How to build a GA4 audience for Google Ads
GA4 lets you define audiences, groups of users who did something specific, and share them with Google Ads for remarketing or targeting. It is a powerful way to turn behaviour into ad audiences, as long as a few conditions are met.
Building the audience
- In GA4 Admin, Audiences, create a new audience with conditions, for example "viewed a product but did not purchase in 7 days".
- Base it on events and dimensions you actually collect.
- Save it; GA4 starts gathering qualifying users.
Getting it into Google Ads
Link GA4 to Google Ads (Admin, Google Ads Links), the same link used to import conversions. Once linked and with personalised advertising enabled, your GA4 audiences appear in Google Ads for targeting.
The rules that decide if it works
- Consent: only users who consented to ads personalisation can be added, so declines shrink the audience, as with remarketing without consent.
- Minimum size: Google Ads needs an audience to reach a threshold before it can be used.
- Not retroactive: audiences build from creation forward, so set them up before you need them.
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