Setup Guide

Send your event data from RudderStack to Google Ads Remarketing Lists.

  •   5 minute read  

This guide will help you set up Google Ads Remarketing Lists as a destination in RudderStack when connecting to a Reverse ETL source.

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This guide assumes you have already set up a Reverse ETL source in RudderStack.

Prerequisies: Google Ads permissions

This integration relies on the authorizing Google Ads user’s underlying permissions.

Note that the API calls to Google Ads will fail if you authorize this integration without the Standard or Admin permissions.

Setup

  1. From your RudderStack dashboard, add the source. Then, from the list of destinations, select Google Ads Remarketing Lists (Customer Match).
  2. Assign a name to the destination and click Continue.

Connection settings

SettingDescription
Account SettingsAuthenticate your Google Ads account by following the below steps:

  1. Click Create Account in the Account Settings section.
  2. From the modal, click the Sign in with Google button.
  3. Choose the required account and grant RudderStack the required permissions.
  4. Click Save to use the account.

Note that:

  • The account must have Standard or Admin permissions as mentioned in the Prerequisites section above.
  • If you have authenticated multiple accounts, click Edit Credentials to select or delete any other authenticated account.
  • You will get an error if you try to delete an account used by any other connection for this destination.
Customer IDEnter the ID associated with your Google Ads account. You can find it by clicking on the Help option in your dashboard.

For more information on obtaining the customer ID, see the Google Ads Help Center page.
SubaccountTurn on this setting if you are using a Google Ads subaccount.

Note: For more information on subaccounts, see the Google Ads Help Center page.
Login customer IDIf Subaccount is toggled on, enter the customer ID of the parent account associated with the subaccount. This field is required only when you want to send data to a customer list of a subaccount.

Event settings

SettingDescription
List typeSelect the type of list you want to create. You can create three types of list via this setting:
  • General: You can send email, phone number, and address information in this list. RudderStack will hash this data and send it to Google Ads Remarketing Lists depending on the Hash Required setting (described below).
  • UserId: You can send third party user IDs in this list.
  • Mobile Device ID: You can send mobile device IDs in this list.
Specify consent for uploaded users for using their data in Google Advertising PurposeSelect the required consent setting from the dropdown.
Specify consent for uploaded users regarding Ads PersonalizationSelect the required consent setting from the dropdown. RudderStack provides four options for the above consent settings:

  • Unspecified
  • Unknown
  • Granted
  • Denied
Note that:

  • If you do not set these fields, RudderStack sets their value to Unspecified by default.
  • If you set this field to any value other than the ones mentioned above, RudderStack automatically sets their value to Unknown.
Hash RequiredThis setting is turned on by default and hashes the email, phone, firstName, and lastName fields in the SHA-256 format.
Schema FieldsThis setting is visible if you have selected General as the list type. Choose your schema fields (at least one) from the below options:

  • Email
  • Phone Number
  • Address Info

Note: RudderStack expects the user events to consist of all schema fields listed here.
List IDThis setting is visible only when connecting the destination to a non-Reverse ETL source.

To get your Google Ads list ID, go to your Google Ads account and navigate to Tools & settings > Audience Manager.

record event structure

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Note that:

  • The Google Ads Remarketing Lists destination supports only record events. You can send up to 100000 user records in one event.
  • RudderStack supports both additions and deletions to a user list.

The following code snippet shows a sample record event that adds a new record to the user list:

{
  "type": "record",
  "action": "insert",
  "fields": {
    "EMAIL": "alex@example.com"
    },
  "channel": "sources",
  "recordId": "9735",
  "rudderId": "853ae90f-973e-a615e6487517",
  "messageId": "0521018d-8f3a-7a9edf24fe0b",
}

FAQ

How do I create a Google Ads customer list?

To create a customer list in Google Ads, follow these steps:

  1. Open your Google Ads account.
  2. Go to Tools and settings.
  3. Under Shared Library, go to Audience Manager.
  4. Click the + button and select Customer list.
  5. Under Segment name, assign a name to the list.
  6. From the dropdown, select the list type of data to upload.
  7. Upload the CSV containing the user data. You can also download the template and upload the data.
  8. Click UPLOAD AND CREATE.

Where can I find my Google Ads customer ID?

To get the customer ID associated with your Google Ads account, click the Help option in your Google Ads dashboard. You will find the customer ID in the resulting pop-up:

Google Ads Remarketing Lists (Customer Match) connection settings

Can I set up the Enhanced Conversions and Remarketing Lists destinations using the same Google Ads account?

Yes, you can. As both the integrations are Google Ads features, it is possible to use the same Google Ads account to configure both the Enhanced Conversions and Remarketing Lists destinations in RudderStack.

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 and has Standard or higher (Administrative) access level permissions.

For more information on the access level permissions, refer to this Google Ads support page.

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:
Access and Security option in Google Ads dashboard
  1. Enter the email address of the account. From the list of permissions, select Standard or Administrative. Then, click SEND INVITATION:
Specifying access levels

The account will have the required access-level permissions once they accept the invitation.

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 for steps on setting the access level permissions for the account.

Questions? Contact us by email or on Slack