What “in-market audiences” are (and what they are not)
In-market audiences are pre-built audience segments designed to reach people who are showing recent purchase intent for a category. Practically, that means you’re not targeting a hobby or a general interest; you’re trying to align your spend with users who are actively researching and moving toward a buying decision.
The biggest misconception is thinking in-market is a “set it and forget it” targeting hack. In-market segments can be used in two very different ways depending on campaign type: either as true targeting that narrows who can see your ads, or as observation/signals that inform reporting and automation without restricting reach. If you optimize the wrong way for the campaign you’re running, you’ll either choke volume unnecessarily or you’ll misread the results and scale the wrong segment.
The second misconception is expecting in-market segments to behave like your first-party lists. First-party segments (“your data” like site visitors and customer lists) are usually your highest intent signal. In-market is powerful, but it’s still a model; your job is to validate which segments truly index high for your conversion goals and then give your bidding and creative the right structure to capitalize on it.
Start with the right measurement: how to tell if an in-market segment is actually working
Before you “optimize,” set yourself up to measure incremental performance. In-market segments often look great on click-through rate, and sometimes even conversion rate, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re driving new demand. The most reliable approach is to compare performance against a meaningful baseline (same campaign, similar traffic mix, same time window) and look for consistent lift in the metrics that matter to your business.
Quick diagnostic checklist (do this before changing anything)
- Confirm how the audience is applied: Is the in-market segment set to Targeting (restricting reach) or Observation (reporting/signals only)?
- Confirm bidding mode: If you previously relied on Enhanced CPC, note it was deprecated for Search and Display starting the week of March 31, 2025, and anything not migrated effectively runs as Manual CPC. This matters because your “audience optimization” plan should be designed for your current bid strategy reality.
- Confirm conversion signal quality: Make sure the conversion action you’re optimizing toward reflects real business value (and isn’t inflated by low-quality leads, duplicate tracking, or overly broad micro-conversions).
- Confirm adequate learning time: When you add or change audience signals (especially in AI-heavy campaigns), expect a ramp period; audience signals can take up to about two weeks to be fully integrated.
- Confirm policy constraints: If you advertise in sensitive interest categories, predefined audiences like in-market may be allowed while advertiser-curated audiences (like Customer Match or site remarketing) may be restricted. Also, users under 18 aren’t eligible for personalized advertising.
How to read in-market performance without fooling yourself
When you review audience performance, don’t stop at “this segment has a lower CPA.” First, check volume: if a segment has tiny conversion counts, you’re often looking at noise. Next, check value quality: average order value, lead-to-sale rate, or downstream CRM quality if you have it. Finally, separate brand demand from non-brand demand where possible; in-market segments can over-index on users who were going to find you anyway.
A practical way to keep this honest is to treat in-market as a hypothesis: “People in segment X should convert more efficiently on offer Y.” Then you structure the account so you can confirm or reject that hypothesis cleanly, rather than mixing everything together and trying to interpret messy blended data.
Optimization playbook: how to use in-market audiences by campaign type
Search campaigns: use in-market for Observation first, then optimize with structure
For Search, the most dependable approach is to add in-market segments in Observation mode first. This gives you segment-level reporting without restricting reach, and it avoids the common mistake of accidentally narrowing your keyword coverage too early.
Once you have data, you optimize differently depending on your bidding:
If you’re using Smart Bidding (Target CPA/Target ROAS/Maximize conversions/value): think of in-market as a steering input and a reporting lens, not a lever you pull with aggressive bid modifiers. Your best optimizations usually come from campaign structure (separating intent themes, separating brand vs non-brand, splitting by product margin tiers) and from improving conversion value rules and conversion hygiene so the system can bid correctly.
If you’re using Manual CPC: in-market segments in Observation can become a bid adjustment tool. Start small; your goal is to discover consistent winners and only then scale modifiers. Overcorrecting early is one of the fastest ways to destabilize volume and impression share in Search.
