Effective audience targeting is at the heart of every successful paid search campaign—and the latest feature rolled out in Google AdWords will help advertisers do just that.

The newest AdWords feature — currently available as an open beta — is In Market Audiences for Search Ads. Applied like remarketing lists for search ads, the functionality allows you to prioritise ad placements in front of the users that are most likely to convert. To identify these ready-to-convert shoppers, Google looks at user signals, including recent searches, ad clicks, video views and app downloads across its search and shopping network, YouTube and Google Play.

The potential targeting space through In Market Audiences for Search Ads is huge, featuring one billion search users arranged into 24 top-level categories and over 500 segments. What’s more, the In-Market algorithm re-evaluates user intent signals in real-time to maintain audience relevancy.

Through In-Market Audiences, advertisers can customise bids and budgets by segments, while AdWords Audience Insights will also highlight the segments their existing audiences are positioned in.

With this new feature, retailers of iPads — for example — will be able to differentiate between tech-enthusiasts who simply enjoy reading about gadgets and new developments, and shoppers who are looking to buy an iPad. Clearly, targeting customers that are sending strong signals that they’re ready to buy will increase the chance of conversion, improving the performance of your paid search campaign.

This is something that all advertisers will have access to and 99% will benefit from, although undoubtedly some advertisers will be slower to react to the changes. As a result, using Market Audiences for Search Ads as soon as possible can lead to a competitive advantage within your market.

Need advice on using In Market Audiences for Search Ads and creating effective paid advertising campaigns? Speak to the experts on +44 (0) 330 108 4263 or email us at info@mediaworks.co.uk.