Let’s discuss how to best set up retargeting.
First, let’s clarify what this technology is and how it differs from targeting.
Targeting allows you to show contextual ads to a specific audience that fits defined parameters—such as location, demographics, search terms, gender and age.
Retargeting is another tool in contextual advertising. It helps bring website visitors back and encourages them to make a purchase.
How does it work?
When a visitor arrives on your site and shows interest in your products and ad systems, using cookies — small pieces of data stored on the user’s device — track how they behave on your site, what they specifically look at, and which pages they spend the most time on. Based on these parameters, retargeting groups are created. If the visitor did not complete a conversion action — typically a purchase — you continue to show them your adverts on other websites they visit, constantly reminding them of the product they were once interested in.
Why does it work?
People often need time to think, especially for significant purchases, so they leave a site to consider. Retargeting ensures the buyer doesn’t go to competitors and is likely to return to your site. Sometimes a person abandons the purchase, but when they see your ad offering a discount on that product, they decide to buy.
With retargeting, you can solve key promotion tasks: increase conversion rates, boost the number of reviews and recommendations, encourage repeat purchases, offer complementary products, remind users about your brand, or invite them to take part in promotions.
Conversion rates with retargeting can reach up to 45%, though this depends on the product, offer and market competition. For our B2B marketplace, this strategy yields an average conversion rate of 4–5%. The retargeting budget is much lower than that for display or search advertising — which is a significant advantage.
Where and how to use retargeting?
Traditionally, retargeting uses platforms like Google Ads or Yandex.Direct.
It’s important to note that retargeting in Yandex.Direct operates within the Yandex Advertising Network, which includes thousands of curated websites and portals. The Yandex audience in Russia is around 34 million users—almost entirely distinct from Yandex search users—offering additional reach.
In Google Ads, retargeting is called remarketing and adverts appear within the Display Network. The Display Network spans millions of websites, news portals, blogs, as well as Google services like Gmail and YouTube.
Google charges per click, which can be more cost-effective than Yandex’s model; Yandex charges per thousand impressions for banner ads. For text ads in Yandex.Direct, payment is also per click. Another key difference: Google Ads allows you to run text and display campaigns within the same account, whereas Yandex requires separate accounts for banner and text ads.
For medium to large websites with steady traffic, you can start retargeting immediately. However, in highly competitive markets retargeting alone may not suffice. If your site has only just launched, start with contextual ads to build traffic before launching retargeting campaigns for non‑converters.
How to set up retargeting?
First, define your retargeting audience — users who visited specific pages. You can segment audiences quickly and conveniently through analytics systems: Google Analytics for Google Ads, and Yandex.Metrica for Yandex.Direct.
To gather audiences, add retargeting code to relevant pages at least two days before campaign launch to allow the code to activate and gather at least 100 visitors. Then configure your Google Ads campaign — this can be either a classic banner or text ad with targeted keywords. Limit impressions per user: for e‑commerce aim for up to three views per day. Excessive impressions may annoy potential buyers. In specialised markets, like real estate, one impression per week may suffice.
Next, adjust social and demographic targeting — gender, age, country, region, city. Local businesses like beauty salons, shops, or restaurants should particularly focus here, showing ads only within their area to boost conversion and reduce ad spend. Test different settings over two weeks to see what works best. For instance, an e‑commerce site might benefit from ads during business hours (9 am–6 pm) and in the evening, when users browse at home. Use your web analytics to identify peak visitor activity.
It’s best to tag retargeting URLs with UTM parameters. While Ads offers automatic tagging, it’s wise to add UTM tags manually. Note: Yandex.Metrica doesn’t use Ads auto-tagging.
What else should you know about retargeting?
Retargeting approaches vary across platforms. We’ve focused on Google Ads and Yandex.Direct, but social networks and other ad services also offer retargeting options. The right system depends on your product and audience.
What’s most important in a retargeting campaign?
Traffic volume is crucial — without sufficient visitors, retargeting won’t work because there’s no one to retarget. Continuously monitor conversions and ad performance. Ensure conversion tracking is set up on the thank‑you page (for example, a ‘Thank you’ page) within Ads, or track events via Metrica. Google Ads allows real‑time conversion tracking, which is very useful for quick campaign adjustments.
About the author Oksana Tymchuk
Опубліковано в prograbli.ru