Use Remarketing Lists for Search Ads to Convert Customers

by Chelsea Caplan

Trying to grow your paid search account can be frustrating. And, with the AdWords landscape always changing, it is important to find ways to target a more qualified audience in order to generate more conversions.

If you feel that you have maxed out of all of your obvious keyword options, we have a solution tailored just for you, literally. Allow us to introduce Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs). RLSAs allow advertisers to tailor their paid search campaigns based on whether a user previously visited their website, and the pages the user viewed.

How can RLSAs be used?

Target and Bid – The first option is the target and bid option. Once you select your targeting method or criteria, the RLSA setting will then determine how your ad behaves within this method. It can either ensure that your ads only show for the targeting method that you’ve selected, such as keywords, or it allows you to set bids for individual targeting. In other words, your ads will only show if you are bidding on a particular keyword and the user who submitted the query is on your retargeting list. 

Bid Only – The “Bid Only” option is very similar to any standard search campaign. If you’re bidding on a specific keyword or query, anyone who searched those terms can see the ad. However, the difference between Bid Only and a regular campaign is that you can include a remarketing list as additional criteria. That means that while ads are triggered by anyone who conducts a specific search, you can set bid modifiers for users who are on the specified audience list.

How is Remarketing on the Search Network different than Traditional Display Remarketing?

Although RLSA has the word “remarketing” in it, do not be misled, as it is different than display remarketing. They’re used in the same manner, except remarketing on the Google Display Network (GDN) allows for images (banners) along with text ads. Remarketing on the Search Network is the same concept except you are only on the Search Network and can only show text ads. Thus, the primary difference is that one is on the Display Network and the other is on the Search Network and different ad formats are allowed.

So, two things need to happen: the user needs to already be on the remarketing list and the user needs to be searching on the Search Network. The user needs to actively search on Google’s Search Network using the keywords that you are already bidding on within your search campaigns.

 What are the Benefits?

So what are the benefits of this crafty list/keyword combination? More qualified traffic! RLSAs allow you to better tailor your search campaigns to target more valuable users who are already aware of you and your website. If used correctly, RLSAs can result in more efficient use of ad spend, better conversion rates, and an even better ROI. Additionally, you can create greater personalization with the ad copy by including messaging that is more relevant to the user’s whereabouts in the buyer’s journey. You can even run a special promotion and create more direct enticement with a form fill, etc. based on what the user searched for on your site.

 Additionally, another benefit of using RLSAs is that if someone has already visited your site, they are typically more likely to convert, so you will normally have a higher conversion rate than regular non-brand campaigns. You can leverage your RLSA campaign; along with bid only RLSA lists, to ensure that previous visitors return to your site so that you remain top of mind as they research a purchase.

A few RLSA strategies

• Make the most of a very small ad spend: As you probably know, AdWords can be expensive, so it may be difficult to achieve the return you want from your PPC traffic unless you have some very strategic optimization strategies. Since RLSAs allow you to serve ads to users who have already visited your site, your small budget will be utilized more efficiently than with standard search ads. This is because users seeing your ads are more qualified and are already aware of your brand.
• Keyword Research: Another great use of RLSA campaigns is to do in-depth research of the other terms that your site visitors are searching. Since the cookie pool for your RLSA campaign is fairly small, you can use broad match types to gather additional traffic, and then analyze the SQR for new keyword opportunities.
• RLSA Competitors Campaign: Another way to use an RLSA campaign is to develop a competitor campaign that will allow you to target your previous site visitors when they search for your competitors. In doing this, you can bid higher than you typically would in a competitor campaign, allowing a strong position to remain top of mind for valuable prior visitors.

So there you have it, a more engaging and strategic method to anticipate the needs of your customers! To learn more about RLSAs and how to set up your lists, click here.