Google's similar audiences ended in 2023. What replaced them?
Part of Lookalike websites
The short answer
Google Ads stopped generating similar audiences on May 1, 2023. Inside Google Ads, optimized targeting, audience expansion and, in Demand Gen campaigns, Lookalike segments built from first-party seed lists took their place. Outside person based targeting, site level options remain: vetted placement lists, lookalike website lists, contextual targeting and curated deals built on chosen sites.
Key takeaways
- Google Ads stopped generating similar audiences for targeting and reporting on May 1, 2023.
- Lookalike segments in Demand Gen need first-party seed lists with more than 100 active matched people in total, and come in narrow, balanced and broad sizes.
- Optimized targeting can show ads to people beyond the signals an advertiser selects, so it trades control for reach.
- Site level options reach similar readers through the places they read, using no data about individual people.
What were similar audiences, and what exactly changed?
Definition
- Similar audiences
- Audience segments that Google Ads generated automatically from an advertiser's own lists, such as past visitors or customers, to reach new people with similar characteristics. Google's newer help pages call them similar segments.
Similar audiences let an advertiser scale a campaign beyond its remarketing lists. An advertiser uploaded or collected a list, and Google built a matching segment with no extra work. Google's help page on the change says that starting May 1, 2023, Google Ads would no longer generate similar audiences (opens in a new tab) for targeting and reporting.
The change did not end lookalike targeting of people inside Google's systems. It moved it. Automated expansion features took over part of the job in Display and Video campaigns, and a new feature called Lookalike segments arrived in Demand Gen campaigns. What did disappear was the simple, list based segment that advertisers could add to a campaign and see reported on its own line.
What replaced similar audiences inside Google Ads?
| Feature | Where it applies | What it uses | What to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimized targeting | Display and Demand Gen campaigns, and Video campaigns with a Sales, Leads or Website traffic goal | Signals the advertiser provides, such as audience segments and first-party data | Google says ads may show to users beyond the selected signals |
| Audience expansion | Certain Video campaigns | An existing audience segment, extended to more people similar to it | Reach grows past the original segment |
| Lookalike segments | Demand Gen campaigns | Seed lists from customer lists, website and app activity or YouTube engagement | Seed lists must exceed 100 active matched people in total |
Google's page on optimized targeting (opens in a new tab) is direct about the trade. For Display and Video campaigns it says ads may show to users beyond the selected signals. For Video campaigns it adds that placements will not be used as a signal and that ads will only show on the placements the advertiser provides. The same page suggests that advertisers who used similar segments in Awareness and Reach or Consideration Video campaigns include their first-party data segments and turn on audience expansion.
Lookalike segments (opens in a new tab) are the closest successor. Google says they can be built from up to 10 existing audience lists and refresh every one to two days. Its narrow option aims for 2.5 percent of users in the ad's target location, balanced for 5 percent and broad for 10 percent. Google also says the default behavior in Demand Gen will evolve toward a suggestion mode, with an opt out to keep them as a targeting constraint.
Why do person based lookalikes depend on first-party data?
Every audience lookalike starts from a list of people the advertiser already knows. Google's Lookalike segments draw on customer lists, website and app activity and YouTube engagement, and they will not populate until the submitted seed lists add up to more than 100 active matched people. Google also excludes Mobile Device ID customer lists as seeds.
For a large retailer that threshold is trivial. For a regional service business, a new brand or a product sold mainly through dealers, a usable seed list can be small, stale or missing. These advertisers were exposed when similar audiences ended, because the old segments asked for little, while their replacements reward rich, current first-party data.
Which site level options reach similar people without data about them?
