Create a custom combination segment

Custom combination segments will be transitioned to more durable solutions and will be removed from Google Ads. You won’t be able to create new custom combination segments starting Q2 2024 and all existing custom combination segments will be phased out by Q3 2024.

This change aims to streamline audience targeting and enhance the flexibility and transparency of audience management.

What will happen?

Starting Q2 2024, custom combination segments will be removed from all ad groups and campaigns in Google Ads. You’ll continue to have access to historical reporting for custom combination segments from past campaigns.

You’ll be notified at least 60 days before the deprecation of the custom combination segments and should be able to see a banner notification about the deprecation.

Keep in mind

Google Ads UI and Google Ads editor will no longer allow the creation or editing of custom combination segments. Existing custom combination segments may remain accessible on specific interfaces while they have active users, but these segments will gradually decline and be either migrated or paused.

Combined segments will continue to be supported, but they will experience some adjustments due to this launch. Any combined segment that includes a first-party list will be impacted. These first-party lists, such as website visitors, app users, customer lists, and Google Analytics-based lists, will be removed from the combined segment.

Learn more about the changes to the Custom combination segment.

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You can create a custom combined segment by combining your data segments in an AND, OR, or NOT relationship. Custom combination segments let you create advanced segments out of your existing data segments. Say that you want to offer a special price to people who buy 3 products as a set -- for example, a mobile phone, a headset and a charger--but these products are in 3 different URLs. To create your data segment of people who visited the 3 products, you could create one segment of "people who visited the mobile phone page," one segment of "people who visited the headset page," and a third segment of "people who visited the charger page". Then, you could create a custom combination segment to reach people who saw the mobile page AND the headset page AND the charger page.

Before you begin

You can choose how to combine segments based on your preferences. For example, you can select 5 segments in an AND relationship by either selecting the "Each of these audience segments (AND)" and add 5 segments, or by clicking the AND button and adding 5 segments in 5 separate lines. When you create a custom combined segment, membership durations remain intact for each of your data segments that are part of the combination. Note that the number of users in your combination is updated every few hours and if your segment is being actively targeted, the customers in your segment are updated near real-time.

Custom combination segments can be created by combining any of the following segment types:

  • Website visitors
  • App users
  • Customer segment
  • Video users

Use caution when combining an App segment with another segment type, as it may result in zero users.

Similar segments can only be used in a single OR condition. This means that they can’t be used for AND conditions or multiple OR conditions with any other segment type, including another Similar segment.

After you've created custom combination segments, you'll need to add them to your campaigns or ad groups.

How to create a custom combination segment

Set up custom combination segments from Audience Manager

  1. In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon Tools Icon.
  2. Click the Shared library drop down in the section menu.
  3. Click Audience manager.
  4. From the menu at the top, select the Your data segments page.
  5. Click the plus button and select Custom combination from the drop-down menu.
  6. Enter a name for your combined segment.
  7. Add audience segments by “Search” or “Browse” options from the dropdown selection in the following dialog box:
    • Include people who match the following conditions (Narrow your segment (AND)). A combined segment lets you reach people who belong to more than one audience segment.
    • Exclude people who match the following conditions (Exclude segments (NOT)). Select audience segments that aren't a good fit for what you’re advertising. Your combined segment won’t include people who belong to these audience segments.
  8. From Segment estimate settings, you can add Country and Languages segments.
  9. After you add all the segments, click Create.

Set up custom combination segments within your campaigns or ad groups

  1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon Campaigns Icon.
  2. Click the Audiences, keywords, and content drop down in the section menu.
  3. Click Audiences.
  4. Click Edit audience segments.
  5. From the add to dropdown, select Ad group or Campaign.
  6. Search for the campaign or ad group you want to make edits to.
  7. Click Browse.
  8. Click on Your combined audience segments, then New combined segment.
  9. Enter a name for your combined segment.
  10. Add audience segments by “Search” or “Browse” options from the dropdown selection in the following dialog box:
    • Include people who match the following conditions (Narrow your segment (AND)). A combined audience segment lets you reach people who belong to more than one audience segment.
    • Exclude people who match the following conditions (Exclude segments (NOT)). Select audience segments that aren't a good fit for what you’re advertising. Your combined audience segment won’t include people who belong to these audience segments.
  11. From Segment estimate settings, you can add Country and Languages segments.
    • Note: Settings can't be edited in the context of an ad group. They are set to match the campaign targeting.
  12. Click Create.

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