You can populate your audience list with people who have taken specific actions on your website. If you're using conversion tracking, you can target ads to people who previously triggered a conversion (such as a purchase) on your website.
You can also target ads to people who have taken a particular action on your website that you do not consider a conversion, such as when a person adds but then deletes an item from their shopping cart without making a purchase.
Prerequisites
In order to create and target audience segments, you first need to:
Review the policy for advertising based on interests and location. Sensitive information about users can't be used to build audiences.
Set up your Google tag.
Advertisers seeking to create user lists based on mobile app behavior should implement the Firebase SDK or work with third-party SDKs in order to track in-app behavior.
Retrieve the Google tag
All Google Ads accounts have exactly one account-level Google tag, created automatically when the account is opened.
You can retrieve the Google tag in the Google Ads UI by following the Help Center
instructions or in
the Google Ads API by creating a RemarketingAction and then retrieving the Google tag
by issuing a
GoogleAdsService.searchStream
request using the remarketing_action
resource:
SELECT
remarketing_action.id,
remarketing_action.name,
remarketing_action.tag_snippets
FROM remarketing_action
WHERE remarketing_action.resource_name = 'REMARKETING_ACTION_RESOURCE_NAME'
Install the Google tag on your website or app
The next step is to install your Google tag on all of your site's pages. Learn more about adding the Google tag to your site or mobile app.
If you're planning to build audience segments based only on visited page URLs, you don't need to make any edits to your Google tag. If you're using custom parameters, you need to edit your tag to include them, as detailed in Advanced strategies for tagging and creating remarketing lists.
You can use Google Tag Assistant to validate your tag installation.
Built-in Google tag parameters
You can use the built-in remarketing parameter url__ to target a user list
based on the URLs that people have visited on your website, as demonstrated in
the
Visitors to your website example.
Custom Google tag parameters
You can add custom Google tag parameters to your Google tag to create more tailored user lists.
Before creating your own custom parameters, check out the list of predefined parameters to see if there's already a good fit for your use case. Using predefined parameters makes it easier to integrate with other Google Ads remarketing features.
Create the user list
Targeting visitors who took specific actions requires setting the
basic_user_list field of a
UserList with a
BasicUserListInfo object containing
references to the actions—whether conversions or non-conversion
actions— you are targeting.
For a complete walkthrough of an example scenario in which you target users based on a combination of conversion and non-conversion actions, check out the Sample scenario.
Visitors who triggered a conversion
A basic user list defines its membership as people who had triggered one or more
conversion actions on your website. When you create a basic user list, you
provide the resource name of the
ConversionAction to a
UserListActionInfo object, which is
ultimately passed to the UserList.
The following example creates a basic user list associated with two existing conversion actions:
Java
private void runExample(
GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, List<Long> conversionActionIds) {
List<UserListActionInfo> userListActionInfoList = new ArrayList<>();
for (long conversionActionId : conversionActionIds) {
// Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This specifies the
// conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be added to a UserList.
UserListActionInfo userListActionInfo =
UserListActionInfo.newBuilder()
.setConversionAction(ResourceNames.conversionAction(customerId, conversionActionId))
.build();
userListActionInfoList.add(userListActionInfo);
}
// Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
BasicUserListInfo basicUserListInfo =
BasicUserListInfo.newBuilder().addAllActions(userListActionInfoList).build();
// Creates the basic user list.
UserList basicUserList =
UserList.newBuilder()
.setName("Example BasicUserList #" + getPrintableDateTime())
.setDescription("A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions")
.setMembershipLifeSpan(365)
.setBasicUserList(basicUserListInfo)
.setMembershipStatus(UserListMembershipStatus.OPEN)
.build();
// Creates the operation.
UserListOperation operation = UserListOperation.newBuilder().setCreate(basicUserList).build();
// Creates the service client.
try (UserListServiceClient userListServiceClient =
googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createUserListServiceClient()) {
// Adds the basic user list.
MutateUserListsResponse response =
userListServiceClient.mutateUserLists(
Long.toString(customerId), ImmutableList.of(operation));
// Prints the results.
System.out.printf(
"Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.%n",
response.getResults(0).getResourceName());
}
}
C#
public void Run(GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId, long[] conversionActionIds)
{
// Creates the service client.
UserListServiceClient userListServiceClient =
client.GetService(Services.V18.UserListService);
List<UserListActionInfo> userListActionInfoList = new List<UserListActionInfo>();
foreach (long conversionActionId in conversionActionIds)
{
// Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This
// specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be
// added to a UserList.
userListActionInfoList.Add(new UserListActionInfo
{
ConversionAction =
ResourceNames.ConversionAction(customerId, conversionActionId)
});
}
// Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
BasicUserListInfo basicUserListInfo = new BasicUserListInfo();
basicUserListInfo.Actions.Add(userListActionInfoList);
// Creates the basic user list.
