How the remarketing tag works
Before you can start showing ads to customers on a remarketing list, you’ll need to paste the remarketing tag (small snippet of code) in all pages of your website or in your mobile app. When you create your first remarketing campaign for your website, you can email yourself or your webmaster the remarketing tag. You can find the code for your site or mobile app in your “Shared library.”
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How the remarketing tag works
- Get one tag that you can use throughout your site or app.
- For sites, you can place one tag in the footer of your site that will work on all pages. You can also paste the tag using a content management system. The remarketing tag works for visitors who come to your site using a desktop computer or a mobile device. You don’t need to create a separate tag or list for mobile visitors to your site.
- For mobile apps, you just need to select the appropriate operating system for your app when generating the tag and add the name of the screen the tag is implemented on.
- Create as many lists as you want using rules, based on sections of your site or screens within your app. You don’t need to create a separate tag for each list you create. Categorizing your visitors by creating more refined lists allows you to better tailor your ads and set your bids to optimize performance.
Keep in mind
Your remarketing tag shouldn’t be associated with any personally identifiable or sensitive information. Sensitive categories of sites and apps can’t use remarketing. If you’re setting up a remarketing campaign and placing the remarketing tag on your site or mobile app, you need to follow the Policy for advertising based on interests and location.
Add the remarketing tag to your site
1. Get your remarketing tag code
If you didn’t get the tag code via email when you set your remarketing campaign, you can still find it in your AdWords account. Just follow these steps:
- Sign in to AdWords at https://adwords.google.com.
- Go to your “Shared library.”
- In the “Audiences” section, go to the “Remarketing tag” box at the top.
- Click the View tag details button and then click Setup.
- Click View remarketing tag and instructions to get the remarketing code you’ll need to add to your site. If you use Google Analytics, you’ll have the option to use the tracking code that’s already on your site instead. To set this up, see these instructions.
For more detailed instructions, read Remarketing tag validations and alerts.
2. Add your remarketing tag code to your entire website
Copy the remarketing tag code and paste it at the bottom of all pages, before the closing “</body>” tag.
Once the tag is published in your website, the next step is to create remarketing lists in AdWords. For example, you’ll be able to create a remarketing list for the people who visited the “Electronics” section of your site by defining a list like this: “URL contains electronics.”
