Google Ads RLSA: How to Retarget Your Search Campaigns

By: Jyll Saskin Gales, Google Ads Coach

Want to make your Search campaigns even more effective? Enter Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA)! This often-overlooked feature lets you add audiences to your Search and Shopping campaigns, giving you the power to refine your targeting and boost your results.

What is RLSA? Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

RLSA allows you to show your Search ads only to people who have already interacted with your brand – think past website visitors, YouTube viewers, app users, or even customers from your own data. This means you can tailor your messaging to a warmer audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

Two Powerful RLSA Strategies

RLSA isn't just about narrowing your audience. It's a tool for strategic expansion, allowing you to:

• Test Broad Match Keywords with Confidence: Broad Match keywords can be tricky, often triggering your ads for irrelevant searches. But with RLSA, you can use Broad Match more confidently, knowing your ads will only show to users already familiar with your brand.
• Give Unprofitable Keywords a Second Chance: Have keywords that seem relevant but just aren't performing? RLSA can help! By targeting these keywords to a retargeting audience, you can see if familiarity with your brand makes a difference in their profitability.

Audience Targeting vs. Observation: What's the Difference?

When adding your audience lists to your Search or Shopping campaigns, you have two options: Targeting vs. Observation.

• Targeting: Your ads only show to people who match both your keywords and your audience list.
• Observation: Your ads can show to anyone who matches your keywords, but you can collect data about (and adjust manual bids for) those who also match your audience list.

For Search or Shopping retargeting, you'll need to choose Targeting.

Think Bigger with Search Retargeting

The key to successful RLSA is to use it for strategic expansion rather than extreme limitation. Think of it as a way to reach more of the right people, not just fewer of the wrong ones. By layering audience signals on top of your keyword targeting or feed, you can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your Search and Shopping campaigns.