The search engine giant is, in essence, an advertising company. Google currently holds many advertising platforms including mobile ads, YouTube ads, Search Ads, TV Ads, Google+ for businesses and Google Display Network. Now, Google will now be allowing advertisers to target the company's massive Gmail user base to compete with Facebook's "Custom Audiences."
Google has announced "Customer Match" - the search engine giant's tool that will help advertisers on its platform reach specific customers on Google Search, YouTube and Gmail. Customer Match will allow advertisers to upload a list of email addresses which can then be matched to users that are signed into their Google account in a secure and privacy-safe manner. Advertisers can then build ad campaigns and ads specifically targeted to their desired audiences.
Users can also control the ads that they see including Customer Match ads by flipping the switch on Google Ads Settings. Google also says that individual email addresses are private through Customer Match, which means that advertisers won't be able to create personalized profiles of their targeted users, but they will still be able to compile an email list with the customers' activities on Google's platforms.
"Let's say you're a travel brand. You can now reach people who have joined your rewards program as they plan their next trip. For example, when these rewards members search for "non-stop flights to new york" on Google.com, you can show relevant ads at the top of their search results on any device right when they're looking to fly to New York. And when those members are watching their favorite videos on YouTube or catching up on Gmail, you can show ads that inspire them to plan their next trip." reads a post from Google's official Adwords blog.
Advertisers can also generate 'Similar Audiences' for them to be able to reach new customers on YouTube and Gmail who will likely be interested in their products or services. Both 'Customer Match' and 'Similar Audiences' will start rolling out in a couple of weeks, said Google.
