How to Create GA4 Audiences and Use Them in Google Ads

Why It Matters

Properly built and compliant GA4 audiences let marketers target high‑value users across Google’s network, boosting conversion efficiency while avoiding legal penalties.

Key Takeaways

• Create GA4 custom audiences using page‑URL and event conditions.
• Enable Google Signals and link GA4 to Google Ads for remarketing.
• Verify consent signals; use Cookiebot or similar for GDPR compliance.
• Generate a privacy policy via Usercentrics to meet legal requirements.
• Apply audiences in Ads as targeting or observation with bid adjustments.

Summary

The video walks marketers through building GA4 audiences and deploying them in Google Ads, emphasizing the technical steps and compliance safeguards needed for effective remarketing.

It demonstrates creating a custom audience—"email subscriber hasn't converted"—by adding a page‑location condition for the thank‑you URL and excluding users who triggered a purchase event. The tutorial also covers setting membership duration, enabling Google Signals for cross‑device tracking, and confirming the GA4‑Ads link with personalized advertising and auto‑tagging turned on.

Key examples include using predictive audiences that forecast purchase likelihood, checking consent settings to ensure analytics tags respect user choices, and generating a GDPR‑compliant privacy policy with Usercentrics’ free tool. The presenter highlights the difference between targeting (ads shown only to audience members) and observation (ads shown broadly with performance reporting).

For advertisers, these steps unlock higher ROI by focusing spend on qualified prospects while staying compliant with privacy regulations, making GA4 audiences a strategic asset for Performance Max and other campaign types.

Original Description

If you're running Google Ads, you can use audiences from Google Analytics to target your campaigns and reach the right people. In this tutorial, I'll walk you through how to create an audience in GA4, check that consent is configured correctly, and apply your audience in Google Ads. To do this, we'll be using Cookiebot's consent management platform and the Usercentrics Privacy Policy Generator to make sure data is being collected with consent for use in Google Ads.

Create your Cookiebot account at: https://lovesdata.co/cookiebot

We'll start by creating a custom audience in Google Analytics, then walk through the key prerequisites, including enabling Google Signals, linking your Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts, and confirming consent signals are active in your property. From there, I'll show you how to set up a privacy policy using the Usercentrics Privacy Policy Generator, and then we'll head to Google Ads to find your audience and apply it to a campaign.

JUMP TO A TOPIC:

00:00 Introduction

01:12 Creating an Audience in Google Analytics

06:10 Checking Google Signals

07:30 Ensure Google Analytics and Google Ads are Linked

08:37 Checking Consent Settings

10:23 Setting Up a Privacy Policy

13:53 Applying Your Audience in Google Ads

17:12 Next Steps

YOUR EXTRA RESOURCES:

○ Cookiebot by Usercentrics: https://lovesdata.co/cookiebot

○ Privacy Policy Generator by Usercentrics: https://lovesdata.co/usercentrics-policy

○ Usercentrics server-side tagging: https://lovesdata.co/usercentrics-server

○ Cookiebot tutorial: https://youtu.be/T0ofinbYwHM

○ Linking Google Analytics and Google Ads tutorial: https://youtu.be/SnnXNUdy0T4

○ Google Analytics tutorial series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1vNrn711L8T8HLFj4ghhXydctPMXSv3l

Join our courses: https://www.lovesdata.com/courses/

Subscribe for more tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=lovesdata

TOOLS WE USE AND RECOMMEND:

○ Data connector – https://lovesdata.co/oOWkI

○ Cookie banner – https://lovesdata.co/letON

○ Email platform – https://lovesdata.co/zrLd7

○ Course platform – https://lovesdata.co/2Zzfq

#GoogleAnalytics #GoogleAds #GA4Audiences #Remarketing #ConsentMode #Cookiebot #DigitalMarketing #PPC