How can we help?

Who is seeing your ads?

You can choose your customers before they choose you.

Google has a lot of data. It knows (mostly) the Age, Gender, and Parental Status of the people searching.

This allows you to spend your money only on the people most likely to buy.

Why this matters:

If you sell Retirement Plans, you don't want to pay for clicks from 18-year-olds.

If you sell Women's Clothing, you might not want to pay for clicks from men.

If you sell Luxury Cars, you want to target the top 10% income bracket (available in some countries).

By default, Google shows your ads to everyone. Demographic targeting helps you narrow that focus.

The Power of Bid Adjustments

It’s not just "On or Off." It’s "Pay More or Pay Less."

You don't always have to exclude a group completely. Often, the smarter move is a Bid Adjustment. This tells Google to change your bid based on who the person is.

The Logic:

Decrease Bid (-): "I want these clicks, but they are worth less to me."

Example: Decrease "Age 18-24" by -50%. If your normal bid is $2.00, you will only bid $1.00 for a young person.

Increase Bid (+): "These are my VIP customers."

Example: Increase "Age 35-54" by +30%. You are willing to pay extra to beat competitors for this prime group.

Exclude: "I never want these clicks."

Example: Exclude "Current University Students" completely.

The "Unknown" Category Trap

Why you should be careful about deleting this group.

When you look at your report, you will see a large category called "Unknown."

What is it? These are users where Google cannot identify their age or gender. This includes:

People not logged into a Google account.

People using privacy browsers or ad blockers.

People who turned off ad tracking.

The Mistake: New advertisers often think: "I only want men, so I will exclude 'Women' and 'Unknown'." Don't do this. "Unknown" is often 20-40% of your total traffic. If you exclude it, you might block potential customers who just care about privacy. Only exclude it if the data proves it is wasting money.

How to Set It Up (And The Bot Risk)

Step-by-step instructions.

Select your Campaign or Ad Group.

In the left menu, click Audiences.

Look for the Demographics section (Age, Gender, Household Income).

Click the pencil icon next to a group to add a Bid Adjustment (e.g., +20%).

The ClickSambo Reality Check: Bots don't have real ages, but they can fake them. Smart click farms often log into Google accounts with fake profiles to appear as "35-44 year old Males." This helps them blend in with your high-value traffic.

Check: If your "Best Demographic" has a lot of clicks but zero sales, it might be fraud.