Google Ads - Audiences (via custom parameters)

The goal is to send the ClickPatrol classification as a custom parameter through the Google Ads tag, then build an audience in Google Ads Audience Manager that filters on that parameter. Use this route when you are not using GA4, or when you prefer to keep audience building entirely inside Google Ads.

Important check #

In order to build Google Ads audiences this way you need the following steps completed:

• Implement ClickPatrol Tag in Tag Manager
• Implement Event Trigger in Tag Manager
• Google Ads tag (gtag or via GTM) installed on your site
• Your Google Ads tag data source configured to collect custom parameters

To configure the tag data source:

• In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon.
• Click the Shared library dropdown, then click Audience manager.
• From the page menu on the left, click Your data sources.
• In the Google Ads tag card, click Set up tag. If the tag is already installed, click the 3-dot icon and select Edit Source.
• Select Collect specific attributes or parameters to personalize ads (also labelled as "Dynamic remarketing").
• Select the business type that best matches your site. If none apply, select Other (custom option).
• Click Create and continue for a new tag, or Save and continue when editing an existing tag.

Send the ClickPatrol classification as a custom parameter

Add a custom parameter to the Google Ads event snippet that carries the ClickPatrol classification. The event snippet should look similar to this:

<!-- Event snippet for Google Ads custom parameters -->
<script>
gtag('event', 'page_view', {
  'send_to': 'AW-XXXXXXXXX',
  'clickpatrol_status': 'legitimate'
});
</script>

The value of clickpatrol_status should be populated dynamically based on the ClickPatrol classification (legitimate or suspicious).

If you use Google Tag Manager, add clickpatrol_status as a parameter to your Google Ads Remarketing tag, with a variable that reads the ClickPatrol classification from the dataLayer.

Use Google Tag Assistant to verify the parameter fires correctly before building audiences.

Build the audience in Google Ads #

• In Google Ads, go to Tools > Shared library > Audience manager.
• Click the plus button and select Website visitors.
• Give the audience a clear name, for example CP Legitimate 30d.
• Set Segment members to Visitors of a page.
• From the Actions dropdown, select Web page visit and set a timeframe (for example, 30 days).
• Click Refine action.
• In the URL dropdown, your custom parameters are now available. Select clickpatrol_status.
• Set the operator to equals and the value to legitimate.
• Click Create segment.
• Repeat for CP Suspicious 30d with value suspicious.

Use the audience #

• Use CP Legitimate for targeting or as a seed for Similar Segments and lookalikes.
• Use CP Suspicious as an exclusion. Add it as a negative audience on your campaigns, or at account level under Shared library so new campaigns inherit the exclusion by default.

Notes #

• Custom parameter values must be non-personally identifiable and non-sensitive.
• For more advanced conditions, use the AND and OR buttons in the segment builder to combine parameters, for example clickpatrol_status equals legitimate AND page_url contains /pricing.
• Audiences need at least 100 active users in the last 30 days before they are eligible to serve on Search, Display, or YouTube.
• It can take up to 24 hours for a newly created segment to start populating with visitors.