How to Use In-Market Audiences: Tried-and-Tested Best Practices + More

In-market audiences are groups of Google users who are actively researching a product or service. With Google Ads, you can target the people looking for your exact offer, sending them to your site at the perfect moment. This guide explains how.

Here, you’ll find:

• What are Google’s in-market audiences?
• How to build your first in-market audience campaign
• Best practices
• In-market audiences vs. affinity audience targeting: Which is better?
• Why you should use in-market audiences
• What are the downsides?

In-market audiences allow you to reach people who are showing an interest in the type of products or services you offer right now. 

Rachel Corak, Associate Director at HawkSEM, shares her expertise about how to leverage in-market audiences so you can connect with your future customers faster.

What are Google’s in-market audiences?

In-market audiences are a type of audience segment inside Google Ads — specifically groups of online users who are actively researching a particular product or service. Google identifies this type of audience by collecting website data from the Google Display Network, along with:

• Keywords searched
• Related ad clicks (and conversions)
• Content the users engaged with

All of these signals tell Google which users are in the research stage of making a purchase.

Audience categories

By using Google Ads’ in-market audiences, you can target people actively browsing websites and content for products or services similar to yours.

For example, if you sell winter boots, Google can identify people who conducted a search for “winter boots,” visited sites featuring winter fashion, and watched related product review videos.

Google will categorize these users under “Apparel and Accessories.” When you set up your campaign, you’ll place it under this category (take it a step further by targeting gender).

In-market audience categories include:

• Apparel & Accessories
• Autos & Vehicles
• Baby & Children’s Products
• Beauty Products & Services
• Business Services
• Computers & Peripherals
• Consumer Electronics
• Consumer Software
• Dating Services
• Education
• Employment
• Financial Services
• Gifts & Occasions
• Home & Garden
• Real Estate
• Sports & Fitness
• TelecomTravel

Most of these categories have a sub-category option as well.

Which campaign types offer this audience segment

You can use in-market audiences as an audience segment type type for:

• Google Search ads
• Display ads
• Video ads
• Standard Shopping ads
• Demand Gen (spanning YouTube, Discover, and Gmail)

Note: In-market audiences aren’t available to Performance Max, as this campaign type uses audience signals to guide your campaign toward who you think is most likely to convert instead. Pmax then uses Google AI to learn over time and adapt to its most positive results.

Hotel ads, on the other hand, only allow for remarketing — which is now called “your data segments.”

Other audience segments include affinity segments, custom segments, detailed demographics, life events, and your data segments.

How to build your first in-market audience campaign

Ready to build your first in-market audience campaign? Here’s a quick step-by-step guide to get set up:

1. Log into your Google Ads account and select “Audiences” in the menu on the left side.

2. Click the edit “audience segments” option on the top right section of the audience table.

3. Click “Select an ad group” then choose a campaign and ad group.

4. Choose between “Targeting” or “Observation.”

Targeting in a Google Ads campaign means your ads only appear for those in the target in-market segment. You can use this in various ad groups, including affinity audiences, remarketing, and placements.

This is a great option if you know exactly who should see your ads.

You can target in-market audiences with specific interests, as well as other criteria, such as:

• Topics
• Keywords
• Placements
• Demographics
• Location
• Devices
• Ad schedule

Observation in Google Ads campaigns is the option to broaden your audience reach so more people see it. Unlike targeting, it allows you to monitor how people engage with your ads first, so you can identify a group you can target in future campaigns.

This option is ideal if you’re new to digital ads or are a startup that’s yet to learn who your best customers are and how to reach them. It’s also an opportunity to determine who to exclude from your campaigns.

You can set your observation campaign to last for a month or two, enough time to gather the data you need to create more targeted campaigns.

5. Select the “Browse” tab and choose the “What they are actively researching or planning (In-market)” option.

6. Choose the audiences you want to target from the list of categories (e.g., Apparel, beauty products and services, etc.).

Pro tip: Limit how many categories you select. Adding too many broadens the audience, making it difficult to pinpoint who’s converting the best.

Instead, create multiple ad groups for each category and/or sub-category to test the best performers.

