YouTube advertisements are often used for top-of-funnel marketing objectives, such as raising product and service awareness or boosting brand loyalty. Although I strongly advocate for top-of-funnel initiatives, I also aim to maximize the immediate return on investment from my awareness campaigns.

On YouTube, we can refine our targeting through remarketing, customer matching, or direct placements. However, as I discussed in a recent article on four facts you may not know about YouTube ads, the precision of the targeting methods you employ may not always be as refined as you believe.

Therefore, if you’re seeking additional targeting possibilities for YouTube ads, custom intent audiences are an excellent solution. Let’s examine what these audiences entail and how to implement them in your Google Ads video campaigns.

Custom Intent vs. In-Market Audiences

According to Google, custom intent audiences are designed with performance advertisers in mind. These audiences allow us to connect with users who are actively making purchase decisions. This may sound similar to in-market audiences.

While both targeting approaches appear comparable, they have distinct differences. Firstly, in-market audiences target individuals in the research phase. If your objective is to enhance ROI, custom intent audiences would be a more suitable choice. We’ll delve into the specifics of custom intent audiences shortly.

Secondly, the range of options provided by in-market audiences differs. Consider the following illustration:

The image above displays the in-market audience choices available to advertisers for “Sporting Goods.” However, what if my sporting goods store has a video specifically promoting baseball equipment? The broad “Sporting Goods” category is likely too general for my needs. To make matters worse, Google Ads doesn’t offer a more granular level that aligns with my video content.

Therefore, to achieve more precise targeting for YouTube, you should experiment with custom intent audiences, as they enable you to create audiences tailored to your campaign objectives.

Utilizing Custom Intent Audiences in Google Video Campaigns

If you can’t find an in-market audience that corresponds with your product offering or video content, custom intent audiences are the ideal starting point.

Within the in-market audience selection view, you’ll find the option for custom intent audiences. Let’s revisit a similar view to what we saw earlier:

Clicking on “new custom intent audience” allows us to construct our own audience using high-intent keywords that we deem relevant. A remarkable aspect of this feature for YouTube advertising is that it enables us to target users based on their previous search queries on Google.

Here’s an example of what my custom intent audience might look like:

Initially, I accessed the Google Ads Keyword Planner and inputted some purchase-intent keywords that I knew would be pertinent to my video content. Then, I reviewed the recommended keyword suggestions and incorporated them into my ad group plan within the tool. Finally, I exported my plan and pasted those keywords into my new custom intent audience.

Before implementing custom intent audiences in your YouTube campaigns, consider these points:

• Google Ads recommends including at least 50 keywords in the audience for optimal accuracy.
• Sensitive keywords will only serve contextually or might not serve at all.
• All keywords are treated as broad match, even if you’re using exact match lists. Therefore, your targeting will have a broader reach than anticipated.

Fifty keywords per audience significantly exceed the number of keywords we would typically include in each of our search network ad groups. Carefully consider how you want to group your keywords for a custom intent audience to target your videos effectively. Keeping your video ad’s content in mind will simplify these decisions and enhance accuracy.

Once your audiences are defined, it’s time to configure your campaign.

Ad Group Structure for Custom Intent Audiences on YouTube

Admittedly, this aspect can be somewhat open-ended. The segmentation of your ad groups when using custom intent audiences will vary based on your account’s specific goals. For illustrative purposes, let’s continue with the baseball example.

Since I have a single video asset, I’ll initially keep all my breakdowns within the same campaign. Then, I’ll create separate ad groups for each custom intent audience I define. Here’s a possible initial ad group structure:

The first audience will comprise all my converting search terms from Google Ads that are relevant to this video asset. It’s crucial to display the video to users who have previously searched using queries that have resulted in conversions. Next, I’ll separate general sporting goods terms from baseball equipment terms. While the user intent behind “online sports store” and “baseball gloves on sale” differs, both user groups might be interested in my products. Lastly, I might create a custom intent ad group for localized terms, particularly if I have a physical store location.

This ad group structure allows me to apply audience exclusions at the ad group level, enabling me to adjust bids appropriately for the top-performing ad groups.

Final Thoughts

I always initiate my video campaigns with the most precise targeting options available, such as customer matching, remarketing, and placements, as they generally yield the best results. However, when I need to expand my reach with YouTube ads, custom intent audiences offer greater control compared to other audience options. Incorporating user intent as a targeting parameter has not only enhanced my view and engagement metrics but also my direct return on investment. Whenever we observe an increase in returns from YouTube, it signifies a targeting method worth exploring.