Google’s Search Network has over time expanded its capabilities to target beyond keywords.
The Search Network has increasingly expanded its tool sets over the years – a variety of keyword match types including Phrase Match Modifier, remarketing audiences through Remarketing List Search Ads (RLSA) and search campaigns with precise demographic targeting.
And that’s only just the beginning, with the re-branding of AdWords to Google Ads, “In-Market” audience for search campaigns is one of the latest features available on the re-branded platform.
Previously, only available on the Google Display Network and YouTube, “In-Market” audience on the Search Network is something you should consider for your Google Ads account!
Moving forward – I shall explain why I’m excited about this and why you should be to!
What Is “In-Market” Audience For Search
“In-Market” audience has been around for a while now across the Display Network and the way it works doesn’t change for the Search Network. It essentially allows you to find the right user based on their past search and browsing behaviours; this suggests that they may be more likely to search for the product or service you offer.
Below is a description from Google on how a user is qualified as an “In-Market” audience:
To qualify someone as being in-market for a specific product or service, Google takes into account clicks on related ads and subsequent conversions, along with the content of the sites and pages they visit and the recency and frequency of the visits. In this way, Google accurately categorizes users so you can target those most interested in your offerings.
Let’s say you are advertising for the keyword “Latest SUV 2018.”
This is an extremely generic keyword with large volume of monthly searches for brand new vehicles daily.
These users may just be interested to know the latest SUV in the market out of interest with no intention of purchasing a vehicle. However, there may be other users who’s past search and browsing behaviour show greater intent with additional searches and are ready to purchase their brand new vehicle, as seen below.
As we can see based on the above, the user’s past search and browsing history suggest that they are in-market to purchase an SUV in 2018. With the “In-market” audience in search it allows you to increase bid adjustments for users who have higher intent and are more likely to convert.
Why You Should Consider “In-Market” Audience
“In-Market” audience search is a great way to generate leads as you are targeting an audience with high purchase intent, this can drive incremental conversions allowing you to target users with greater effect while they are moving towards the end of the purchase journey.
With the combination of using “In-Market” audiences with Remarketing, you are capable of significantly improving the remarketing efficiencies of your campaign.
Through the use of machine learning and “In-Market” behaviours, you are able to present the right offer at the right time to those with the highest commercial intent in your product or service when using them concurrently with your generic keywords.
Understanding In-Market Audience
So now you know what “In-Market” audience is and you’ve learned the added benefits it could have on your account. Let’s get to the fun stuff and explain what in-market audiences are available and how to implement them in your campaigns (preferably generic campaigns).
Above I’ve used Autos & Vehicles as an example, however there are multitude of “In-Market” audiences available for search campaigns, similar to the ones you can find on the Display network, such as:
- Apparel and Accessories
- Autos & Vehicles
- Baby & Children’s Products
- Beauty Products & Services
- Business Services
- Computers & Peripherals
- Consumer Electronics
- Consumer Software
- Dating Services
- Education
- Employment
- Financial Services
- Gifts & Occasions
- Home & Garden
- Real Estate
- Sports & Fitness
- Telecom
- Travel
As you can see, the variety of coverage can allow you to show your ads to the right people at the right time based on the above “In-Market” audiences in the above categories to allow you to capture the right user with high intent in the purchasing journey.
Setting Up “In-Market” Audience In Your Campaigns
Now let’s get down to the serious business. How to implement “In-Market” audiences in your campaign. First and foremost, using the new AdWords interface, follow the steps below and begin your journey of having your ads show to high intent users.
1. Create or use an existing search campaign
2. On the left sidebar of the campaign – navigate to the audiences tab
3. Click on the blue pen icon on the top left
4. Select the campaign/ad group in which you’d like to implement “In-Market” audiences.
5. Select ‘Observation,’ with a least aggressive bid adjustment to start off with – this will allow you to gather the required data while still consider your next steps moving forward based on performance
6. Below in the box – select ‘What they’re actively researching or planning.’
7. Finally, select the appropriate “In-Market” audience for your campaign and click save to implement it amongst the selected campaign.
The future of Paid Search is shifting towards machine learning and user behaviour
The advancement in technology will continue to enhance and refine your ad targeting capabilities which could see significant improvements in performance when properly utilised.
Stay one step ahead of the curve by ensuring the right ad messaging appears to the right user with commercial intent, at the right stage in their buying journey. This will help to prevent wasted budget and increase your ROI from the channel.
In addition to performance improvements, In-Market audiences could also serve you well if you need the budget to ‘work hard’ or you have tight CPA targets.
Good luck!