UserList basicUserList = new UserList
{
Name = $"Example BasicUserList #{ExampleUtilities.GetShortRandomString()}",
Description = "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions",
MembershipLifeSpan = 365L,
BasicUserList = basicUserListInfo,
MembershipStatus = UserListMembershipStatus.Open
};
// Creates the operation.
UserListOperation operation = new UserListOperation
{
Create = basicUserList
};
try
{
// Adds the new user list.
MutateUserListsResponse response = userListServiceClient.MutateUserLists
(customerId.ToString(), new[] { operation });
// Prints the result.
Console.WriteLine("Created basic user list with resource name: " +
$"{response.Results.First().ResourceName}");
}
catch (GoogleAdsException e)
{
Console.WriteLine("Failure:");
Console.WriteLine($"Message: {e.Message}");
Console.WriteLine($"Failure: {e.Failure}");
Console.WriteLine($"Request ID: {e.RequestId}");
throw;
}
}
PHP
public static function runExample(
GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
int $customerId,
array $conversionActionIds
) {
$userListActionInfoList = [];
foreach ($conversionActionIds as $conversionActionId) {
// Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This specifies
// the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be added to a
// UserList.
$userListActionInfoList[] = new UserListActionInfo([
'conversion_action' => ResourceNames::forConversionAction(
$customerId,
$conversionActionId
)
]);
}
// Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
$basicUserListInfo = new BasicUserListInfo(['actions' => $userListActionInfoList]);
// Creates the basic user list.
$basicUserList = new UserList([
'name' => 'Example BasicUserList #' . Helper::getPrintableDatetime(),
'description' => 'A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions',
'membership_status' => UserListMembershipStatus::OPEN,
'membership_life_span' => 365,
'basic_user_list' => $basicUserListInfo
]);
// Creates the operation.
$operation = new UserListOperation();
$operation->setCreate($basicUserList);
// Issues a mutate request to add the user list and prints some information.
$userListServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getUserListServiceClient();
$response = $userListServiceClient->mutateUserLists(
MutateUserListsRequest::build($customerId, [$operation])
);
printf(
"Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.%s",
$response->getResults()[0]->getResourceName(),
PHP_EOL
);
}
Python
def main(client, customer_id, conversion_action_ids):
"""Creates a combination user list.
Args:
client: The Google Ads client.
customer_id: The customer ID for which to add the user list.
conversion_action_ids: The IDs of the conversion actions for the basic
user list.
"""
# Get the UserListService and ConversionActionService clients.
user_list_service = client.get_service("UserListService")
conversion_action_service = client.get_service("ConversionActionService")
# Create a list of UserListActionInfo objects for the given conversion
# actions. These specify the conversion actions that, when triggered, will
# cause a user to be added to a UserList.
user_list_action_info_list = []
for conversion_action_id in conversion_action_ids:
user_list_action_info = client.get_type("UserListActionInfo")
user_list_action_info.conversion_action = (
conversion_action_service.conversion_action_path(
customer_id, conversion_action_id
)
)
user_list_action_info_list.append(user_list_action_info)
# Create a UserListOperation and populate the UserList.
user_list_operation = client.get_type("UserListOperation")
user_list = user_list_operation.create
user_list.name = f"Example BasicUserList #{uuid4()}"
user_list.description = (
"A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions"
)
user_list.membership_status = client.enums.UserListMembershipStatusEnum.OPEN
user_list.membership_life_span = 365
# The basic user list info object contains the conversion action info.
user_list.basic_user_list.actions.extend(user_list_action_info_list)
# Issue a mutate request to add the user list, then print the results.
response = user_list_service.mutate_user_lists(
customer_id=customer_id, operations=[user_list_operation]
)
print(
"Created basic user list with resource name "
f"'{response.results[0].resource_name}.'"
)
Ruby
def add_conversion_based_user_list(customer_id, conversion_action_ids)
# GoogleAdsClient will read a config file from
# ENV['HOME']/google_ads_config.rb when called without parameters
client = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::GoogleAdsClient.new
# Creates the basic user list.
operation = client.operation.create_resource.user_list do |u|
u.name = "Example BasicUserList ##{(Time.new.to_f * 100).to_i}"
u.description = "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions"
u.membership_status = :OPEN
u.membership_life_span = 365
# Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
u.basic_user_list = client.resource.basic_user_list_info do |info|
conversion_action_ids.each do |conversion_action_id|
# Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action.