Display & Video: decide whether you want precision targeting or AI-expanded reach
On Display and certain Video campaign types, in-market audiences can be used as true Targeting. This is where many advertisers get strong results quickly—especially with tight creative-message match (ads that speak directly to the “shopping now” mindset and a landing page that continues that exact story).
The key nuance is that optimized targeting may be available and can expand beyond the audience you selected. That can be good (more scale at similar efficiency) or it can be confusing (you think you’re “testing in-market,” but the campaign is finding converters outside the segment). When you’re running a clean test, consider turning optimized targeting off initially so you can measure the in-market segment on its own. When you’re scaling, turn it back on and judge it on outcome metrics (CPA/ROAS and volume), not on whether it stayed “pure.”
Demand Gen: expect different segment availability and use in-market as part of a broader audience strategy
In Demand Gen, not every in-market segment you see in your account will necessarily be eligible. Segment availability can vary by campaign type, so your “perfect” in-market idea might not exist in the Demand Gen inventory you’re running. Build your approach around what’s actually usable and then test creative and offer angles aggressively, because Demand Gen performance is often driven as much by asset resonance as by audience selection.
Demand Gen also introduces tools like lookalike segments (available only within Demand Gen). A strong practical strategy is to pair in-market segments (high commercial intent) with first-party signals (site visitors, customer lists where allowed) and then expand with lookalikes once you’ve proven a winning offer and creative package.
Performance Max: treat in-market as an audience signal, not a targeting cage
In Performance Max, you don’t “target” in-market the traditional way. You provide audience signals—and in-market segments can be part of those signals—so the system has a better starting point for finding converters. It’s important to internalize that Performance Max can still serve beyond your signals if it predicts users outside the signal set are likely to convert.
So the optimization mindset is different: you’re not trying to force the campaign to only show to an in-market segment. You’re using in-market to accelerate learning and improve early efficiency while you strengthen the other levers that actually control Performance Max outcomes: conversion goals, value quality, asset group themeing, landing page alignment, and (where applicable) product feed quality.
High-impact tactics that consistently improve in-market results
1) Start narrow, then earn the right to broaden
Pick a small set of in-market segments that closely match what you sell and where you know your unit economics can support paid acquisition. If you add too many segments at once, you’ll blur the data and end up “optimizing” based on coincidences.
2) Pair in-market with first-party intent (when allowed)
The most profitable setups usually combine in-market (people shopping) with your first-party audiences (people who already know you). Examples include layering site visitors with an in-market segment for a category they viewed, or using customer lists to create differentiated messaging (upsell/cross-sell) while your in-market layers focus on net-new acquisition. Just be mindful of category restrictions and customer data requirements if you’re uploading or using customer information.
3) Match creative and landing pages to “buying mode”
In-market users respond best when you reduce decision friction. That means ad copy and creatives that answer the obvious comparison questions (price, availability, shipping/returns, warranty, reviews, key differentiators) and landing pages that don’t make the user hunt for the next step. If you’re sending in-market traffic to generic pages, you’ll often see decent CTR and disappointing conversion rate.
4) Use exclusions strategically (but don’t over-prune)
Exclude what you truly don’t want: recent purchasers when you’re running acquisition, irrelevant age groups where policy and practicality allow, and placements/content that consistently generate low-quality engagement (where your campaign type supports it). But avoid blanket exclusions that remove learning signals; over-excluding is a common cause of unstable delivery and higher CPAs.
5) Optimize based on value, not just volume
If you have multiple conversion actions, don’t let in-market “win” by driving the easiest, lowest-value conversions. Align your optimization to higher-quality outcomes (qualified leads, purchases, subscriptions with retention) and make sure your bidding strategy is pointed at those outcomes. In-market is most powerful when your measurement tells the system what “good” actually looks like for your business.