7. Pick one or more subcategories.

8. Click “Save.”

And you’re done! Alright, now let’s talk strategy.

Best practices

Not getting the results you expected from in-market audiences? Here are several best practices to optimize your campaigns for success:

Narrow your audience

Tighten up your ad groups by only targeting those who convert the most.

Use exclusion lists

See clickers who aren’t converting? Weed out Google ads audiences by excluding their keywords or other criteria, so they never appear for them.

Monitor campaign results

Ads aren’t a set-it-and-forget-it project. Continue to analyze results and optimize based on your findings. Also, run regular PPC campaign audits to find gaps and opportunities for growth.

Test various bidding strategies

Started with Target ROAS, but not seeing results? Then try other bidding options to see what performs best.

Make bid adjustments

If you’re seeing success with certain audiences, increase your bids to get more visibility. Or if you know Mondays have lackluster results, decrease bids on that day.

Evaluate your ad audiences

Identify if the people you’re targeting are the same people finding and clicking on your ads. If not, it’s time to switch things up with a new audience.

Build customer profiles

It’s easier to ensure a customer matches an ad campaign when you know exactly who your ideal customers are. So include as many details as possible (e.g., demographics, firmographics, pet peeves, roadblocks, challenges, desires).

Perform SEO research

Understanding the intent behind keywords will ensure you’re using terms that’ll attract your ideal audience.

Determine campaign performance metrics

Know upfront which metrics matter most for your campaign, so you don’t waste time on the wrong bidding strategies.

Leverage your sales and support teams

No one knows your customers like those talking to them day in and day out. Use their expertise to guide your ad and landing page copy.

Use campaign automation

If you have limited resources and time, then use this to learn more about what works and what doesn’t.

Run A/B tests on campaigns

Experiment with different offers, headlines, and ad copy to see what works best for each ad group. Even after you’ve found something that works, continue making adjustments to improve results.

Pro tip: Software tools that simplify campaign monitoring are also at your disposal. For example, ConversionIQ is HawkSEM’s proprietary software that analyzes ad campaigns and pinpoints the best keywords to drive traffic and conversions from your best customers.

Before setting up your campaign

To ensure the most success with your in-market audience, make sure your foundation is in good shape. Here’s how:

• Research your audience: Before launching a campaign, research your target audience. Understand their needs, wants, and interests so you can create ads that speak directly to them.
• Set goals: Establish clear goals for your campaign. This will help you measure success and make adjustments as needed.
• Choose the right platform: Select the right platform for your in-market audience campaign. Google Ads (formerly AdWords) is a great option, but there are other platforms you can test, like Microsoft Ads and Yahoo Ads.
• Craft compelling ads: Create ads that stand out from the competition and grab attention. Use visuals, copywriting best practices, and other tactics to make your ads stand out.
• Monitor performance: Track your campaign performance using tools like Google Analytics and adjust as needed. This will optimize campaigns for better results.

In-market audiences vs. affinity audience targeting: Which is better?

Custom affinity audience targeting uses data to identify users with a general interest in a product or service. Google looks at the user’s browsing history, time spent on certain websites, and past purchases to identify patterns of interest over a broader period of time.

In-market audience targeting focuses more on recent history and is based on what users are currently searching for and engaging with.

“Affinity audiences are essentially interest-based audiences. You can target people based on things and topics they’re interested in,” says Corak.

“In-market audiences target people actively looking to buy. The biggest difference between the two is which stage of the funnel people are within their journey.”

Affinity should be seen as more of an awareness and upper funnel audience, whereas in-market would be considered more bottom of the funnel. In-market audiences have problem and solution awareness, but may not have brand awareness.

Why you should use in-market audiences

In-market audiences make it almost possible to pick your target customers out of a (massive) crowd.

More specifically, they allow you to gain more control over the outcome of your ad campaign. With in-market audiences, you can:

• Get your ads in front of people with high purchase intent for your product or service
• Increase the odds of converting clicks into sales by targeting people who are actively looking for your product or service
• Improve campaign performance by driving more clicks and conversions per campaign
• Set up your in-marketing audience ads within minutes

What are the benefits?