# This specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a
# user to be added to a user_list.
info.actions << client.resource.user_list_action_info do |action|
action.conversion_action =
client.path.conversion_action(customer_id, conversion_action_id)
end
end
end
end
# Issues a mutate request to add the user list and prints some information.
response = client.service.user_list.mutate_user_lists(
customer_id: customer_id,
operations: [operation],
)
puts "Created basic user list with resource name " \
"#{response.results.first.resource_name}"
end
Perl
sub add_conversion_based_user_list {
my ($api_client, $customer_id, $conversion_action_ids) = @_;
my $user_list_action_info_list = [];
foreach my $conversion_action_id (@$conversion_action_ids) {
# Create the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This
# specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to
# be added to a UserList.
push @$user_list_action_info_list,
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Common::UserListActionInfo->new({
conversionAction =>
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Utils::ResourceNames::conversion_action(
$customer_id, $conversion_action_id
)});
}
# Create a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
my $basic_user_list_info =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Common::BasicUserListInfo->new({
actions => $user_list_action_info_list
});
# Create the basic user list.
my $basic_user_list = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Resources::UserList->new({
name => "Example BasicUserList #" . uniqid(),
description =>
"A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions",
membershipStatus => OPEN,
membershipLifeSpan => 365,
basicUserList => $basic_user_list_info
});
# Create the operation.
my $user_list_operation =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Services::UserListService::UserListOperation->
new({
create => $basic_user_list
});
# Issue a mutate request to add the user list and print some information.
my $user_lists_response = $api_client->UserListService()->mutate({
customerId => $customer_id,
operations => [$user_list_operation]});
printf
"Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.\n",
$user_lists_response->{results}[0]{resourceName};
return 1;
}
Visitors who took non-conversion actions
You can create a basic user list for people who took actions on your website
that you don't consider conversions by associating it with a
RemarketingAction instead of a
ConversionAction.
Retrieve the list
To retrieve your user list, you can issue the following Google Ads Query Language query to the
user_list resource.
SELECT
user_list.name,
user_list.membership_status,
user_list.membership_life_span
FROM user_list
WHERE
user_list.resource_name = 'USER_LIST_RESOURCE_NAME'
Target the list
With your audience segment created, the next step is to target it.
Audience segment targeting rules
Positive (biddable) user lists cannot be set at the campaign level and the ad group level at the same time. Positive user list criteria must be removed from all ad groups within a campaign before one can be set for the campaign.
Positive targeting by user list is only supported for Search campaigns. For Display campaigns,
CampaignCriterionthat setsuser_listmust be excluded.In Search and Shopping campaigns, user list targets don't support setting the following fields:
Target ads to your user list
The process is similar to other types of targeting criteria in the API. The
following code demonstrates how you can use an AdGroupCriterion to target ads in an ad group to a user list:
Java
private String targetAdsInAdGroupToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, long adGroupId, String userList) {
// Creates the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
AdGroupCriterion adGroupCriterion =
AdGroupCriterion.newBuilder()
.setAdGroup(ResourceNames.adGroup(customerId, adGroupId))
.setUserList(UserListInfo.newBuilder().setUserList(userList).build())
.build();
// Creates the operation.
AdGroupCriterionOperation operation =
AdGroupCriterionOperation.newBuilder().setCreate(adGroupCriterion).build();
// Creates the ad group criterion service.
try (AdGroupCriterionServiceClient adGroupCriterionServiceClient =
googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createAdGroupCriterionServiceClient()) {
// Adds the ad group criterion.
MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse response =
adGroupCriterionServiceClient.mutateAdGroupCriteria(
Long.toString(customerId), ImmutableList.of(operation));
// Gets and prints the results.
String adGroupCriterionResourceName = response.getResults(0).getResourceName();
System.out.printf(
"Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name '%s' "
+ "targeting user list with resource name '%s' with ad group with ID %d.%n",
adGroupCriterionResourceName, userList, adGroupId);
return adGroupCriterionResourceName;
}
}
C#
private string TargetAdsInAdGroupToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId, long adGroupId, string userListResourceName)
{
// Get the AdGroupCriterionService client.
AdGroupCriterionServiceClient adGroupCriterionServiceClient = client.GetService
(Services.V18.AdGroupCriterionService);
// Create the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
AdGroupCriterion adGroupCriterion = new AdGroupCriterion
{
AdGroup = ResourceNames.AdGroup(customerId, adGroupId),
UserList = new UserListInfo
{
UserList = userListResourceName
}
};
// Create the operation.
AdGroupCriterionOperation adGroupCriterionOperation = new AdGroupCriterionOperation
{
Create = adGroupCriterion
};
// Add the ad group criterion, then print and return the new criterion's resource name.
MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse mutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse =
adGroupCriterionServiceClient.MutateAdGroupCriteria(customerId.ToString(),
new[] { adGroupCriterionOperation });
string adGroupCriterionResourceName =
mutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse.Results.First().ResourceName;
Console.WriteLine("Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name " +
$"'{adGroupCriterionResourceName}' targeting user list with resource name " +
$"'{userListResourceName}' with ad group with ID {adGroupId}.");
return adGroupCriterionResourceName;
}
PHP
private static function targetAdsInAdGroupToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
int $customerId,
int $adGroupId,
string $userListResourceName
): string {
// Creates the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
$adGroupCriterion = new AdGroupCriterion([
'ad_group' => ResourceNames::forAdGroup($customerId, $adGroupId),
'user_list' => new UserListInfo(['user_list' => $userListResourceName])
]);
// Creates the operation.
$operation = new AdGroupCriterionOperation();
$operation->setCreate($adGroupCriterion);
// Issues a mutate request to add an ad group criterion.
$adGroupCriterionServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getAdGroupCriterionServiceClient();
/** @var MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse $adGroupCriterionResponse */
$adGroupCriterionResponse = $adGroupCriterionServiceClient->mutateAdGroupCriteria(
MutateAdGroupCriteriaRequest::build($customerId, [$operation])
);
$adGroupCriterionResourceName =
$adGroupCriterionResponse->getResults()[0]->getResourceName();
printf(
"Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name '%s' " .
"targeting user list with resource name '%s' with ad group with ID %d.%s",
$adGroupCriterionResourceName,
$userListResourceName,
$adGroupId,
PHP_EOL
);
return $adGroupCriterionResourceName;
}
Python
def target_ads_in_ad_group_to_user_list(
client, customer_id, ad_group_id, user_list_resource_name
):
"""Creates an ad group criterion that targets a user list with an ad group.
Args:
client: an initialized GoogleAdsClient instance.
customer_id: a str client customer ID used to create an ad group
criterion.
ad_group_id: a str ID for an ad group used to create an ad group
criterion that targets members of a user list.
user_list_resource_name: a str resource name for a user list.
Returns:
a str resource name for an ad group criterion.
"""
ad_group_criterion_operation = client.get_type("AdGroupCriterionOperation")
# Creates the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
ad_group_criterion = ad_group_criterion_operation.create
ad_group_criterion.ad_group = client.get_service(
"AdGroupService"
).ad_group_path(customer_id, ad_group_id)
ad_group_criterion.user_list.user_list = user_list_resource_name
ad_group_criterion_service = client.get_service("AdGroupCriterionService")
response = ad_group_criterion_service.mutate_ad_group_criteria(
customer_id=customer_id, operations=[ad_group_criterion_operation]
)
resource_name = response.results[0].resource_name
print(
"Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name: "
f"'{resource_name}' targeting user list with resource name: "
f"'{user_list_resource_name}' and with ad group with ID "
f"{ad_group_id}."
)
return resource_name
Ruby
def target_ads_in_ad_group_to_user_list(
client,
customer_id,
ad_group_id,
user_list
)
# Creates the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
operation = client.operation.create_resource.ad_group_criterion do |agc|
agc.ad_group = client.path.ad_group(customer_id, ad_group_id)
agc.user_list = client.resource.user_list_info do |info|
info.user_list = user_list
end
end
# Issues a mutate request to create the ad group criterion.
response = client.service.ad_group_criterion.mutate_ad_group_criteria(
customer_id: customer_id,
operations: [operation],
)
ad_group_criterion_resource_name = response.results.first.resource_name
puts "Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name " \
"'#{ad_group_criterion_resource_name}' targeting user list with resource name " \
"'#{user_list}' with ad group with ID #{ad_group_id}"
ad_group_criterion_resource_name
end
Perl
sub target_ads_in_ad_group_to_user_list {
my ($api_client, $customer_id, $ad_group_id, $user_list_resource_name) = @_;
# Create the ad group criterion targeting members of the user list.
my $ad_group_criterion =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Resources::AdGroupCriterion->new({
adGroup => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Utils::ResourceNames::ad_group(
$customer_id, $ad_group_id
),
userList => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Common::UserListInfo->new({
userList => $user_list_resource_name
})});
# Create the operation.
my $ad_group_criterion_operation =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Services::AdGroupCriterionService::AdGroupCriterionOperation
->new({
create => $ad_group_criterion
});
# Add the ad group criterion, then print and return the new criterion's resource name.
my $ad_group_criteria_response =
$api_client->AdGroupCriterionService()->mutate({
customerId => $customer_id,
operations => [$ad_group_criterion_operation]});
my $ad_group_criterion_resource_name =
$ad_group_criteria_response->{results}[0]{resourceName};
printf "Successfully created ad group criterion with resource name '%s' " .
"targeting user list with resource name '%s' with ad group with ID %d.\n",
$ad_group_criterion_resource_name, $user_list_resource_name, $ad_group_id;
return $ad_group_criterion_resource_name;
}
As with other types of criteria, you can assign other properties to the
AdGroupCriterion object, such as bid overrides.
Switch targeting levels
If you are switching from ad group level user list criteria to campaign level, you must first remove the existing user list criteria from each enabled or paused ad group under that campaign. Click the expandable elements to view example code for each step.
First, retrieve all of the AdGroupCriteria under a given campaign.
Java
private List<String> getUserListAdGroupCriterion(
GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, long campaignId) {
List<String> userListCriteria = new ArrayList<>();
// Creates the Google Ads service client.
try (GoogleAdsServiceClient googleAdsServiceClient =
googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createGoogleAdsServiceClient()) {
// Creates a request that will retrieve all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
SearchGoogleAdsRequest request =
SearchGoogleAdsRequest.newBuilder()
.setCustomerId(Long.toString(customerId))
.setQuery(
"SELECT ad_group_criterion.criterion_id"
+ " FROM ad_group_criterion"
+ " WHERE campaign.id = "
+ campaignId
+ " AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'USER_LIST'")
.build();
// Issues the search request.