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| Topic | Key Takeaways from the Post | How to Optimize / What to Do | Relevant Google Ads Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| What in‑market audiences are (and are not) | In‑market audiences are prebuilt segments of users showing recent purchase intent, not general interests or hobbies. They’re modeled signals, not as strong as your first‑party data, and can be used either as restrictive targeting or as observation/signals depending on campaign type. | Treat each in‑market segment as a hypothesis about higher commercial intent. Validate which segments truly work for your goals before scaling, and be clear whether you’re using them for targeting or observation so you don’t misread performance. | Learn the different audience segments (including in‑market and your data segments) and how they’re defined. |
| Measurement & diagnostic setup | “Good” in‑market performance means incremental lift versus a baseline, not just higher CTR. Before optimizing, confirm how the audience is applied, your bidding mode, conversion quality, learning time, and any policy constraints (especially around sensitive categories and minors). |
|
Set up and clean up conversion actions using web conversion measurement. Review restrictions in personalized advertising policies and customer data policies, including limitations for users under 18 and sensitive categories. |
| Reading in‑market performance without bias | A lower CPA on an in‑market segment can be misleading if volume is tiny, order value is low, or results are mostly from existing brand demand. In‑market should be treated as a testable hypothesis, not assumed “best traffic.” |
|
Use the audience segments reporting view and combine it with your conversion reporting to compare efficiency and value across segments. |
| Search campaigns | For Search, in‑market works best in Observation first to get reporting without restricting keyword reach. Optimization depends heavily on whether you use Smart Bidding or manual bidding. |
|
Learn how Targeting and Observation settings work in Search and Shopping. Review how audience segments function in Search within audience segments. |
| Display & Video campaigns | In‑market can be set as true targeting on Display and many Video campaign types for more precise reach. Optimized targeting can then expand beyond your selected audiences, which is helpful for scale but can blur clean tests. |
|
Understand how optimized targeting uses your segments as signals and can expand reach. Review audience options for video under Video campaign optimization tips. |
| Demand Gen campaigns | Not all in‑market segments are available in Demand Gen, and availability can differ by campaign. Performance is heavily influenced by creative and offers, and Demand Gen introduces additional tools like lookalike segments based on first‑party or high‑value audiences. |
|
Review the Demand Gen setup and related resources, including Demand Gen audiences overview and asset best practices. Learn how to use lookalike segments within audience segments (lookalikes are available only in Demand Gen). |
| Performance Max campaigns | In Performance Max, you don’t hard‑target in‑market; instead, you add them as audience signals to guide Google AI. The system may still serve beyond those signals if it predicts better performance. |
|
Learn how to use audience signals for Performance Max campaigns. Build better signals with audience segments and your data segments (remarketing, Customer Match). |
| Pairing in‑market with first‑party intent | The strongest setups usually combine in‑market (people actively shopping) with first‑party audiences (people who already know you), such as site visitors or customer lists, while respecting policy constraints. |
|
Review Customer Match policy and customer data policies before uploading or using customer information. Learn how “your data” segments fit into audience segments. |
| Creative and landing page alignment for in‑market users | In‑market users are close to purchase and respond best when you remove comparison friction. Generic pages often cause a gap between good CTR and disappointing conversion rate. |
|
For video‑heavy strategies, follow Video campaign creative and optimization tips to improve engagement and conversion behavior. |
| Exclusions, policy, and optimizing for value | Smart exclusions (for example, recent purchasers) can protect efficiency, but over‑pruning removes valuable learning signals. Optimizing purely for conversion volume can push in‑market traffic toward low‑value actions instead of meaningful outcomes. |
|
Review personalized advertising rules for age and sensitive categories (for example, users under 18 are not eligible for personalized ads based on predefined audiences). Use demographic targeting thoughtfully alongside your in‑market and other audience segments. |
Optimizing for in-market audiences works best when you treat each segment as a testable “high-intent” hypothesis: start with clean measurement (solid conversion tracking and a like-for-like baseline), apply segments the right way for each campaign type (Observation first in Search, audience signals in Performance Max, and true targeting in Display/Video where appropriate), and evaluate results on incremental business value rather than just CTR or low-volume CPA. Since the real lift often comes from pairing in-market intent with your first-party audiences, aligning creative and landing pages to “shopping now” questions, and avoiding overzealous exclusions that starve learning, Blobr can help by connecting to your Google Ads account and running specialized AI agents that continuously audit audiences, track what changed, and suggest concrete, prioritized actions—like improving landing page alignment—while you keep full control over what gets applied.
