Why GA4 Audiences Are More Powerful
In Universal Analytics, audiences were built primarily on pageviews and goal completions.
GA4 audiences can be built on any event, any event parameter, any user property, or any combination of these - with sequence logic, time constraints, and user scope all configurable.
This makes GA4 audiences significantly more flexible and precise than their UA equivalents.
How GA4 Audiences Work
A GA4 audience is a dynamic segment of users who meet the conditions you define.
Users are added to an audience when they first meet the criteria. They stay in the audience for a membership duration you set (1 - 540 days, or the lifetime of the analytics property).
Audiences are evaluated daily. Users who no longer meet the criteria can be set to leave automatically (using the “Audience trigger” feature).
Where to Create and Manage Audiences
GA4 → Admin → Audiences → New Audience
From here, you can build from scratch or use a predefined template.
Types of Audiences You Can Build
1. Purchasers
Users who have triggered the purchase event.
Use in Google Ads:
- Exclude from prospecting campaigns (avoid paying to reach existing customers)
- Target with upsell or cross-sell campaigns
- Use as a seed for Similar Segments
Condition:
- Event:
purchase- at least once in the last 30 days
2. Cart Abandoners
Users who added to cart but did not purchase.
Condition:
- Event:
add_to_cart- at least once - AND Event:
purchase- 0 times
Membership duration: 7 - 14 days (cart abandonment relevance fades quickly)
Use in Google Ads: Dynamic retargeting campaigns targeting users with items still in cart.
3. High-Intent Non-Converters
Users who reached a high-intent page (e.g. pricing, checkout start) but did not convert.
Condition:
- Event:
page_viewwithpage_locationcontains “/pricing” - at least once - AND Event:
purchase- 0 times
Use in Google Ads: Search or Display retargeting with stronger offer or social proof.
4. Form Page Visitors Who Did Not Submit
For lead generation sites.
Condition:
- Event:
page_viewwithpage_locationcontains “/contact” - at least once - AND Event:
generate_lead- 0 times
5. Engaged Users
Users who have had at least 3 engaged sessions - indicating genuine interest without converting yet.
Condition:
- Session: engaged sessions - 3 or more
6. Lapsed Customers
For ecommerce - users who purchased more than 60 days ago but not in the last 30.
Condition:
- Event:
purchase- at least once in the last 90 days - AND Event:
purchase- 0 times in the last 30 days
Use in Google Ads: Winback campaigns.
7. Sequence Audiences
GA4 allows you to define audiences based on a sequence of events, not just events that occurred at any point.
Example: Users who viewed a product, then added to cart, then abandoned checkout - in that order, within 7 days.
Sequence setup:
- Step 1:
view_item(followed by) - Step 2:
add_to_cart(followed by) - Step 3:
begin_checkout - Exclude:
purchase
Sequence audiences are available in the audience builder under “Add step.”
How to Export GA4 Audiences to Google Ads
For audiences to be available in Google Ads, your GA4 property must be linked to your Google Ads account.
Link GA4 to Google Ads
- GA4 → Admin → Product Links → Google Ads Links
- Click Link
- Select your Google Ads account
- Enable Personalised advertising (required for audience sharing)
- Save
Once linked, audiences you create in GA4 are automatically available in Google Ads - you do not need to export them manually.
Find Audiences in Google Ads
- Google Ads → Tools → Shared Library → Audience Manager
- Under Your data segments, select Analytics
- Your GA4 audiences appear here, labelled by their GA4 name
How to Apply Audiences in Google Ads Campaigns
For Observation (Bid Adjustment)
Apply the audience to an existing campaign or ad group without restricting who sees ads. Use bid adjustments to bid more or less for that audience.
Google Ads → Campaign → Ad Groups → select ad group → Audiences → Add audience → Observation
For Targeting (Restrict to Audience)
Only show ads to users in the audience. Used for retargeting campaigns.
Google Ads → Campaign → Ad Groups → select ad group → Audiences → Targeting
Audience Membership Duration
Membership duration controls how long a user stays in an audience.
- 7 days: Cart abandoners, checkout abandoners (urgency is short)
- 30 days: High-intent non-converters
- 90 days: General site visitors
- 180+ days: Lapsed customers, re-engagement
- 540 days (maximum): Long-consideration purchases, B2B audiences
Set membership duration based on how long the audience signal stays relevant to your offer.
Minimum Audience Size for Google Ads
Google Ads requires a minimum of 1,000 active users in an audience within the last 30 days before it can be used for targeting.
Audiences below this threshold are available in Google Ads but show as “Too small” and cannot serve ads.
For smaller sites, combine conditions to make audiences broader, or increase membership duration to accumulate more users.
Predefined Audiences to Use Immediately
GA4 ships with several useful predefined templates:
- Purchasers - users who completed a purchase
- Non-purchasers - users who did not purchase
- 7-day inactive users - users who have not been active in the last 7 days
- Recently active users - users active in the last 7 days
These require no configuration and are useful starting points.
Final Thoughts
GA4 audiences are one of the most underused features by Google Ads advertisers.
Most accounts run with basic “all website visitors” retargeting. Building intent-based and behaviour-based audiences - even with simple conditions - consistently improves retargeting performance.
Start with cart abandoners and purchasers. Build from there.
In the next article of this series, we will cover:
Understanding GA4 attribution - last click vs data-driven and what it means for your campaigns.
Related Posts
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GA4 Conversions vs Key Events - How to Set Them Up and What to Actually Track
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Understanding GA4 Attribution - Last Click vs Data-Driven and What It Means for Your Campaigns
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