Remarketing shows ads to people who already visited your site. It is usually the cheapest campaign in a Google Ads account, because you are advertising to people who have already shown interest rather than buying attention from strangers.

Step 1: connect the data

Link GA4 to Google Ads under Tools, then Linked accounts. Confirm that Google signals is enabled in GA4 admin, since remarketing audiences depend on it.

Also confirm your consent banner is not blocking the tags for everyone. Under POPIA, tracking that profiles an identifiable person needs consent before it fires, so your audience only builds from visitors who accepted.

Step 2: build the audience

In GA4, go to Admin, then Audiences, then New audience. The useful ones for a small business are:

All visitors who did not convert. The workhorse. Everyone who came and did not enquire.

Viewed a service page, did not convert. Higher intent, worth a higher bid and a more direct message.

Started a form, did not submit. The highest-intent audience you have, and usually small.

Existing customers. Not for remarketing, for exclusion, and occasionally for cross-selling a different service.

Step 3: check the minimum size

Google requires a minimum audience size before a list can serve, currently 100 active users for Display and higher for Search remarketing.

A site with 300 visitors a month will not reach that on a 30-day window. Widen the membership duration to 90 or 180 days so the list accumulates.

If a campaign shows as eligible but never spends, an undersized audience is the usual reason.

Step 4: exclude the wrong people

Exclude	Why
People who converted	Already enquired; ads are wasted
Bounced under 10 seconds	Wrong page or wrong person
Existing customers	Unless cross-selling deliberately
Job applicants and careers page	Never buyers
Your own staff	Exclude office IP ranges

Excluding converters is the one most often missed, and it is the most expensive omission, because your most engaged audience keeps being shown ads for something they already bought.

Step 5: build the campaign

Create a Display campaign, choose your audience under Audiences, and set a modest daily budget. Remarketing audiences are small, so a large budget will not spend.

Set a frequency cap. Three to five impressions per person per day is plenty. Without a cap, a small audience sees your ad relentlessly and remarketing becomes the reason someone chooses a competitor.

Write for people who already know you. Not "who we are" but a reason to come back: a specific offer, a guarantee, a reminder of what they were looking at.

Send them to the page they viewed, not the homepage.

Matching the window to the sales cycle

Seven to thirty days for urgent services such as emergency trades, where a person who has not bought in a week has bought elsewhere.

Thirty to ninety days for considered purchases: renovations, professional services, larger installations.

Beyond ninety days you are usually paying to irritate people who decided against you, and the brand damage outweighs the marginal conversion.

Search remarketing, which is often better

Remarketing lists for search ads let you bid differently when a previous visitor searches again on Google. Higher bids for people who already know you, on searches where you might otherwise not compete.

It requires a larger minimum list, but the intent is far higher than Display, because the person is actively searching rather than browsing.

If your audience is big enough for both, this is usually where the better return sits.

All figures exclude VAT. Advertising spend is billed separately by the platform and is never marked up by Juicy Designs.

Juicy Designs sets up remarketing with proper exclusions and caps. See remarketing and retargeting or Google Ads management. Related: campaign types explained and POPIA, forms and cookies.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set up a remarketing campaign in Google Ads?

Link GA4 to Google Ads, build an audience of people who visited without converting, then run a Display campaign targeting that audience. Setup takes about an hour and it is usually the cheapest campaign in the account.

How many visitors do I need before remarketing works?

Google requires a minimum audience size before a list can be used, currently 100 active visitors for Display. Small sites often need to widen the window to 90 or 180 days to reach it.

What should I exclude from a remarketing audience?

People who already converted, and usually people who bounced in under ten seconds. Both cost money without prospect: one has already bought, the other was never interested.

How long should I remarket to someone?

Match it to your sales cycle. Seven to thirty days for urgent services, up to 90 for considered purchases. Beyond that you are paying to annoy people who decided against you.

Is remarketing worth it on a small budget?

Usually yes. Display clicks are cheap and the audience already knows you, so it is one of the few places a small budget buys meaningful volume at a sensible cost per conversion.