A different route to the same goal is to ask where an advertiser's best customers spend their reading time, then buy those places and others like them. Site level options select inventory by content, so they work the same way whether the advertiser has a large customer list, a small one or none.
| Option | What it selects | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placement inclusion list | Named websites, pages, apps or videos | Exact control over where ads can run, and a list a client can read | Scale is limited to the sites listed, and the list must be built and kept current |
| Lookalike website list | Sites whose content resembles seed sites the client trusts | Extends a short list of proven sites with evidence for each addition | Only as good as the seed sites and the checks run on each match |
| Contextual topics and keywords | Pages about chosen subjects | Broad reach with no personal data, quick to set up | Less control over which sites appear; labels can be broad |
| Curated deal on a site list | A chosen set of sites sold through an exchange deal | Combines a vetted list with deal terms agreed with the seller | Needs seller setup and checks that each site is sold on that exchange |
These options can be combined, but the combination rules matter. Google's placement targeting help (opens in a new tab) says that when several content targeting methods are used in one ad group, ads will target any of the selected content, which widens reach rather than narrowing it. To keep ads on a list, keep the list in its own ad group.
How do you turn a similar audience into a site level plan?
Five steps from an audience idea to a site list
- Describe the people the old segment was meant to find. Write what they buy, what problem they are solving and what they read about while solving it.
- Find where they read. Ask the client's sales and service teams, read customer surveys and look at past placement data, remembering that Google's Where ads showed report (opens in a new tab) only lists placements above minimum thresholds and is not exhaustive.
- Pick one to three seed sites per theme. Choose sound, ad supported publishers that those readers would recognize, as set out in seed site selection.
- Grow and check the list. Expand from the seeds and check every match for selling path, audience in the target country and page quality, following the similar websites method.
- Load the list on its own. Put the approved sites in a dedicated ad group or deal, so other targeting does not widen it.
The result is not a copy of the old segment. It reaches readers by context instead of by profile, and a buyer can explain every site on it. For advertisers who also hold good first-party data, a site list and a Lookalike segment can run side by side as separate tests rather than one blended campaign.
How does PlacementGraph help build a site level plan?
What does a similar audiences replacement look like on a real brief?
Fictional example
A heat pump installer in New England
Haldrovan Heat Pumps, a fictional installer of home heat pumps in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, once relied on a similar audience built from its quote request list. Its quote list is small and seasonal, too thin to make a dependable seed for a Lookalike segment.
The agency rebuilds the idea at site level. The sales team says homeowners who request quotes mention reading about efficiency rebates, old oil furnaces and home energy audits. The planner picks two seeds: a regional home energy magazine and a renovation blog written by a licensed contractor in Maine.
The lookalike search returns energy efficiency publications, old house restoration sites and a New England home and garden magazine. A national coupon portal is dropped because its pages are mostly store deals. The approved list runs in its own ad group, and the client sees each site with the articles that put it there.
Frequently asked questions
Why might an advertiser not qualify for Lookalike segments?
Google requires the submitted seed lists to add up to more than 100 active matched people, and Mobile Device ID customer lists cannot be used as seeds. Small, seasonal or dealer based businesses may not reach that threshold, and Google says it can take up to three days for a failed seed list to stop the segment targeting.
Does optimized targeting stay on the placements I choose?
It depends on the campaign type. For Video campaigns, Google says placements are not used as a signal and ads show only on the placements provided. For Display campaigns, Google says ads may show to users beyond the selected signals. Check the setting in each campaign before relying on a placement list.
Can similar audience reports from old campaigns still be used?
They can inform a site level plan, but not recreate the segment. Old reports show which campaigns worked when the segment existed, not who those people were. Use them as one clue about audience interests, beside sales team knowledge and customer surveys, when choosing seed sites.
Does a site level list remove privacy obligations from a campaign?
A list of websites holds no data about people, but a campaign can still use conversion tags, cookies or customer lists, and each of those data flows is governed by the privacy laws that apply where the campaign runs, in the United States and Canada alike. A site list changes what is selected, not how collected data is treated.
Sources
- Changes to audience targeting: Google Ads will no longer support similar audiences (opens in a new tab)Search Ads 360 Help
- About optimized targeting (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Use Lookalike segments in Demand Gen campaigns as a Targeting Constraint (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Migrate Google Display Ads campaigns to Demand Gen (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- About placement targeting (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- About the Where ads showed report (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Next steps for Privacy Sandbox and tracking protections in Chrome (opens in a new tab)Google Privacy Sandbox, April 22, 2025
- Update on plans for Privacy Sandbox technologies (opens in a new tab)Google Privacy Sandbox, October 17, 2025
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.