Loading data into Google Ads Audiences

This guide explains how to load data into Google Ads Audiences for further analysis.

Introduction

When loading Personally Identifiable Information (PII) into Google Ads Audiences, you can hash the data in two ways:

  • Load data that is not hashed - in this case, Adverity automatically hashes the data when it is loaded into Google Ads Audiences.

  • Load data that is already hashed - in this case, Adverity does not make any changes to your data.

For more information, see the Configuring Data Mapping for Google Ads Audiences step in this guide.

Prerequisites

Before you complete the procedure in this guide, perform all of the following actions:

  • Create a datastream whose data you want to load into Google Ads Audiences. For more information on creating a datastream, see Creating a datastream.

  • Ensure the account you use to connect to Google Ads Audiences is assigned to the Standard or Admin role.

Procedure

To load data from a datastream into Google Ads Audiences, follow these steps:

  1. Add Google Ads Audiences as a destination to the workspace which contains the datastream or to one of its parent workspaces.

  2. Assign the Google Ads Audiences destination to the datastream.

    You can assign as many destinations to a datastream as you want.

    Some destinations require specific Data Mapping, such as Hubspot and Facebook Offline Conversions. If these Data Mapping requirements conflict, the destinations cannot be assigned to the same datastream.

  3. Configure the Data Mapping of your datastream to conform with Google Ads Audiences destination standards.

  4. Enable data loading into the destination from the datastream.

  5. Configure load settings.

Adding Google Ads Audiences as a destination

To add Google Ads Audiences as a destination to a workspace, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Destinations.

  2. Click + Add Destination.

  3. Search for and click Google Ads Audiences.

  1. Choose how to authorize Adverity to access Google Ads Audiences:

    • To use your details, click Access Google Ads Audiences using your credentials.

    • To ask someone else to use their details, click Access Google Ads Audiences using someone else's credentials.

      If you choose this option, the person you ask to create the authorization will need to go through the following steps.

  2. Click Next.

  1. Log in to your Google account.

  2. Click Allow to grant Adverity access to your Google Ads Audiences account.

  1. In the Configuration page, fill in the following fields:

    Customer

    Select the customer for the Google Ads Audiences account into which you want to load data.

    Consent for customer match

    By checking this box, you confirm that you have obtained the necessary consent from your customers to use their data for advertising and ad personalization purposes (Only applicable for EEA users).

  1. Click Create.

Assigning Google Ads Audiences as a destination

To assign the Google Ads Audiences destination to a datastream, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the External destinations section, click + Assign destination.

  2. Click Assign existing destination.

  1. Select the Google Ads Audiences checkbox in the list.

  2. Click Save.

Configuring Data Mapping for Google Ads Audiences

All data that you load into Google Ads Audiences must conform with Google Ads Audiences standards. To configure Data Mapping for the Google Ads Audiences destination, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  3. In the top navigation panel, click Data Mapping.

  4. In the Source Fields column, find the field in the data extract used to identify users.

  5. In the cell in the Target fields column in the user identifier's row, write one of the following and press Enter. If you cannot find any value, click + Create new to create a new target field.

    When loading Personally Identifiable Information (PII) into Google Ads Audiences, the target field you need to use depends on whether the PII is already hashed, as described in the introduction to this guide.

    • If first name is the user identifier, write first_name. If this data is already hashed, write hashed_first_name.

    • If last name is the user identifier, write last_name. If this data is already hashed, write hashed_last_name.

    • If email address is the user identifier, write email. If this data is already hashed, write hashed_email.

    • If phone number is the user identifier, write phone_number. If this data is already hashed, write hashed_phone.

    • If city is the user identifier, write city.

    • If state is the user identifier, write state.

    • If postal code is the user identifier, write postal_code.

    • If country is the user identifier, write country.

  6. (Optional) Define if you want to add or remove contacts from an audience.

    By default, all contacts from the data extract you send to Google Ads Audiences are added to the audience. If you want to define how to process each contact, add and map the action field for the data extract.

    The action field allows you to update the audience by setting an action to perform on a contact. When mapped, the field can contain the following values:

    • ADD - add the contact to the audience.

    • REMOVE - remove the contact from the audience.

    • If the field is left empty, the contact will be added to the audience.

    If the action field is not mapped, all contacts in the data extract are added to the audience.

    To map the action field, follow these steps:

    1. In the Source Fields column, find the action field.

    2. In the Target fields column, in the action field row, enter action and select the target field from the drop-down list. If the field does not appear in the drop-down list, click + Create new to create the target field with the type string.

    Example of a mapped action field..

The Data Mapping changes are saved automatically.

Enabling data loading into Google Ads Audiences destination

To enable data loading into the Google Ads Audiences destination from the datastream, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the list in the Destinations section, find the Google Ads Audiences destination, and enable the toggle.

  2. (Optional) To load data you have already collected into Google Ads Audiences, in the All tasks tab, find the data extract you want to load into choose the additional identifiers to load into Google Ads Audiences, and in the Load section, click Re-load.

Configuring settings for loading data into Google Ads Audiences

To configure the settings for loading data into Google Ads Audiences, follow these steps:

  1. Select the workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the Destinations section, find the Google Ads Audiences destination in the list, and click on the right.

  2. Click Destination settings.

  1. Fill in the following fields:

    List Mode

    Select one of the following:

    • Select Update existing Audience to add data from the data extract to an existing table.

    • Select Create new Audience (for each Extract) to create a new table for each data extract.

    • Select Create new Audience (once, then update) to create a new table the first time you load data from this datastream into Google Ads Audiences, and then update this table with all subsequent data from the datastream.

    Audience Name Template

    Specify the target table in the destination into which to load data from the datastream. The name can contain alphanumeric characters and underscores. For example, target_table. To specify a schema, use the syntax schemaName.tableName.

    By default, Adverity saves data from each datastream in a different table named [{datastream_name}] Custom Audience (for example, [mailgun_83] Custom Audience).

    • To create a new Google Ads Audiences spreadsheet containing the data you load into Google Ads Audiences, enter a name for the new spreadsheet into this field.

    Placeholder

    Description

    {datastream_id}

    The datastream ID.

    {datastream_name}

    The datastream name.

    {datastream_type}

    The data source.

    {filename}

    The automatically generated filename of the data extract.

    {scheduled_day}

    The day when the data fetch was scheduled to run.

    {scheduled_month}

    The month when the data fetch was scheduled to run.

    {scheduled_year}

    The year when the data fetch was scheduled to run.

    Identifiers

    Select the columns in the data extract used to identify users. These are the same columns you used when you configured the Data Mapping for the datastream.

    If you select Address, in Address Fields, choose the additional identifiers to load into Google Ads Audiences.

    Personal identifiers (such as name and phone number) are automatically encrypted by Adverity.

  2. Click Save.