How to create custom audiences on Google Analytics

intermediate 8 min read Updated 2026-03-18

Quick Answer

Custom audiences in Google Analytics allow you to define specific user segments based on behavior, demographics, or other criteria. You can create them through the Audiences section in Admin settings and use them for remarketing or analysis purposes.

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Prerequisites

Google Analytics 4 property set up
Admin access to your Google Analytics account
Basic understanding of audience segmentation
Google Ads account linked (for advertising use)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Access the Admin section

Log into your Google Analytics account and click the Admin gear icon in the bottom left corner. Make sure you're in the correct property by checking the property selector at the top of the page.

Ensure you have Editor or Administrator permissions to create audiences

Navigate to Audiences

In the Property column, click on Audiences. You'll see a list of any existing audiences and templates. Click the New audience button to start creating your custom audience.

Choose audience creation method

Select Create a custom audience from the options presented. You can also choose from suggested audiences or use a template, but custom audiences give you the most control over your targeting criteria.

Start with suggested audiences if you're new to audience creation to understand the structure

Define audience conditions

Add conditions by clicking Add new condition. Choose from dimensions like:

Demographics (age, gender, interests)
Technology (device, browser, operating system)
Behavior (events, conversions, page views)
Traffic sources (campaign, source, medium)

Set operators like 'equals', 'contains', or 'greater than' and specify your values.

Use the 'Include any of' vs 'Include all of' logic carefully - 'any' creates broader audiences while 'all' creates more specific ones

Set membership duration and exclusions

Configure the Membership duration (how long users remain in the audience, up to 540 days). Add exclusion conditions if needed by clicking Add exclusion group to remove specific user segments from your audience.

Shorter membership durations work better for time-sensitive campaigns, while longer durations are good for general remarketing

Configure audience settings

Enter a descriptive Audience name and Description. Choose whether to enable Google Ads personalization if you want to use this audience for advertising. Review the audience size estimate shown in the summary panel.

Use clear naming conventions like 'High-Value-Customers-90days' to easily identify audiences later

Review and save audience

Review all your conditions and settings in the preview panel. Check the estimated audience size to ensure it's neither too broad nor too narrow for your goals. Click Save to create your custom audience.

Audiences need 24-48 hours to populate with users, so plan your campaigns accordingly

Monitor and optimize

After saving, monitor your audience performance in the Audiences section. View metrics like audience size, user overlap with other audiences, and performance data. Make adjustments by editing conditions or creating variations as needed.

Create multiple audience variations to test which targeting criteria work best for your goals

Common Issues & Troubleshooting

Audience shows zero users or very small size

Check if your conditions are too restrictive, increase the membership duration, or wait 24-48 hours for data to populate. Verify your website has sufficient traffic to meet the criteria.

Cannot see the Audiences option in Admin

Ensure you have Editor or Administrator permissions and that you're looking in the Property column, not Account or Data Stream. Verify you're using Google Analytics 4, not Universal Analytics.

Audience not appearing in Google Ads

Confirm Google Ads personalization is enabled, your Google Ads account is properly linked, and the audience has reached the minimum size of 1,000 active users required for advertising.

Custom conditions not working as expected

Double-check your dimension names match exactly with your implementation, verify event parameters are correctly configured, and test with broader conditions first before narrowing down.

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