What “in-market audiences” are (and what they are not)
In-market audiences are pre-built audience segments designed to reach people who are showing recent purchase intent for a category. Practically, that means you’re not targeting a hobby or a general interest; you’re trying to align your spend with users who are actively researching and moving toward a buying decision.
The biggest misconception is thinking in-market is a “set it and forget it” targeting hack. In-market segments can be used in two very different ways depending on campaign type: either as true targeting that narrows who can see your ads, or as observation/signals that inform reporting and automation without restricting reach. If you optimize the wrong way for the campaign you’re running, you’ll either choke volume unnecessarily or you’ll misread the results and scale the wrong segment.
The second misconception is expecting in-market segments to behave like your first-party lists. First-party segments (“your data” like site visitors and customer lists) are usually your highest intent signal. In-market is powerful, but it’s still a model; your job is to validate which segments truly index high for your conversion goals and then give your bidding and creative the right structure to capitalize on it.
Start with the right measurement: how to tell if an in-market segment is actually working
Before you “optimize,” set yourself up to measure incremental performance. In-market segments often look great on click-through rate, and sometimes even conversion rate, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’re driving new demand. The most reliable approach is to compare performance against a meaningful baseline (same campaign, similar traffic mix, same time window) and look for consistent lift in the metrics that matter to your business.
Quick diagnostic checklist (do this before changing anything)
- Confirm how the audience is applied: Is the in-market segment set to Targeting (restricting reach) or Observation (reporting/signals only)?
- Confirm bidding mode: If you previously relied on Enhanced CPC, note it was deprecated for Search and Display starting the week of March 31, 2025, and anything not migrated effectively runs as Manual CPC. This matters because your “audience optimization” plan should be designed for your current bid strategy reality.
- Confirm conversion signal quality: Make sure the conversion action you’re optimizing toward reflects real business value (and isn’t inflated by low-quality leads, duplicate tracking, or overly broad micro-conversions).
- Confirm adequate learning time: When you add or change audience signals (especially in AI-heavy campaigns), expect a ramp period; audience signals can take up to about two weeks to be fully integrated.
- Confirm policy constraints: If you advertise in sensitive interest categories, predefined audiences like in-market may be allowed while advertiser-curated audiences (like Customer Match or site remarketing) may be restricted. Also, users under 18 aren’t eligible for personalized advertising.
How to read in-market performance without fooling yourself
When you review audience performance, don’t stop at “this segment has a lower CPA.” First, check volume: if a segment has tiny conversion counts, you’re often looking at noise. Next, check value quality: average order value, lead-to-sale rate, or downstream CRM quality if you have it. Finally, separate brand demand from non-brand demand where possible; in-market segments can over-index on users who were going to find you anyway.
A practical way to keep this honest is to treat in-market as a hypothesis: “People in segment X should convert more efficiently on offer Y.” Then you structure the account so you can confirm or reject that hypothesis cleanly, rather than mixing everything together and trying to interpret messy blended data.
Optimization playbook: how to use in-market audiences by campaign type
Search campaigns: use in-market for Observation first, then optimize with structure
For Search, the most dependable approach is to add in-market segments in Observation mode first. This gives you segment-level reporting without restricting reach, and it avoids the common mistake of accidentally narrowing your keyword coverage too early.
Once you have data, you optimize differently depending on your bidding:
If you’re using Smart Bidding (Target CPA/Target ROAS/Maximize conversions/value): think of in-market as a steering input and a reporting lens, not a lever you pull with aggressive bid modifiers. Your best optimizations usually come from campaign structure (separating intent themes, separating brand vs non-brand, splitting by product margin tiers) and from improving conversion value rules and conversion hygiene so the system can bid correctly.
