Google Ads audience targeting: an overview of every audience type

Google Ads lets you steer not only on keywords, but also on who the person behind the search actually is. That happens through audiences, and by now there are plenty of different types. In-market, affinity, custom audiences, remarketing: for anyone who is not in the platform daily, it is a tangle of terms. In this article we give an overarching overview of every audience type in Google Ads, explain what they do and where they belong in the funnel. The goal is not to switch on as many audiences as possible, but to pick the right layer, the one that actually produces pipeline.

This article is part of our broader overview on what SEA is, where you can see how audiences fit into the bigger picture of search advertising.

What is an audience in Google Ads?

An audience is a group of people Google has bundled together based on behaviour, interests or their previous contact with your brand. Where a keyword tells you what someone is searching for, an audience tells you something about who that person is and what they do outside that single search moment.

Important to understand up front: audiences work differently on the Search Network than on Display or YouTube. On search you usually add an audience as an extra layer on top of your keywords, while on Display or YouTube an audience is often the main targeting. That distinction determines how aggressively you can use an audience without needlessly squeezing your reach.

In-market audiences: people with buying intent

In-market audiences bundle people who, according to Google, are actively considering a purchase in a given category. They compare providers, read reviews and show signals that point to an imminent purchase.

For B2B this is often the most interesting audience type to start with, alongside remarketing. Someone who is in-market for business software or a professional service, for example, sits closer to a decision than a random visitor. On the Search Network you usually run in-market audiences in observation mode: you simply let your ads run on your keywords, but you see separately how the in-market group performs and can put a higher bid on it. That way you raise your presence with the people closest to a quote request without excluding everyone else.

Affinity audiences: people with a long-term interest

Affinity audiences do not look at short-term buying intent, but at broader, long-lasting interests and lifestyle. Think of people who are structurally engaged with technology, entrepreneurship or a particular professional field.

Affinity sits higher in the funnel than in-market. It is reach-driven: you build awareness with a group that matches your profile, but that is not necessarily looking yet. For B2B lead generation on the Search Network, affinity is rarely your first choice, because the intent there is looser. On YouTube or Display, affinity can be valuable if you want your brand to be top of mind early in the consideration phase. The pitfall is that affinity campaigns show attractive numbers on impressions and clicks while they do not yet deliver pipeline. So judge them on their role as a driver, not as a closing layer.

Custom audiences: audiences you build yourself

Custom audiences let you assemble a group yourself based on search behaviour, websites visited or apps used. You give Google a set of search terms or competitor websites, for instance, and Google builds an audience around that.

This is the most flexible audience type, and therefore also the most powerful for those who know what they are doing. For B2B you can build a custom audience around people searching for specific industry topics or visiting competitor and trade media websites. That way you reach a tightly defined audience that closely resembles your ideal customer. The flip side: the more specific your audience, the smaller your reach, and on search you still use them best as an observation or bidding layer on top of your keywords. Custom audiences take some experimentation before they pay off, so only deploy them once your basics are in place.

Remarketing: people who already know you

Remarketing targets people who have already had contact with your brand: they visited your website, viewed a specific service page or half-filled a form. So you are approaching a warm audience that already knows you.

For B2B with a long sales cycle, remarketing is almost always worthwhile. Weeks often pass between the first visit and the final decision, and remarketing keeps you visible in that in-between period. You can refine lists based on which pages someone visited, so that whoever saw your pricing page or service page gets a more targeted message than a fleeting visitor. On the Search Network this is called RLSA, where you apply a higher bid or an adapted message to your existing visitors when they search again later. It is generally the audience type with the highest return, simply because those people already know you.

How do you choose the right audience type?

The four types complement each other rather than compete. A sensible build follows the funnel:

• At the bottom, closest to the deal: remarketing and in-market. These are your best-performing layers and your best starting point.
• In the middle: custom audiences, to reach a targeted audience that resembles your ideal customer.
• At the top, for awareness: affinity, especially on YouTube and Display, to appear early in the journey.

The biggest mistake is switching everything on at once and judging every audience on clicks. In B2B, an audience only becomes valuable once you see that it delivers qualified leads and ultimately customers. You only see that if you connect your conversion measurement to what happens after the click, all the way into your CRM. With offline conversion tracking and lead-to-deal attribution, you know which audience really drives pipeline and which one only collects impressions. Only then can you shift budget to the audiences that bring in deals.

If you would rather not untangle this yourself, you can outsource your Google Ads to a team that ties audiences to pipeline instead of to vanity numbers. We treat SEA as the fast acquisition layer of one orchestrated growth engine, not as a standalone click machine.

Frequently asked questions about audiences in Google Ads

What is the difference between in-market and affinity?

In-market audiences bundle people with short-term buying intent within a category, while affinity audiences look at long-lasting interests and lifestyle. In-market therefore sits closer to a purchase and is usually more valuable for B2B lead generation.

Do audiences work on the Search Network?

Yes, but differently than on Display. On search you usually add an audience as an observation or bidding layer on top of your keywords. Your targeting keeps running on keywords, and the audience determines where you apply a higher bid or an adapted message.

Which audience type should you start with?

Start with remarketing and in-market audiences. Those are the warmest and best-performing layers, closest to the decision. You only expand into custom audiences and affinity once your data and volume can carry it.

How do I know whether an audience is paying off?

Not by clicks or impressions, but by leads and deals. Connect your conversion measurement to your CRM through offline conversion tracking, so you can see per audience which one truly delivers qualified leads and pipeline.

Ready to steer your audiences on pipeline?

Audiences are only valuable if they deliver customers, not if they show the prettiest click numbers. Want to know which audience types move your Google Ads account forward and which ones only swallow budget? We are a small team that moves fast and steers on qualified leads, not on vanity numbers.

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