When your campaigns are too broad or target the wrong group, it eats up your ad budget with little to no conversions to show for it.

With in-market audiences, you can eliminate this issue. It uses Google’s data to target people most likely to buy your product or service today.

This means you can save money on irrelevant clicks, while also increasing the chances of conversions. Plus, it’s a great way to reach potential customers who may not know your brand yet.

It’s an excellent way to maximize your overall return on investment (ROI).

Pro tip: In-market audiences are great for building sharpshooter campaigns that target a specific group of people. But this doesn’t mean you have to choose one over the other. Include other audiences (e.g., demographics, location, interests) to fine-tune your campaigns for higher conversions.

What are the downsides?

The benefits of in-market audiences are impressive. But there’s a caveat — since this is growing in popularity, more brands are jumping on the bandwagon, which means more competition (and higher costs) for you.

The cost per click (CPC) and cost per thousand impressions (CPM) will grow, which means a higher cost to acquire leads and customers. You’ll also fight for attention from your audience as more competitors enter the scene.

However, there are ways to overcome these roadblocks:

• Use other audiences with in-market audiences to laser in on groups your competitors are overlooking. For example, you can include groups from specific locations, demographics, remarketing lists (e.g., your website visitors), and custom intent audiences.
• Make a better offer than your competitors to drive more clicks. For example, you can offer discounts, free shipping, or other incentives to entice customers to buy.
• Design a landing page that’s optimized for people and search engines. For example, include keywords from your ad campaign and use copywriting best practices to drive sales (e.g., placing multiple CTAs, including testimonials, and highlighting benefits over features).
• Perform customer research to learn more about their concerns, questions, and desires. Then use this information to create ads and landing pages that are highly relevant and engaging to that group.

Pro tip: Keep tabs on impressions, clicks, and conversions to determine if you need to make changes to outdo competitors.

Do in-market audience campaigns work?

The simple answer: yes. In-market audiences are the bee’s knees for digital advertisers because they improve the outcomes of campaigns. This strategy even works on other ad platforms, such as Microsoft Ads, which states campaigns that used this audience type saw up to a 28% higher click-through rate (CTR) and 48% higher conversion rate than those not using it.

It’s a no-brainer why they work so well. When you’re on the market for a product and see an ad in search (which looks like a regular link) that speaks to you, you’re likely to click on it.

It’s almost like someone Google was in your brain search history and knew exactly what you wanted at that moment.

And we’re seeing great success using this audience type with our client accounts. In fact, one client has shown a 41% CTR, 19% conversion rate, and $1.56 CPA over the past 30 days.

Compare this to our affinity audiences in the same account, and we see a much lower CTR of 16% and way higher CPA of $3.93 — a 60% lower CPA for the in-market audiences.

“Both audience types have a strong and healthy conversion rate thanks to thoughtful targeting and ad creatives,” says Corak.

“They play an important role in growing the business for our client. But based on CTR and CPA alone, in-market audiences are highly engaged and likely to produce a lower CPA due to audience intent.”

The takeaway

In-market audiences are a brilliant targeting option inside Google Ads. If you’re looking to stand out, “Focus on the unique value proposition (UVP) in the ad copy and landing page messaging,” says Corak.

“These people are already in-market — they know what the problem is, what kind of solution they’re looking for, and about your competition. This is your opportunity to position yourself as the BEST solution. Convince them why your product is the only one that can serve their needs.”

Paid search campaigns are an excellent way to drive fast traffic to your website. But they only work if you get the right people to click on your ads.

Mixing in-market audiences with the right bidding strategies can ensure your ads zone in on prospective shoppers who are ready to buy.

To prepare for the future, anticipate future changes and limitations to audience targeting. This will likely be something we see more of over the coming years.

So consider new targeting methods to remain agile, have backup plans, and continue to expand your reach. Focus on building remarketing audience lists and lean into first-party data collection methods.

As digital marketing experts, HawkSEM has many ideas on how to help people do this.

On that note — if you’d like expert guidance or a complete done-for-you PPC service, then reach out to us today.

This article has been updated and was originally published in January, 2023.