# Sync Audiences to Google Ads Remarketing Lists (Customer Match)


This guide lists the steps to configure Google Ads Remarketing Lists (Customer Match) as a destination in RudderStack and sync the created audiences to it.

## Prerequisites: Google Ads permissions

This integration relies on the authorizing Google Ads user's [underlying permissions](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9978556).

Note that the API calls to Google Ads will fail if you authorize this integration without the [**Standard** or **Admin** permissions](#what-are-the-account-permissions-required-for-the-google-ads-remarketing-lists-integration).

##  Setup

1. Set up an audience in RudderStack using the [Audience Builder]({{< ref "audiences/audience-builder/create-audience.md" >}}).
2. Go to the **Syncs** tab of the audience page and click **Add sync**. Then, select **Google Ads Remarketing Lists**.
3. Click **New destination** — you can also select an already-configured destination here.
4. Specify a unique name to identify this destination in RudderStack.
5. In the **Event delivery account** section, click **Select** to choose from an existing Google Ads account from the list. You can also click **Add account** and authenticate via OAuth, by specifying the following settings:

| Setting | <div style="width: 350px;">Description</div> |
| :----| :-----|
| Account Name | Specify a unique account name |
| oAuth settings | Click **Connect account**, sign in with Google, and give RudderStack the required permissions to access your Google Ads account. |

6. The **Custom ID** is pre-populated associated with your Google Ads account — select the ID from the dropdown.
7. Turn on the **Subaccount** setting if you are using a Google Ads subaccount. <br /><br />**Note**: See this [guide](https://support.google.com/campaignmanager/answer/2829448?hl=en#zippy=%2Cwhat-are-subaccounts) for more information on subaccounts.
8. If **Subaccount** is toggled on, enter the **Login Customer ID** of the parent (manager) account associated with the subaccount. See the [FAQ](#when-do-i-need-to-provide-a-login-customer-id) for guidance on when this field is required.
9. Proceed to configure the mapping settings.

## Mapping settings 

This section lists the settings to correctly map data from your audience to the Google Ads Remarketing Lists destination.

### Select user list

In this section, you can create a new user list or use an existing one.

- **Create new list**: Use this option to create a new list in Google Ads. You can specify the name and description of the new list.
- **Use existing list**: Select an existing list in Google Ads. This field is populated based on your [connection settings](#setup).

### Sync mode

RudderStack supports only [Mirror mode]({{< ref "data-pipelines/reverse-etl/developer-guides/sync-modes.md#mirror-mode" >}}) for this integration.

### Select list type

If you select the **Create new list** option, you need to select the [type of list](https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/reference/rpc/v23/CustomerMatchUploadKeyTypeEnum.CustomerMatchUploadKeyType) where you want to sync the data. Three options are available: 

| List type | Description |
| :---| :-----|
| CONTACT_INFO | You can send email, phone number, and address information in this list |
| CRM_ID | You can send internal customer IDs in this list |
| MOBILE_ADVERTISING_ID | You can send mobile advertising IDs (IDFA/GAID) in this list <br /><br />**Note**: If selected, specify the **App ID** of the mobile app the data was collected from. <br /><br /><ul><li>For iOS, it is the 9-digit number at the end of the App Store URL, for example, `123456789`.</li><li>For Android, it's the package name, for example, `com.sampleapp.samplename`.</li></ul> |

### Map identifiers

In this section, you can map your warehouse columns to specific Google Ads fields that represent your audience's identity.

{{< info >}}
The fields available for mapping depend on the [list type](#select-list-type) you select.
{{< /info >}}

{{< image src="images/audiences/destinations/garl/sync-map-identifiers.webp" >}}

### Advanced settings

| Setting | <div style="width: 350px;">Description</div> |
| :----| :-----|
| Automatically hash PII data | When set to **Yes**, Sensitive user data is hash-encoded like email, phone, first name, and last name in the SHA-256 format. <br /><br />See [Data hashing](#data-hashing) section for more information. |
| Specify user consent | Specify the consent type for the  uploaded users for using their data in Google Ads. Four options are available:<br /><br /><ul><li>**Unspecified**</li><li> **Unknown**</li><li>**Granted**</li><li>**Denied**</li></ul>Note that if you do not set this field, The default is  **Unspecified**, by default. |
| Specify ad personalization consent | Specify consent for uploaded users for personalizing ads. Four options are available:<br /><br /><ul><li>**Unspecified**</li><li> **Unknown**</li><li>**Granted**</li><li>**Denied**</li></ul>Note that if you do not set this field, The default is **Unspecified** by default. |

## Sync settings

{{< customreadfile "/includes/audiences/sync-settings.md" >}}

## Enable sync

{{< customreadfile "/includes/audiences/enable-sync.md" >}}

## Data normalization

By default, data is cleaned and standardized as prescribed by Google Ads.

