Google announced the launch of Custom Affinity Audiences on the AdWords blog, which is a fancy way of saying they’ve improved the tools that allow advertisers using the Google Display Network to pick who sees their ads.
The love child of two other features
Custom Affinity Audiences is what happens when Google smushed affinity audiences and in-market audiences together. Previously, advertisers had the ability to show ads to people who were passionate about their products with affinity audiences. In-market audiences allowed advertisers to show ads to individuals who were fairly far down the sales funnel and were ready to make a purchase.
Improved spying… er – demographic information
Google doesn’t actually spy on users in the Gladys Kravitz sense, involving looking into your windows – mainly because they don’t have to; they just follow your browsing data. While this may be intrusive and all that, it also means that you are provided with really great data about who is available to market to.
The new tool will allow you to look at a variety of demographic data, including age, gender and relevant affinities (fancy way of saying what they’re interested in or like). You’ll also be able to see approximately how many people are likely to see your ads based on what you’ve chosen, so you can make adjustments to narrow or expand your reach as necessary.
