snippet of code available from AdWords. This code, known as a remarketing tag, can be added to every page of your site. The code is a powerful little snippet that tells AdWords that it should add every visitor to your specific list. The cookies in the user’s browser will be added to your remarketing list.

Adding Your List To Ad Groups

Now that you have your tag set on your site, you can add your remarketing list to an ad group with keywords, bids and ads with a tailored message to the customers of that list. The messages will only be shown to the people who’ve been to your site before. New users to your site will be none the wiser.

In an effort to protect user privacy, Google requires that these lists have a minimum of 1,000 cookies attached to them before you can use the lists to tailor your ads.

Steps to creating your lists:

  1. Either go to the Audiences section of the Shared library (where you’ll find an All Visitors list), or visit the Audiences tab under the main Campaigns tab
  2. Create a new “Search Network only” campaign, or select an existing search campaign and ad group
  3. Click the Audiences tab (found adjacent to the Keywords tab)
  4. Click +Remarketing
  5. Click the “Add targeting” menu and choose “Remarketing”
  6. Create additional remarketing lists
  7. Add that required tag across your site (if you place the tag in your footer, it’ll be placed across your site)

That tag is needed only once. So place it once throughout your site, and then create as many various lists as you wish, based on your specific needs. The more refined your lists are, the more you’ll get out of your RLSAs.

Get Help With Your Remarketing Lists

Creating RLSAs isn’t difficult. The process is pretty straightforward. But how many lists should you create? How specific should you get? What’s the best way to use this powerful tool to your advantage? Which strategy is best for you?

OperationROI has the answer. Allow us to help you make the most of RLSAs through our proven techniques and strategies. Learn more by calling us at 1-888-277-5429 or by filling out our contact form.

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