If your Google Ads remarketing campaign isn’t working, it might be due to one common (and costly) mistake.

This week, I audited a client’s campaign that was labeled as “retargeting.”
But when I looked closer, 98.9% of the traffic wasn’t retargeting past visitors at all.

Out of 1,247 total clicks, only 14 came from real website visitors.
The rest went to cold traffic, completely outside the intended remarketing audience.

The issue?
Optimized Targeting was left turned on.

What Is Optimized Targeting in Google Ads?

Optimized targeting allows Google to go beyond your selected audience and show your ads to users the algorithm thinks are likely to convert.

That sounds helpful until you're running a Display remarketing campaign, where the entire point is to only reach people who’ve already interacted with your brand.

When optimized targeting is enabled, Google ignores your remarketing lists and begins expanding your audience to people who may have similar behaviors, not actual past visitors.

How to Know If This Is Affecting You

Here’s how to check if optimized targeting is sabotaging your retargeting campaign:

1. Go to your Google Ads campaign

2. Click into your Display ad group

3. Review the Audience segments tab

4. If you see a high number of impressions and clicks under “Expansion and optimized targeting,” you’ve got a problem

In the example I audited, the campaign looked like this:

• 1,247 clicks total

• Only 14 clicks came from real remarketing audiences

• The rest were misallocated to cold, random users

How to Set Up a Remarketing Campaign Correctly

If you're just getting started with remarketing or suspect yours isn't working, here’s a simple checklist to set things up the right way:

✅ 1. Build a Custom Audience

• Use Google Ads or GA4 to create an audience of site visitors

• Segment based on pages visited, time on site, or conversion intent

✅ 2. Create a Display Campaign

• Choose “Display” as your campaign type

• Select “Sales” or “Leads” as your objective

✅ 3. Turn OFF Optimized Targeting

• In your ad group settings, scroll down to the Optimized Targeting box

• Uncheck the box that says “Use optimized targeting”

• This ensures your campaign sticks to your defined audience

✅ 4. Use Exclusions Wisely

• Exclude converters or users already in your sales pipeline

• Exclude cold audiences from warm ad groups

✅ 5. Tailor Your Creative

• Retargeting ads should address familiarity and trust, not introduce your brand from scratch

• Think “reminder,” not “introduction”

Common Google Ads Remarketing Errors to Avoid

• Leaving optimized targeting on by default

• Forgetting to exclude other campaigns' audiences

• Using generic ad creative for warm audiences

• Not segmenting based on user behavior

• Running remarketing without conversion tracking in place

Final Thoughts

Just because it’s labeled “remarketing” doesn’t mean that’s what it’s doing.
If you don’t audit your settings, your campaign might be targeting complete strangers and burning budget in the process.

Before you launch your next Display campaign, double-check your audience settings.
Turn off optimized targeting and make sure your ads are reaching the people you actually want to convert.

Before You Go

Need help with your Google Ads setup?
Grab my free Campaign Audit Checklist or reach out for a 1:1 review. One small setting could be costing you thousands.