As users move through the final steps of creating their search campaigns in the Google Ads Launch Wizard, they'll now notice an important improvement in the retargeting flow. Previously, the system allowed only a single retargeting condition, limiting how audiences could be built. With the latest update, users can now select multiple retargeting criteria at once — such as visitors who clicked on ads but didn't convert, those who viewed specific products, or anyone who browsed the website more broadly.
This enhancement gives users the ability to combine several behaviors into a single audience, making retargeting campaigns more flexible, more aligned with user activity, and easier to launch with greater precision.
🟣 Step 1 — Open Smart Ads And View Your Campaign Dashboard
Here's a Loom walkthrough with the exact steps.
- In the left sidebar, scroll down.
- Click on Ads — the icon with the speech-bubble and spark symbol.
- Click on Google Ads.
- Go to Campaign Hub.
- Click on Create new campaign.
🟣 Step 2 — Choose Your Campaign Type
You'll be prompted to select whether you're launching a Search Campaign or a Retargeting Campaign. Select Retargeting Campaign, choose the business associated with this campaign, then click Continue.
🟣 Step 3 — Complete Conversion Tracking Setup (If Required)
If conversion tracking is not yet configured, you'll see a message prompting you to finish this step. You will need to:
- Open the Google Ads Conversion Tracking setup page.
- Install the required tracking tag on your website.
- Click Verify Tracking to proceed.
🟣 Step 4 — Build Your Retargeting Audience
Once tracking is verified, you'll arrive at the audience-building interface. Here you can choose:
- Products for Retargeting
- Conversion Goals
- Retargeting Window (15, 30, or 60 days)
- Audience Criteria
You can now select multiple retargeting behaviors, such as:
- People who clicked the ads and didn't convert
- People who visited specific product pages
- People who visited the general website
You can combine all of them into a single retargeting audience. Click Continue when done.
🟣 Step 5 — Choose A Bidding Strategy
You'll now choose how Google should optimize your bids. Available options include:
- Maximize Conversions
- Maximize Conversion Value
- Maximize Clicks
- Target Impression Share
- Set a custom CPA target
Select your strategy and click Continue.
🟣 Step 6 — Let Smart Ads Automatically Create Ad Groups
Smart Ads will now process your selections and automatically generate ad groups based on visitor behavior.
🟣 Step 7 — Review And Approve Retargeting Ad Groups
Once generated, review the list of ad groups and approve them before moving to the ad-level view. You can expand each group to review its targeting details, then click Continue with X Ad Groups.
🟣 Step 8 — Review And Approve Retargeting Ads
Next, you'll see the complete ads that Smart Ads generated, including ad preview, headlines, descriptions, and sitelinks. You may edit individual ads or bulk-approve them, then click Continue when ready.
🟣 Step 9 — Final Step: Audience Population Notice
If your retargeting audiences are still populating (this can take up to 72 hours), you'll see a message where you can choose to activate manually or activate automatically once audiences are ready. If you prefer, you can launch immediately, though this isn't recommended if audiences are small.
❓ FAQs
What is the new update about? Users can now select multiple retargeting criteria when saving audiences.
What types of retargeting criteria can be selected? People who clicked ads and didn't convert, visited the product, or visited the general website.
What can the user do after selecting criteria? Combine them all together and launch retargeting campaigns.
With the new ability to select multiple retargeting criteria, users can now build audiences that better reflect actual visitor behavior. This results in stronger segmentation, more effective ad groups, and higher-precision retargeting campaigns — all directly inside Smart Ads' guided workflow.
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be connected with a member of our team.