If you’re using Manual CPC: in-market segments in Observation can become a bid adjustment tool. Start small; your goal is to discover consistent winners and only then scale modifiers. Overcorrecting early is one of the fastest ways to destabilize volume and impression share in Search.
Display & Video: decide whether you want precision targeting or AI-expanded reach
On Display and certain Video campaign types, in-market audiences can be used as true Targeting. This is where many advertisers get strong results quickly—especially with tight creative-message match (ads that speak directly to the “shopping now” mindset and a landing page that continues that exact story).
The key nuance is that optimized targeting may be available and can expand beyond the audience you selected. That can be good (more scale at similar efficiency) or it can be confusing (you think you’re “testing in-market,” but the campaign is finding converters outside the segment). When you’re running a clean test, consider turning optimized targeting off initially so you can measure the in-market segment on its own. When you’re scaling, turn it back on and judge it on outcome metrics (CPA/ROAS and volume), not on whether it stayed “pure.”
Demand Gen: expect different segment availability and use in-market as part of a broader audience strategy
In Demand Gen, not every in-market segment you see in your account will necessarily be eligible. Segment availability can vary by campaign type, so your “perfect” in-market idea might not exist in the Demand Gen inventory you’re running. Build your approach around what’s actually usable and then test creative and offer angles aggressively, because Demand Gen performance is often driven as much by asset resonance as by audience selection.
Demand Gen also introduces tools like lookalike segments (available only within Demand Gen). A strong practical strategy is to pair in-market segments (high commercial intent) with first-party signals (site visitors, customer lists where allowed) and then expand with lookalikes once you’ve proven a winning offer and creative package.
Performance Max: treat in-market as an audience signal, not a targeting cage
In Performance Max, you don’t “target” in-market the traditional way. You provide audience signals—and in-market segments can be part of those signals—so the system has a better starting point for finding converters. It’s important to internalize that Performance Max can still serve beyond your signals if it predicts users outside the signal set are likely to convert.
So the optimization mindset is different: you’re not trying to force the campaign to only show to an in-market segment. You’re using in-market to accelerate learning and improve early efficiency while you strengthen the other levers that actually control Performance Max outcomes: conversion goals, value quality, asset group themeing, landing page alignment, and (where applicable) product feed quality.
High-impact tactics that consistently improve in-market results
1) Start narrow, then earn the right to broaden
Pick a small set of in-market segments that closely match what you sell and where you know your unit economics can support paid acquisition. If you add too many segments at once, you’ll blur the data and end up “optimizing” based on coincidences.
2) Pair in-market with first-party intent (when allowed)
The most profitable setups usually combine in-market (people shopping) with your first-party audiences (people who already know you). Examples include layering site visitors with an in-market segment for a category they viewed, or using customer lists to create differentiated messaging (upsell/cross-sell) while your in-market layers focus on net-new acquisition. Just be mindful of category restrictions and customer data requirements if you’re uploading or using customer information.
3) Match creative and landing pages to “buying mode”
In-market users respond best when you reduce decision friction. That means ad copy and creatives that answer the obvious comparison questions (price, availability, shipping/returns, warranty, reviews, key differentiators) and landing pages that don’t make the user hunt for the next step. If you’re sending in-market traffic to generic pages, you’ll often see decent CTR and disappointing conversion rate.
4) Use exclusions strategically (but don’t over-prune)
Exclude what you truly don’t want: recent purchasers when you’re running acquisition, irrelevant age groups where policy and practicality allow, and placements/content that consistently generate low-quality engagement (where your campaign type supports it). But avoid blanket exclusions that remove learning signals; over-excluding is a common cause of unstable delivery and higher CPAs.
5) Optimize based on value, not just volume
If you have multiple conversion actions, don’t let in-market “win” by driving the easiest, lowest-value conversions. Align your optimization to higher-quality outcomes (qualified leads, purchases, subscriptions with retention) and make sure your bidding strategy is pointed at those outcomes. In-market is most powerful when your measurement tells the system what “good” actually looks like for your business.
