A Guide to Custom Affinity Audiences for the Google Display Network

Are you looking for a new way to target potential customers on the Google Display Network? Do the standard options on Affinity audiences not fit your target audience? If so, Custom Affinity Audiences could be the solution!

What Are Custom Affinity Audiences?

First off, Affinity Audiences target users based on interests, which Google determines based on users’ recent browsing and search history. Google then groups these people under predefined buckets for standard Affinity Audiences, such as “Fashionistas,” “Social Media Enthusiasts,” and more. Custom Affinity Audiences allow you to create your own Affinity Audience, specifically tailored by interest keywords, URLs, and apps that you input. If you feel limited by the predefined Google Affinity Audiences, Custom Affinity allows you to create a better match.

For example, say you know your target audience is interested in high-end fitness studios and classes, but the closest pre-made Affinity Audience from Google is “Health & Fitness Buffs.” By leveraging a Custom Affinity audience, you can ensure you are showing ads to a tailored audience specifically interested in luxury fitness studios and classes, as well as the most relevant placement themes.

Continuing this example, enter relevant interests, like Soul Cycle and Pilates. Google uses this information to create an audience of people whose recent browsing history aligns with your inputs. Google then gives you an estimated audience size and top website topics, which you can see on the right side of the image below. This allows you to see if your audience is large enough to target and on what type of placements your ad will show.

Use Cases

Layering

You can layer your Custom Affinity audience on top of content keywords, topics, or specified placements. The additional layering makes your audience just that much more targeted. It can, however, limit the amount of volume you get, so take your budget and goals into consideration.

Let’s say you sell yoga pants. You can use the example Custom Affinity audience above, and add on the additional layer of content keywords focused around fitness apparel. Ultimately, your ads will show on placements that have language around fitness apparel and only to people who are interested in high-end fitness studios.

Competitor Targeting

You can create a tailored audience of people interested in your competitors. Enter your competitor terms as interests and their URLs. You can even enter a specific page from their website.

As a yoga pants retailer, you can target people interested in your competitors, such as Lululemon, Outdoor Voices, Girlfriend Collective, and more. You can even enter the specific part of their website dedicated to yoga pants!

Get Creative!

Custom Affinity gives you more control over who sees your ad. Leverage what you know about your target audience, and create your own Custom Affinity audience. An out-of-the-box idea could end up generating positive results! Contact us if you’d like to learn more.