Google Analytics 4 audiences are rolled out on Google Ads

Google Analytics 4 audiences can now be easily created and applied directly within Google Ads.

You can now build Analytics audiences, including predictive audiences, using the Audience Manager feature and during the campaign creation process, GA announced on X.

Why we care. This new capability helps marketers understand their audience better through Google Ads. It allows them to make smarter decisions, tailor their efforts to connect with their audience, and optimize their strategies for better performance.

What is a predictive audience? A predictive audience is a group defined by at least one condition related to a predictive metric. For instance, you might create an audience named ‘likely 7-day purchasers’ consisting of users predicted to purchase in the next 7 days.

New dimensions. Google announced that it is also rolling out additional dimensions across GA4. Dimensions are descriptive texts that help explain your data, such as audience names, user locations, and transaction IDs. The new dimensions are being added to the following GA4 features:

• Audience builder.
• Segment builder.
• Custom reports builder.
• Data API.

The additional dimensions will help you “measure and activate using both pre-defined and custom item-scoped dimensions,” Google said.

What are pre-defined dimensions? Pre-defined dimensions are dimensions that are already available for use, such as “age”, “country” and “browser”, and usually don’t require additional code for data collection.

What are custom dimensions? Custom dimensions allow you to track and report on specific details about your users and their interactions with your website or app. They’re useful when the data you want to analyze isn’t available through the predefined dimensions and metrics, for example, “item-scoped custom dimensions”.

Additional custom dimension on GA4. Google announced that it is also adding item-scoped custom dimensions to GA4’s:

• Audience builder.
• Segment builder.
• Custom reports builder.
• Data API.

An item-scoped dimension is a descriptive text specifically about a product or service sold on your online store.

The following predefined item-scoped dimensions have been added to the segment builder on GA4:

• Item ID
• Item name
• Item brand
• Item variant
• Item affiliation
• Item category
• Item category
• Item category 2
• Item category 3
• Item category 4
• Item category 5
• Item promotion name
• Item promotion creative slot
• Item promotion creative name
• Item list ID
• Item list name
• Item list position
• Item location ID

The following predefined item-scoped dimensions have been added to the audience builder on GA4:

• Item list ID
• Item list position
• Item location ID
• Item promotion creative name
• Item promotion creative slot
• Item promotion name

Deep dive. Read Search Engine Land’s complete GA4 guide for more information on creating audiences and general best practice advice.