After normalization, each field is validated before sending to Google Ads: 

- Invalid fields are **not** sent to Google Ads.
- If all fields in a row are invalid, then the entire row is rejected and marked as failed

{{< info >}}
Data is first normalized, then validated (skipping invalid rows), then [hashed](#data-hashing) before sending to Google Ads.
{{< /info >}}

## Data hashing

The [Automatically hash PII data](#advanced-settings) setting lets you hash your user data before sending it to Google Ads. This setting is enabled by default.

- Configure the setting to **Yes** if your incoming data is not pre-hashed
- Configure this setting to **No** if your data is already hashed

{{< warning >}}
Incorrect configuration of the **Automatically hash PII data** setting will result in failures.

- If the **Automatically hash PII data** setting is configured to **Yes** and your data is pre-hashed, the event will fail.
- If the **Automatically hash PII data** setting is configured to **No** and your data is not pre-hashed, the event will fail.
{{< /warning >}}

Such events are rejected with a clear error message, for example:

```text
Hashing is disabled but the value for field EMAIL appears to be unhashed. Either enable hashing or send pre-hashed data.
```

You will also see errors in the **Events** tab for cases that were previously marked as successful but resulted in no matches, helping you identify and fix data quality or configuration issues.

## FAQ

#### What are the account permissions required for the Google Ads Remarketing Lists integration?

Make sure the customer account used for OAuth verification adheres to Google's [Customer Match policy](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6299717) and has **Standard** or higher (**Administrative**) access level permissions. 

For more information on the access level permissions, refer to this [Google Ads support page](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9978556?visit_id=637611563637058259-4176462731&rd=1).

Follow these steps to set the access level:

1. Sign into to your Google Ads account and go to **TOOLS AND SETTINGS** > **Access and security**:

{{< image src="images/event-stream-destinations/gads-access-security.webp" alt="Access and Security option in Google Ads dashboard" >}}

2. Enter the email address of the account. From the list of permissions, select **Standard** or **Administrative**. Then, click **SEND INVITATION**:

{{< image src="images/event-stream-destinations/gads-specify-access-level.webp" alt="Specifying access levels" >}}

The account will have the required access-level permissions once the user accepts the invitation.

#### When do I need to provide a Login Customer ID?

You need to provide the Manager Account ID (**Login Customer ID** setting in the dashboard) only when:

- The Manager Account ID is a manager of the Customer ID
- The Google account you authenticated with does not have direct user access to the Customer ID.

You can leave the **Login Customer ID** field empty if the authenticated Google account has direct access to the Customer ID.

See [About manager accounts](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7459399) for more information.

#### How do I know which Customer ID and Login Customer ID combination applies to my setup?

| Setup | Customer ID | Login Customer ID |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Standalone account, direct OAuth access | The account itself | Leave empty |
| Standalone account, OAuth access via a manager | The account itself | The manager |

#### Why am I getting the `USER_PERMISSION_DENIED`, `INVALID_CUSTOMER_ID`, or `CUSTOMER_NOT_ACCEPTED_CUSTOMER_DATA_TERMS` errors?

These errors usually mean the **Customer ID** or Manager Account ID (**Login Customer ID** setting in the dashboard) is misconfigured or you are hitting the API rate limits.

| Error | Notes |
| :----| :----|
| `USER_PERMISSION_DENIED` | The authenticated Google account doesn't have permission to act on the **Customer ID** or you're trying to modify a customer list created by a different account (only the owning account can edit a list).<br /><br /> Verify the **Login Customer ID** is correct, and that this manager is linked to the **Customer ID** in Google Ads. |
| `INVALID_CUSTOMER_ID` | Either the **Customer ID** is wrong, or the **Login Customer ID** isn't authorized to access it. |
| `RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED` | Too many requests are sent in a short period — this is a quota/rate limit issue rather than a configuration error. Batch your operations and review Google's [API limits and quotas](https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/best-practices/quotas). |

For other Customer Match-specific errors, see Google's [Customer Match Troubleshooting Guide](https://developers.google.com/google-ads/api/docs/remarketing/audience-segments/customer-match/troubleshoot).

#### Why am I getting a 400 Bad Request error message while setting up the Google Ads Remarketing Lists destination?

If you get a 400 Bad Request error while configuring the destination, make sure your customer account is allowlisted and configured to have **Standard** or **Administrative** access levels in Google Ads. 

See the above [FAQ](#what-are-the-account-permissions-required-for-the-google-ads-remarketing-lists-integration) for steps on setting the access level permissions for the account.