SearchPagedResponse searchPagedResponse = googleAdsServiceClient.search(request);
// Iterates over all rows in all pages. Prints the results and adds the ad group criteria
// resource names to the list.
for (GoogleAdsRow googleAdsRow : searchPagedResponse.iterateAll()) {
String adGroupCriterionResourceName = googleAdsRow.getAdGroupCriterion().getResourceName();
System.out.printf(
"Ad group criterion with resource name '%s' was found.%n",
adGroupCriterionResourceName);
userListCriteria.add(adGroupCriterionResourceName);
}
}
return userListCriteria;
}
C#
private List<string> GetUserListAdGroupCriteria(
GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId, long campaignId)
{
// Get the GoogleAdsService client.
GoogleAdsServiceClient googleAdsServiceClient =
client.GetService(Services.V18.GoogleAdsService);
List<string> userListCriteriaResourceNames = new List<string>();
// Create a query that will retrieve all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
string query = $@"
SELECT ad_group_criterion.criterion_id
FROM ad_group_criterion
WHERE
campaign.id = {campaignId}
AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'USER_LIST'";
// Issue the search request.
googleAdsServiceClient.SearchStream(customerId.ToString(), query,
delegate (SearchGoogleAdsStreamResponse resp)
{
// Display the results and add the resource names to the list.
foreach (GoogleAdsRow googleAdsRow in resp.Results)
{
string adGroupCriterionResourceName =
googleAdsRow.AdGroupCriterion.ResourceName;
Console.WriteLine("Ad group criterion with resource name " +
$"{adGroupCriterionResourceName} was found.");
userListCriteriaResourceNames.Add(adGroupCriterionResourceName);
}
});
return userListCriteriaResourceNames;
}
PHP
private static function getUserListAdGroupCriteria(
GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
int $customerId,
int $campaignId
): array {
// Creates a query that retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
$query = sprintf(
"SELECT ad_group_criterion.criterion_id " .
"FROM ad_group_criterion " .
"WHERE campaign.id = %d " .
"AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'USER_LIST'",
$campaignId
);
// Creates the Google Ads service client.
$googleAdsServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getGoogleAdsServiceClient();
// Issues the search request.
$response =
$googleAdsServiceClient->search(SearchGoogleAdsRequest::build($customerId, $query));
$userListCriteria = [];
// Iterates over all rows in all pages. Prints the user list criteria and adds the ad group
// criteria resource names to the list.
foreach ($response->iterateAllElements() as $googleAdsRow) {
/** @var GoogleAdsRow $googleAdsRow */
$adGroupCriterionResourceName = $googleAdsRow->getAdGroupCriterion()->getResourceName();
printf(
"Ad group criterion with resource name '%s' was found.%s",
$adGroupCriterionResourceName,
PHP_EOL
);
$userListCriteria[] = $adGroupCriterionResourceName;
}
return $userListCriteria;
}
Python
def get_user_list_ad_group_criteria(client, customer_id, campaign_id):
"""Finds all of user list ad group criteria under a campaign.
Args:
client: an initialized GoogleAdsClient instance.
customer_id: a str client customer ID.
campaign_id: a str campaign ID.
Returns:
a list of ad group criterion resource names.
"""
# Creates a query that retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a
# campaign.
query = f"""
SELECT
ad_group_criterion.criterion_id
FROM ad_group_criterion
WHERE campaign.id = {campaign_id}
AND ad_group_criterion.type = USER_LIST"""
googleads_service = client.get_service("GoogleAdsService")
search_request = client.get_type("SearchGoogleAdsRequest")
search_request.customer_id = customer_id
search_request.query = query
response = googleads_service.search(request=search_request)
# Iterates over all rows in all pages. Prints the user list criteria and
# adds the ad group criteria resource names to the list.
user_list_criteria = []
for row in response:
resource_name = row.ad_group_criterion.resource_name
print(
"Ad group criterion with resource name '{resource_name}' was "
"found."
)
user_list_criteria.append(resource_name)
return user_list_criteria
Ruby
def get_user_list_ad_group_criterion(
client,
customer_id,
campaign_id
)
user_list_criteria = []
# Creates a query that will retrieve all of the ad group criteria
# under a campaign.
query = <<~QUERY
SELECT ad_group_criterion.criterion_id
FROM ad_group_criterion
WHERE campaign.id = #{campaign_id}
AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'USER_LIST'
QUERY
# Issues the search request.
response = client.service.google_ads.search(
customer_id: customer_id,
query: query,
)
# Iterates over all rows in all pages. Prints the results and adds the ad
# group criteria resource names to the list.
response.each do |row|
ad_group_criterion_resource_name = row.ad_group_criterion.resource_name
puts "Ad group criterion with resource name " \
"'#{ad_group_criterion_resource_name}' was found"
user_list_criteria << ad_group_criterion_resource_name
end
user_list_criteria
end
Perl
sub get_user_list_ad_group_criteria {
my ($api_client, $customer_id, $campaign_id) = @_;
my $user_list_criterion_resource_names = [];
# Create a search stream request that will retrieve all of the user list ad
# group criteria under a campaign.
my $search_stream_request =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Services::GoogleAdsService::SearchGoogleAdsStreamRequest
->new({
customerId => $customer_id,
query => sprintf(
"SELECT ad_group_criterion.criterion_id " .
