What is audience targeting?
Audience targeting is the practice of showing ads to specific groups of people based on traits such as demographics, interests, behavior, or past interactions with your business, instead of showing them to everyone.
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Common types of audience targeting
Demographic targeting uses traits such as age or location. Interest and behavior targeting uses what people read, search, or buy. Custom audiences use your own data, such as past visitors or a customer list.
Lookalike audiences find new people who resemble an existing group. Contextual targeting places ads next to relevant content and doesn't need personal data.
Why it matters
Good targeting puts your message in front of people who are more likely to care, which can lower wasted spend. Poor targeting can reach the wrong people or shrink your audience so far that delivery stalls.
How to choose audiences
Start from who buys and why, then test a few audiences against each other. Keep each group large enough for the platform to learn from, and review results before narrowing further.
Privacy rules and platform policies limit what you can target in some categories. Check current policies before you build an audience.
Common questions
What is the difference between audience targeting and keyword targeting?
Keyword targeting reaches people based on what they search for. Audience targeting reaches them based on who they are or what they've done, even when they aren't searching.
Is narrower targeting always better?
No. Very narrow targeting can raise costs and limit how much data the platform has to learn from. Test broader and narrower groups and compare results.
What are first-party audiences?
They are audiences built from data you collect yourself, such as website visitors, app users, or customers. Many advertisers upload or sync these lists to target or exclude people.
Can I exclude audiences?
Yes. Most platforms let you exclude groups such as existing customers or recent converters so you don't pay to reach people who don't need the ad.
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