Marketing Strategy

Using Remarketing Lists for Search Ads: Timing, Frequency, and Strategy

Anthony Vasser

Anthony Vasser

You see it time and time again.

People visit your site — maybe even more than once — but don’t follow through with a purchase.

What if there were a way to target those consumers and entice them to become loyal customers?

There is — through the use of remarketing lists for search ads. 

But understanding how to use RLSAs can be tricky. We’ll take a look at the why, when, and how of remarketing lists for search ads to help you better understand how to optimize them for your business.

What Are Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs)?

A remarketing list for search ads, aka RLSA, is a Google Ads feature that allows advertisers to customize their search campaigns based on: 

  1. Whether a user has previously visited their app or website; and 
  2. The specific pages the user viewed while they were there

Why Should You Use Remarketing?

Remarketing lists for search ads give you the ability to customize your search campaigns — so you can target more qualified and valuable users who have already interacted with your website. 

When they’re done right, RLSAs help you optimize your search campaigns by:

  • Allowing you to tailor your ad text and keyword bids to people who are already searching for what you have to sell
  • Creating a more efficient use of ad spend
  • Producing better conversion rates; and 
  • Delivering a higher ROI

The beautiful thing about using remarketing lists for search ads is that they keep your product at the top of your potential customer’s minds — even after they’ve left your site. 

Plus, RLSAs are a great tool for helping develop:

  • Familiarity
  • Trust; and 
  • Brand recognition

Inspire and Engage

At Pretty-Impressive, each client is unique. Which is why we create strategies tailored to the needs of each company. Reach out and we’ll help you get your brand exactly where it needs to be — ahead of the rest.

How Does Search Remarketing Work?

There are two ways to use RLSAs:

  1. Creating RSA search ad groups that only show ads to users who are on your remarketing list and are searching with the keywords you’re bidding on
  2. Making bid adjustments on your remarketing ad list groups for users whose keyword searches match your keyword bids 

When Should You Use Remarketing Lists for Search Ads?

If you want to reach potential customers who have engaged with your site in the past, you should be using remarketing lists for search ads.

RLSAs give you the opportunity to:

  • Reach out to new potential customers who exhibit the characteristics and behaviors of your remarketing audience segments.
  • Pinpoint loyal, repeat customers and expand your reach to potential customers that resemble them.
  • Reach customers and potential customers based on their advanced demographic criteria.

This includes people who:

  • May have visited your site’s homepage
  • Are brand-new to your site; or
  • Have added items to a shopping cart on your site, only to fail to follow through with making a purchase

By using remarketing lists for search ads to customize your ad campaigns and tailor your bids, you’ll be on your way to maximizing the return on search campaigns — while setting yourself up for the highest possible ROI.

3 Reasons You Should Be Using Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

1. Optimize Your Bids

Remarketing lists for search ads help you make the most of your bids in two ways: 

1. You can increase your bids for valuable users.

For example, say you’re running a lead generation campaign and have a user who visited your contact page but never submitted a contact form.

You could decide to increase your bid to 10% for that user’s next search to see if you can entice them to come back to your site and complete the form.

2. You can decrease bids for not-so-valuable users

If you have an audience that is less valuable, but you still think there’s a chance they may convert, you might want to reduce your bids for that audience.

For instance, if you’re a software provider, you might consider lowering the bids for users who have already downloaded your software. 

To utilize this strategy, you would apply the audience list like you normally do, making the bid adjustment a negative percentage.

2. Broaden Your Keywords Used

Broader keywords typically have a large amount of low-quality traffic. 

This means conversion rates — and profits — may be low on broad keyword searches, so many advertisers either don’t bid on those keywords or come in with a rock-bottom bid.

But, within that low-quality traffic, there is still some qualified traffic that could result in extra conversions.

Let’s say you run a custom clothing company and want to highlight your holiday pieces. Generally, broad keywords such as “Christmas gift” or “present” wouldn’t be profitable. But by using remarketing lists for search ads, you can target those same keywords solely to customers who purchased from your company during the previous holiday season — which may result in higher conversion rates and sales.

3. Customize Your Ad Text

Using remarketing lists for search ads is the perfect way to customize your ad text by catering to your individual audiences based on the keywords and the place they abandoned your site. 

For example, you may want to put together a list of customers who completed their purchases from your site. You can then create a custom ad targeting them, offering 10% off on their next purchase. 

And, you know those users who put items in their carts, but never make a purchase? Remarketing search ads make it easy to identify them and offer a discount for following through with a purchase.

Inspire and Engage

At Pretty-Impressive, each client is unique. Which is why we create strategies tailored to the needs of each company. Reach out and we’ll help you get your brand exactly where it needs to be — ahead of the rest.

Let Pretty-Impressive Help You Understand More About When to Use Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

Are you ready to learn more about the best ways to maximize remarketing lists for search ads in your marketing strategy?

Pretty-Impressive can help. 

We partner with businesses like yours to develop unique growth marketing strategies that:

  • Build brand awareness
  • Quickly increase your customer base; and
  • Boost sales

Our data-driven growth marketing campaigns have proven successful time and time again, and include: 

  • Tested ROI strategies
  • Campaign audits
  • Customer persona research
  • Updated data dashboards; and
  • Regular campaign updates

We work to understand the type of customers that you want your business to attract — and tailor your marketing to encourage them to take action.

Contact Pretty-Impressive today for your free, no-obligation 30-minute strategy session and find out how your business can maximize growth and customer loyalty.

Let’s work together and make the buyer’s journey as efficient and profitable as possible.

Houston based performance marketing agency with clients of every size, in every vertical. Blending demand gen with intent-based optimization, we appeal to the human motivations and goals driving every click.

From strategy to implementation, we’re here to help your brand scale.

Further Reading

Pretty Impressive | Full Stack Marketing