"FROM ad_group_criterion " .
"WHERE campaign.id = %d AND ad_group_criterion.type = 'USER_LIST'",
$campaign_id
)});
my $search_stream_handler =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::Utils::SearchStreamHandler->new({
service => $api_client->GoogleAdsService(),
request => $search_stream_request
});
# Issue a search request and process the stream response.
$search_stream_handler->process_contents(
sub {
# Display the results and add the resource names to the list.
my $google_ads_row = shift;
my $ad_group_criterion_resource_name =
$google_ads_row->{adGroupCriterion}{resourceName};
printf "Ad group criterion with resource name '%s' was found.\n",
$ad_group_criterion_resource_name;
push(@$user_list_criterion_resource_names,
$ad_group_criterion_resource_name);
});
return $user_list_criterion_resource_names;
}
Then, remove all of the ad group criteria target that were returned.
Java
private void removeExistingListCriteriaFromAdGroup(
GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, long campaignId) {
// Retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
List<String> adGroupCriteria =
getUserListAdGroupCriterion(googleAdsClient, customerId, campaignId);
List<AdGroupCriterionOperation> operations = new ArrayList<>();
// Creates a list of remove operations.
for (String adGroupCriterion : adGroupCriteria) {
operations.add(AdGroupCriterionOperation.newBuilder().setRemove(adGroupCriterion).build());
}
// Creates the ad group criterion service.
try (AdGroupCriterionServiceClient adGroupCriterionServiceClient =
googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createAdGroupCriterionServiceClient()) {
// Removes the ad group criterion.
MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse response =
adGroupCriterionServiceClient.mutateAdGroupCriteria(
Long.toString(customerId), operations);
// Gets and prints the results.
System.out.printf("Removed %d ad group criteria.%n", response.getResultsCount());
for (MutateAdGroupCriterionResult result : response.getResultsList()) {
System.out.printf(
"Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name '%s'.%n",
result.getResourceName());
}
}
}
C#
private void RemoveExistingListCriteriaFromAdGroup(GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId,
long campaignId)
{
// Get the AdGroupCriterionService client.
AdGroupCriterionServiceClient adGroupCriterionServiceClient =
client.GetService(Services.V18.AdGroupCriterionService);
// Retrieve all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
List<string> adGroupCriteria =
GetUserListAdGroupCriteria(client, customerId, campaignId);
// Create a list of remove operations.
List<AdGroupCriterionOperation> operations = adGroupCriteria.Select(adGroupCriterion =>
new AdGroupCriterionOperation { Remove = adGroupCriterion }).ToList();
// Remove the ad group criteria and print the resource names of the removed criteria.
MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse mutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse =
adGroupCriterionServiceClient.MutateAdGroupCriteria(customerId.ToString(),
operations);
Console.WriteLine($"Removed {mutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse.Results.Count} ad group " +
"criteria.");
foreach (MutateAdGroupCriterionResult result in mutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse.Results)
{
Console.WriteLine("Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name " +
$"'{result.ResourceName}'.");
}
}
PHP
private static function removeExistingListCriteriaFromAdGroup(
GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
int $customerId,
int $campaignId
) {
// Retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
$allAdGroupCriteria = self::getUserListAdGroupCriteria(
$googleAdsClient,
$customerId,
$campaignId
);
$removeOperations = [];
// Creates a list of remove operations.
foreach ($allAdGroupCriteria as $adGroupCriterionResourceName) {
$operation = new AdGroupCriterionOperation();
$operation->setRemove($adGroupCriterionResourceName);
$removeOperations[] = $operation;
}
// Issues a mutate request to remove the ad group criteria.
$adGroupCriterionServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getAdGroupCriterionServiceClient();
/** @var MutateAdGroupCriteriaResponse $adGroupCriteriaResponse */
$adGroupCriteriaResponse = $adGroupCriterionServiceClient->mutateAdGroupCriteria(
MutateAdGroupCriteriaRequest::build($customerId, $removeOperations)
);
foreach ($adGroupCriteriaResponse->getResults() as $adGroupCriteriaResult) {
printf(
"Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name '%s'.%s",
$adGroupCriteriaResult->getResourceName(),
PHP_EOL
);
}
}
Python
def remove_existing_criteria_from_ad_group(client, customer_id, campaign_id):
"""Removes all ad group criteria targeting a user list under a campaign.
This is a necessary step before targeting a user list at the campaign level.
Args:
client: an initialized GoogleAdsClient instance.
customer_id: a str client customer ID.
campaign_id: a str ID for a campaign that will have all ad group
criteria that targets user lists removed.
