Google recently released an update allowing us to utilise In-Market Audiences with our search ads, previously a feature only available for display. We’ve been testing this across multiple clients and thought we’d share our initial results.

What Are In-Market Audiences?

Based on search intent, users are categorised into audiences that Google has identified as being ‘in the market’ for a particular product or service. For example, a user that has repeatedly searched for things related to buying a new car would be in-market for autos/vehicles:

The number of available audiences has increased significantly over the past few months and is continuing to grow. Previously, we were able to target users in the market for a trip to Asia, this is now segmented into individual countries and even cities.

How Can In-Market Audiences be Used for Search?

The primary way to use in-market audiences for search is to find users more likely to convert.

Typically, we overlay relevant in-market audiences on the observations with a 0% bid modifier to monitor the results and determine whether performance justifies a bid increase/decrease. This allows us to optimise towards users more likely to convert, as we know they are already in the market for the product or service we are advertising.

The below results are from a client unable to utilise RLSA and Similar Audiences for Search due to Google advertising policies. However they have been able to use In-Market audiences and have seen great initial results:

This client has now increased their spend through in-market audiences in order to invest a greater amount in audiences more likely to convert.

Case Study: Travel Client

The below travel client offers trips to various destinations, we have therefore overlaid in-market audiences relevant to the trips available.

For example, keywords for ‘holidays to South Africa’ have been overlaid with the in-market audience for ‘Trips to South Africa’, hoping to find an audience more likely to convert.

Below is an example of the difference in conversion rate for the campaign average vs. the in-market audience conversion rate:

It’s also important to consider in-market audiences that are not directly related but perhaps indicative of a certain type of user e.g. the above travel company targets an older, wealthier demographic.

As well as targeting users in the market for trips to destinations offered by the travel company, we also analysed the audience insights for a typical converter using the AdWords Audience Insight report:

You can find the Audience Insight report in the Google Ads Audience Manager. These insights show that the average customer is also in-market for high star rating hotels, first class travel. These are audiences indicative of affluence so we also overlaid these to our campaigns.

Using the Audience Insights report we can better define an audience and drive efficiency in our campaigns. We recommend using this function to analyse your All Visitors audience vs. your All Converters audience; allowing you to hone in on the “type of person” that is typically converting.

How to Set-Up In-Market Audiences

We recommend Google Ads Editor to apply easily in bulk:

  1. Navigate to Audiences within the Keyword & Targeting tab of Editor
  2. Click to Add Audience
  3. Select In-Market
  4. Choose the audiences you want to apply – use Ctrl + click to select multiple audiences
  5. Click OK to finish
  6. Remember to check your flexible reach settings!

In-Market audiences are also available on Bing, don’t forget about Bing. And if you'd like further support and guidance on how to set up in-market audiences, or have any questions, please get in touch here >>>