Welcome to the latest instalment of “Why you can’t trust Google.”

If I remember correctly, this is episode 7 of season 3. And, in this episode, we’ll discuss what Google’s secretly doing to your remarketing campaigns.

You see, you probably think your remarketing campaigns are showing ads to people on your remarketing lists. And, technically, that’s correct. But, what they’re also doing is showing your ads to people who AREN’T on your remarketing lists.

“You what now?”

That’s right. You see, Google likes to be helpful. And they believe that, when you set up your remarketing ad groups, you made a mistake. And what you really meant to do was show those ads to pretty much anybody.

So Google has helpfully fixed that for you.

Let me show you.

If you go into one of your remarketing ad groups, and click settings, you get to a page that looks like this:

Looks pretty normal, right?

Now click that nice little button that says, “Edit ad group targeting.” Once that page loads, scroll down to the bit that says “Settings.”

You might see something like this:

See that “added reach” slider?

If it’s not at “Off,” it means Google has decided – probably without your permission – to show your remarketing ads to people who aren’t on your remarketing list.

So, if you’ve been wondering why your remarketing campaigns are suddenly getting all those clicks, now you know.

And, if you don’t want that, I’d recommend you go into your ad groups and set the slider to “Off”.

All the best,

Steve Gibson