Targeting settings

Page Summary

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• Targeting settings in Google Ads allow you to narrow your ads to specific audience segments or content.

• The TargetingSetting field with an array of target_restrictions controls how criteria types are used for targeting, specifically with the bid_only option.

• Setting bid_only to true enables "Observation" mode, allowing bidding adjustments without restricting traffic, while setting it to false enables "Targeting" mode, restricting traffic to targeted lists.

• By default, bid_only is false ("Targeting"), but for audience segments in search or shopping campaigns, it is recommended to change it to true ("Observation") for observation.

• You can check the targeting_setting on ad groups or campaigns by requesting the ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions field in a search query.

Use the targeting setting in your ad groups or campaigns to specify whether to narrow your ads to only show to specific audience segments, or on specific content you've selected.

Set up the targeting setting

You can set up details on how your various criteria types are used for targeting by setting the TargetingSetting field with an array of target_restrictions . Each TargetRestriction lets you control whether a type of criteria uses the bid_only option or not.

When setting bid_only to true , the targeting setting will be set to "Observation", and the criteria won't be used to restrict traffic, but will allow you to bid differently for different users on your lists. Setting bid_only to false sets the targeting setting to "Targeting" and enables the criteria to restrict ad group traffic only to users on the targeted list.

The key differences are summarized in the following table:

Practical scenarios

Here are short examples of when to use Observation mode versus Targeting mode:

Observation

If you run a Search campaign and want to know how well a particular audience (for example, "sports fans") converts compared to the general public, without restricting your ads to only that audience. You can add "sports fans" as an Audience criterion with bid_only = true (Observation) and apply a +10% bid adjustment. This lets you gather performance data for that audience and bid more competitively for them if they perform well, without losing traffic from users outside that audience.

Targeting

If you run a Display campaign to remarket to users who previously visited your website but didn't convert. You only want users on your "Cart Abandoners" user list to see these specific ads. In this case, you add the "Cart Abandoners" list as a UserList criterion with bid_only = false (Targeting). This ensures your ad group's budget is spent only on reaching this high-intent audience segment.

Best practices

By default, bid_only is set to false , which means the targeting setting will be set to "Targeting". If you're adding audience segments to a search or shopping campaign, consider changing the targeting setting of bid_only to true to set it to "Observation".

If you're setting up a duplicate campaign for audience segments for search ads, keep the targeting of bid_only set to false .

Restrictions

You cannot add or update targeting_setting on an AdGroup if targeting_setting is set on the parent campaign. If the targeting_setting is set on the parent Campaign , you must first remove the targeting_setting on the parent Campaign . Likewise, you must first remove the targeting_setting on the AdGroup in order to set it on the Campaign .

Retrieve the targeting setting

To verify that your targeting is set up as you intend, check the targeting_setting on ad groups or campaigns by requesting the ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions field from the ad_group resource in a search query.

Example

This example updates the targeting_setting on an ad group so that bid_only is true for TargetRestriction instances with a targeting_dimension of AUDIENCE , which lets you set specific bids for users in the audience segment without restricting reach.

First, retrieve all the ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions from the ad group with the provided ID.

 String 
  
 searchQuery 
  
 = 
  
 "SELECT ad_group.id, ad_group.name, ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions " 
  
 + 
  
 "FROM ad_group " 
  
 + 
  
 "WHERE ad_group.id = " 
  
 + 
  
 adGroupId 
 ; 
 
  UpdateAudienceTargetRestriction 
 . 
 java 
 
 
  

 string 
  
 query 
  
 = 
  
 $ 
 @" 
 SELECT ad_group.id, ad_group.name, ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions 
 FROM ad_group 
 WHERE ad_group.id = {adGroupId}" 
 ; 
 
  UpdateAudienceTargetRestriction 
 . 
 cs 
 
 
  

 $query = "SELECT ad_group.id, ad_group.name, " . 
 "ad_group.targeting_setting.target_restrictions " . 
 "FROM ad_group " . 
 "WHERE ad_group.id = $adGroupId"; 
 UpdateAudienceTargetRestriction.php