"""
# Retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
all_ad_group_criteria = get_user_list_ad_group_criteria(
client, customer_id, campaign_id
)
# Creates a list of remove operations.
remove_operations = []
for ad_group_criterion_resource_name in all_ad_group_criteria:
remove_operation = client.get_type("AdGroupCriterionOperation")
remove_operation.remove = ad_group_criterion_resource_name
remove_operations.append(remove_operation)
ad_group_criterion_service = client.get_service("AdGroupCriterionService")
response = ad_group_criterion_service.mutate_ad_group_criteria(
customer_id=customer_id, operations=remove_operations
)
print(
"Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name: "
f"'{response.results[0].resource_name}'"
)
Ruby
def remove_existing_list_criteria_from_ad_group(
client,
customer_id,
campaign_id
)
# Retrieves all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
ad_group_criteria = get_user_list_ad_group_criterion(
client, customer_id, campaign_id)
# Creates a list of remove operations.
operations = []
ad_group_criteria.each do |agc|
operations << client.operation.remove_resource.ad_group_criterion(agc)
end
# Issues a mutate request to remove all ad group criteria.
response = client.service.ad_group_criterion.mutate_ad_group_criteria(
customer_id: customer_id,
operations: operations,
)
puts "Removed #{response.results.size} ad group criteria."
response.results.each do |result|
puts "Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name " \
"'#{result.resource_name}'"
end
end
Perl
sub remove_existing_list_criteria_from_ad_group {
my ($api_client, $customer_id, $campaign_id) = @_;
# Retrieve all of the ad group criteria under a campaign.
my $ad_group_criteria =
get_user_list_ad_group_criteria($api_client, $customer_id, $campaign_id);
# Create a list of remove operations.
my $operations = [];
foreach my $ad_group_criterion (@$ad_group_criteria) {
push(
@$operations,
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Services::AdGroupCriterionService::AdGroupCriterionOperation
->new({
remove => $ad_group_criterion
}));
}
# Remove the ad group criteria and print the resource names of the removed criteria.
my $ad_group_criteria_response =
$api_client->AdGroupCriterionService()->mutate({
customerId => $customer_id,
operations => $operations
});
printf "Removed %d ad group criteria.\n",
scalar @{$ad_group_criteria_response->{results}};
foreach my $result (@{$ad_group_criteria_response->{results}}) {
printf "Successfully removed ad group criterion with resource name '%s'.\n",
$result->{resourceName};
}
}
Existing campaign level user list criteria must also be removed when switching to ad group level user lists, and the process mirrors the preceding example.
Target ads in a campaign to a user list, using a CampaignCriterion.
Java
private String targetAdsInCampaignToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, long campaignId, String userList) {
// Creates the campaign criterion.
CampaignCriterion campaignCriterion =
CampaignCriterion.newBuilder()
.setCampaign(ResourceNames.campaign(customerId, campaignId))
.setUserList(UserListInfo.newBuilder().setUserList(userList).build())
.build();
// Creates the operation.
CampaignCriterionOperation operation =
CampaignCriterionOperation.newBuilder().setCreate(campaignCriterion).build();
// Creates the campaign criterion service client.
try (CampaignCriterionServiceClient campaignCriterionServiceClient =
googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createCampaignCriterionServiceClient()) {
// Adds the campaign criterion.
MutateCampaignCriteriaResponse response =
campaignCriterionServiceClient.mutateCampaignCriteria(
Long.toString(customerId), ImmutableList.of(operation));
// Gets and prints the campaign criterion resource name.
String campaignCriterionResourceName = response.getResults(0).getResourceName();
System.out.printf(
"Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name '%s' "
+ "targeting user list with resource name '%s' with campaign with ID %d.%n",
campaignCriterionResourceName, userList, campaignId);
return campaignCriterionResourceName;
}
}
C#
private string TargetAdsInCampaignToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId, long campaignId, string userListResourceName)
{
// Get the CampaignCriterionService client.
CampaignCriterionServiceClient campaignCriterionServiceClient =
client.GetService(Services.V18.CampaignCriterionService);
// Create the campaign criterion.
CampaignCriterion campaignCriterion = new CampaignCriterion
{
Campaign = ResourceNames.Campaign(customerId, campaignId),
UserList = new UserListInfo
{
UserList = userListResourceName
}
};
// Create the operation.
CampaignCriterionOperation campaignCriterionOperation = new CampaignCriterionOperation
{
Create = campaignCriterion
};
// Add the campaign criterion and print the resulting criterion's resource name.
MutateCampaignCriteriaResponse mutateCampaignCriteriaResponse =
campaignCriterionServiceClient.MutateCampaignCriteria(customerId.ToString(),
new[] { campaignCriterionOperation });
string campaignCriterionResourceName =
mutateCampaignCriteriaResponse.Results.First().ResourceName;
Console.WriteLine("Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name " +
$"'{campaignCriterionResourceName}' targeting user list with resource name " +
$"'{userListResourceName}' with campaign with ID {campaignId}.");
return campaignCriterionResourceName;
}
PHP
private static function targetAdsInCampaignToUserList(
GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
int $customerId,
int $campaignId,
string $userListResourceName
): string {
// Creates the campaign criterion.
