How to Create a Remarketing List in Google Analytics

Bringing a past visitor back to your website is one of the most effective things you can do in marketing. Instead of talking to a cold audience, you’re re-engaging someone who has already shown interest. This article will show you exactly how to build the remarketing lists you need to do this using Google Analytics 4.

What is a Remarketing List (and Why Should You Care)?

A remarketing list, often called an "audience" in Google Analytics 4, is simply a group of your past website visitors segmented by specific behaviors. You can then use this list in Google Ads to show targeted advertisements specifically to that group. It’s like being able to tap a visitor on the shoulder after they’ve left your store and say, "Hey, did you forget this?"

So, why bother? Because it works. People on these lists are not strangers, they’ve already visited your site, browsed your products, or read your blog. This familiarity makes them far more likely to convert than someone seeing your brand for the first time. You can use remarketing to:

• Target Cart Abandoners: Remind users about the items they left in their shopping cart.
• Upsell Existing Customers: Show ads for complementary products to people who have already made a purchase.
• Re-engage Content Readers: Target users who read specific blog posts with a relevant e-book or webinar offer.
• Nurture Warm Leads: Show testimonial ads to visitors who viewed your pricing page but didn't sign up.

The goal isn't to be pushy but to be helpful by continuing a conversation that has already started. GA4 gives you the tools to define these user groups with amazing precision.

Getting Set Up: 3 Things You Need to Do First

Before you can start building powerful remarketing audiences, you need to lay the groundwork. Make sure these three things are in place first.

1. Link Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads

This is the most critical step. Linking your accounts allows GA4 to send your newly created audiences directly to Google Ads so you can use them in your campaigns. If they aren’t linked, your lists have nowhere to go.

Here’s how to do it:

1. In Google Analytics, click the Admin gear icon in the bottom-left corner.
2. In the Property column, scroll down to Product Links and click on Google Ads Links.
3. Click the blue Link button in the top right.
4. Click Choose Google Ads accounts and select the account you want to link. Make sure you have administrator access to that Ads account.
5. Click Confirm, then Next.
6. Leave the Enable Personalized Advertising setting turned on. This is what allows the audiences to be used for remarketing.
7. Click Next, and finally, Submit. Your accounts are now linked.

2. Enable Google Signals

Google Signals collects aggregated, anonymized data from users who are signed into their Google accounts and have Ads Personalization turned on. Enabling it gives GA4 access to richer demographic data and, most importantly, allows for cross-device remarketing. This means if someone visits your site on their desktop and later searches on their phone, they can still be included in your remarketing audience.

To enable it:

1. Go back to Admin.
2. In the Property column, go to Data Settings and click Data Collection.
3. Click the Get started button in the Google Signals data collection box and follow the activation prompts. If it's already on, you're all set.

3. Make Sure You Have Enough Visitor Data

You can create an audience with just a few users, but Google Ads has minimum size requirements before it will start serving ads to that list. This prevents advertisers from targeting individuals and protects user privacy.

• For the Google Display Network, you need at least 100 active users within the last 30 days.
• For the Google Search Network, you need at least 1,000 active users within the last 30 days.

Keep these numbers in mind. If your site is brand new, you may need to focus on driving traffic first before you can effectively use remarketing.

How to Create Your First Remarketing List in GA4

With the setup work done, you're ready to create your first audience. We'll start with a classic example: identifying users who added items to their cart but did not complete the purchase.

Step 1: Go to the "Audiences" Section

In the navigation on the left side of GA4, click on Admin. Under the Property column, find and click on Audiences. This is the central hub where all of your remarketing lists will live.

Step 2: Start a New Audience

Click the blue New audience button. This will open a new screen where you can either use a pre-built template or build a custom audience from scratch.

While the templates like "Recently active users" or "Purchasers" are useful starting points, the real power of GA4 lies in creating your own custom audiences. Click Create a custom audience.

Step 3: Define Your "Include" Conditions

This is where you tell Google Analytics who to add to your list. For our "Cart Abandoners" example, we want to include people who triggered the add_to_cart event.

In the event builder, search for and select the event named add_to_cart. This tells GA4, "Start by including everyone who has ever added an item to their cart."

Step 4: Add an "Exclude" Condition

The list we have now includes all users who added something to their cart, including those who went on to buy. We need to remove purchasers to get a true cart abandoner list.

Directly below the "Include" group, click the Add group to exclude button. Here you'll define the group you want to remove from the audience.

Just like before, search for and select the event named purchase. This tells GA4, "From the group of people who added items to their cart, remove anyone who also completed a purchase."

Step 5: Set the Membership Duration

On the right side of the screen, you’ll see an option for Membership duration. This is how long a user stays in this audience after they meet the criteria (i.e., after they abandon their cart). The default is 30 days, which is a good starting point. You can set it to a maximum of 540 days.

For high-consideration products with long purchase cycles, you might want a longer duration. For everyday items, a shorter one (like 7 or 14 days) might be more effective.

Step 6: Name and Save Your Audience

Give your audience a clear, descriptive name. You'll thank yourself later when you're looking for it inside Google Ads. A good practice is to include the platform and the criteria, like "GA4 - Cart Abandoners - 30 Day."

Click Save. That's it! Your new audience will now show up in your list and, within 24-48 hours, will become available inside your linked Google Ads account for targeting.

More Audience Ideas to Try

Now that you know the process, you can build audiences for almost any scenario. Here are a few more high-value examples to get you started:

Highly Engaged Blog Readers

• Who it's for: Content-heavy businesses, B2B SaaS, and blogs.
• How to build it:
• Use case: Market a related webinar, e-book, or newsletter signup to your most dedicated readers.

Pricing Page Viewers (Non-converters)

• Who it's for: SaaS companies, service businesses, and agencies.
• How to build it:
• Use case: These users have high purchase intent. You can target them with ads featuring customer testimonials, case studies, or a limited-time offer to encourage them to convert.

Repeat Visitors Who Haven't Purchased

• Who it's for: E-commerce stores looking to convert loyal browsers.
• How to build it:
• Use case: These are people who like your brand but need a final nudge. A small discount or a free shipping offer can be very effective for this group.

Final Thoughts

Building remarketing lists in Google Analytics is no longer a "nice to have" - it's an essential part of a smart, efficient digital marketing strategy. By segmenting visitors based on their on-site behavior, you can deliver tailored messages that resonate and drive conversions, turning lukewarm interest into revenue.

As you get more comfortable creating these audiences and launching campaigns, keeping track of what works can become a new challenge. We built Graphed to help with exactly this. After you connect your Google Analytics and Google Ads accounts, you can ask in plain English for the reports you need - like, "Compare the CPA and conversion rate between my Cart Abandoners campaign and my Engaged Readers campaign." We instantly build you a live dashboard, so you spend less time digging for insights and more time acting on them.