​What are Remarketing Lists for Search Ads

RLSA is a powerful targeting method that allows you to target ads based on the users’ activity on your website and subsequent search queries on the Google search engine.

In Google’s words “Remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) is a feature that lets you customize your search ads campaign for people who have previously visited your site, and tailor your bids and ads to these visitors when they're searching on Google.”

How does it work?

To start using RLSA, you have to create a remarketing list and simply add a remarketing tag code to your website. You can get this code from your Adwords account. This code tells AdWords to add every site visitor to your remarketing list.

Remarketing Lists for Search ads are not similar to Remarketing lists for the Google Display Network. The only thing common between the two is they both drop a cookie on the users’ browser when they visit your website. Standard remarketing shows ads to users when they are browsing on the websites that are a part of the Google Display Network, while RLSAs don’t show text ads to users just because they are on your remarketing list. The users still need to be searching on Google using the keywords you are bidding on.

For example, when users leave your website without buying anything but they continue to look for the same product using Google search, RLSA can help you connect with these potential customers. RLSA offers customisation to select keywords, create ads, and set your bids keeping in mind that these users have previously visited your website.

Note: RLSA ads need to have a minimum of 1,000 cookies before the list can be used to target search ads. Therefore, your website should have a minimum of 1000 visitors to start with RLSA ads. According to Google, this helps protect the privacy of users who make up your list.

Basic strategies for using remarketing lists with search ads

RLSAs can help you to target more qualified users who are already aware of your website. If used well, these ads can result in higher CTR, conversion rates, and lower cost per conversion. Here are some strategies that can give good results:

• Bid on more generic keywords only for people who have previously purchased from your site(are on your remarketing list). This will help you increase your sales.
• Optimize bids for your existing set of keywords for visitors on your remarketing lists. For example, you can increase your bid by 20% for those who previously viewed your website in the last 10 days.
• Bid on competitor’s terms for the users who have previously visited your website.
  For example, you can target a previous visitor who abandoned your cart, went back to Google, and searched for competitor’s term.

Suggested Read: Tirendo, a European online tire retailer, saw a 161% conversion rate increase with RLSA, leading to a 22% overall sales increase.

The possibilities with RLSAs are endless. This targetting has given advertisers multiple touchpoints with the potential customers and various ways to reach them. Do you use RLSAs in your PPC strategy, what has been your ROI?