$campaignCriterion = new CampaignCriterion([
'campaign' => ResourceNames::forCampaign($customerId, $campaignId),
'user_list' => new UserListInfo(['user_list' => $userListResourceName])
]);
// Creates the operation.
$operation = new CampaignCriterionOperation();
$operation->setCreate($campaignCriterion);
// Issues a mutate request to create a campaign criterion.
$campaignCriterionServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getCampaignCriterionServiceClient();
/** @var MutateCampaignCriteriaResponse $campaignCriteriaResponse */
$campaignCriteriaResponse = $campaignCriterionServiceClient->mutateCampaignCriteria(
MutateCampaignCriteriaRequest::build($customerId, [$operation])
);
$campaignCriterionResourceName =
$campaignCriteriaResponse->getResults()[0]->getResourceName();
printf(
"Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name '%s' " .
"targeting user list with resource name '%s' with campaign with ID %d.%s",
$campaignCriterionResourceName,
$userListResourceName,
$campaignId,
PHP_EOL
);
return $campaignCriterionResourceName;
}
Python
def target_ads_in_campaign_to_user_list(
client, customer_id, campaign_id, user_list_resource_name
):
"""Creates a campaign criterion that targets a user list with a campaign.
Args:
client: an initialized GoogleAdsClient instance.
customer_id: a str client customer ID used to create an campaign
criterion.
campaign_id: a str ID for a campaign used to create a campaign
criterion that targets members of a user list.
user_list_resource_name: a str resource name for a user list.
Returns:
a str resource name for a campaign criterion.
"""
campaign_criterion_operation = client.get_type("CampaignCriterionOperation")
campaign_criterion = campaign_criterion_operation.create
campaign_criterion.campaign = client.get_service(
"CampaignService"
).campaign_path(customer_id, campaign_id)
campaign_criterion.user_list.user_list = user_list_resource_name
campaign_criterion_service = client.get_service("CampaignCriterionService")
response = campaign_criterion_service.mutate_campaign_criteria(
customer_id=customer_id, operations=[campaign_criterion_operation]
)
resource_name = response.results[0].resource_name
print(
"Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name "
f"'{resource_name}' targeting user list with resource name "
f"'{user_list_resource_name}' with campaign with ID {campaign_id}"
)
return resource_name
Ruby
def target_ads_in_campaign_to_user_list(
client,
customer_id,
campaign_id,
user_list
)
# Creates the campaign criterion targeting members of the user list.
operation = client.operation.create_resource.campaign_criterion do |cc|
cc.campaign = client.path.campaign(customer_id, campaign_id)
cc.user_list = client.resource.user_list_info do |info|
info.user_list = user_list
end
end
# Issues a mutate request to create the campaign criterion.
response = client.service.campaign_criterion.mutate_campaign_criteria(
customer_id: customer_id,
operations: [operation],
)
campaign_criterion_resource_name = response.results.first.resource_name
puts "Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name " \
"'#{campaign_criterion_resource_name}' targeting user list with resource name " \
"'#{user_list}' with campaign with ID #{campaign_id}"
campaign_criterion_resource_name
end
Perl
sub target_ads_in_campaign_to_user_list {
my ($api_client, $customer_id, $campaign_id, $user_list_resource_name) = @_;
# Create the campaign criterion.
my $campaign_criterion =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Resources::CampaignCriterion->new({
campaign => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Utils::ResourceNames::campaign(
$customer_id, $campaign_id
),
userList => Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Common::UserListInfo->new({
userList => $user_list_resource_name
})});
# Create the operation.
my $campaign_criterion_operation =
Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V18::Services::CampaignCriterionService::CampaignCriterionOperation
->new({
create => $campaign_criterion
});
# Add the campaign criterion and print the resulting criterion's resource name.
my $campaign_criteria_response =
$api_client->CampaignCriterionService()->mutate({
customerId => $customer_id,
operations => [$campaign_criterion_operation]});
my $campaign_criterion_resource_name =
$campaign_criteria_response->{results}[0]{resourceName};
printf "Successfully created campaign criterion with resource name '%s' " .
"targeting user list with resource name '%s' with campaign with ID %d.\n",
$campaign_criterion_resource_name, $user_list_resource_name, $campaign_id;
return $campaign_criterion_resource_name;
}
Review list performance
In order to collect performance data for your audience segments, issue a search
request against the ad_group_audience_view
or the campaign_audience_view resource.
For example, you might look at the conversions or cost_per_conversion to
determine if targeting the audience segment is actually leading to more
conversions, then adjust your bid modifiers accordingly.
SELECT
ad_group_criterion.criterion_id,
metrics.conversions,
metrics.cost_per_conversion
FROM ad_group_audience_view