Similar Audiences Alternatives: How to Build Reach After Audience Changes

Similar Audiences alternatives are now a core Google Ads skill, not a temporary workaround. Google fully removed Similar Audiences, also called similar segments, from Google Ads and Display & Video 360 in August 2023. If your old Display, YouTube, or DV360 prospecting plan leaned on those segments, your reach now has to come from cleaner first-party data, better campaign signals, and careful use of Google automation.

The short version: you cannot replace Similar Audiences with one identical switch. Optimized targeting, audience expansion, Performance Max audience signals, Customer Match, Demand Gen lookalikes, custom segments, and third-party modeled audiences each cover part of the old job. Pick by campaign goal. Test hard.

What changed with Google Similar Audiences?

Similar Audiences were Google's native lookalike audiences. They used seed lists such as remarketing audiences or Customer Match lists, then found users with similar behaviour. Many advertisers used them to scale Display, Video, and DV360 campaigns beyond site visitors or existing customers.

Google announced the removal on 1 November 2022. New similar segments stopped being generated from 1 May 2023. By 1 August 2023, advertisers could no longer use similar segments for targeting, reporting, audience setup, or conversion value rules. Google's official documentation says historical reporting for past similar segments remains available, though some agency commentary has reported otherwise. Treat Google's documentation as the source of truth.

The reason was not mysterious. Google tied the change to privacy expectations, the phase-out of third-party cookies, and a shift toward products built on first-party data. That has changed the practical work of audience planning. You are no longer building one neat lookalike segment and calling it done.

The best Similar Audiences alternatives by campaign type

Do not choose a replacement because it sounds closest to Similar Audiences. Choose it because it matches the campaign's job.

1. Optimized targeting for performance campaigns

Use it for: Display, Discovery, Video Action, and supported DV360 campaigns focused on leads, sales, or site actions.

Optimized targeting expands beyond the audiences you manually select. Google uses conversion data, landing page content, creatives, and audience inputs to find people likely to convert. Both Search Engine Land and Google Ads Help positioned it as one of the primary replacements for Similar Audiences in performance campaigns.

My view: optimized targeting is useful, but it is not a true lookalike list. It can wander if your conversion action is too soft. I have seen lead-gen campaigns feed Google a newsletter signup conversion, then watch the algorithm find cheap form fills that sales rejected within two days. Use qualified leads, purchases, demo requests, or imported offline conversions where you can.

2. Audience expansion for awareness and consideration video

Use it for: Awareness and Reach video campaigns, plus Consideration video campaigns.

Audience expansion broadens reach around your selected audience. It suits brand and consideration goals better than direct-response lead generation. If your KPI is reach, frequency, view rate, or cost per completed view, this is usually the cleaner fit.

Watch frequency. A campaign can look healthy in reach reports while quietly hammering a narrow pool of users. In YouTube planning, I usually flag frequency above 3 to 4 per week for review, unless the campaign has a deliberate launch burst.

3. Performance Max audience signals

Use it for: Cross-channel campaigns where Google chooses inventory across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

Performance Max audience signals are hints, not hard targeting. You can provide Customer Match lists, remarketing audiences, custom segments, and in-market audiences. Google's AI then uses them as starting points and expands beyond them.

This matters. If leadership expects audience signals to behave like fixed ad group targeting, correct that early. Performance Max will use your inputs, but it will not stay inside them. Your control comes from conversion quality, asset groups, feed structure, exclusions where available, and measurement.

4. Customer Match with Smart Bidding

Use it for: Search, Shopping, Display, Video, Demand Gen, and Performance Max.

Customer Match matters more now because it gives Google a privacy-safe first-party signal. You upload customer data such as hashed email addresses or phone numbers from your CRM, loyalty database, or purchase records. Smart Bidding can then use those signals to adjust bids and find users with similar value patterns.

Segment your lists. Do not upload one giant customer file and call it strategy. Create separate lists for:

• High-LTV customers
• Recent purchasers
• Repeat buyers
• Qualified opportunities from Salesforce or HubSpot
• Churned customers you do not want to prioritise

A clean high-value seed list usually beats a bigger mixed list. This is boring data work. It also wins.

5. Demand Gen lookalike segments

Use it for: Prospecting and mid-funnel campaigns across YouTube, Discover, and Gmail inventory.

Demand Gen brought back a more explicit lookalike-style option. You can build lookalike segments from seed lists such as Customer Match or site visitors, then use creative formats suited to product education, social proof, and comparison messaging.

This is the closest current Google Ads feature to the old mental model of lookalike audiences. It is also not magic. If your seed list is weak, your lookalike will be weak. Use customers who bought, upgraded, renewed, or reached a meaningful pipeline stage.

Build the data foundation before you scale

Most failed Similar Audiences alternatives fail upstream. The campaign settings get blamed, but the real problem is poor data.

Start with these basics:

1. Audit conversion actions. Remove or deprioritise soft events that do not predict revenue. Page views and low-intent downloads should not steer Smart Bidding unless you have no better option.
2. Import offline conversions. For B2B and high-consideration sales, connect CRM stages from tools such as Salesforce or HubSpot back into Google Ads. Qualified lead, opportunity, closed-won, and revenue values matter.
3. Clean Customer Match files. Standardise emails, remove inactive records, split by value, and refresh lists on a schedule.
4. Use GA4 audiences carefully. Build audiences from meaningful behaviour: pricing page visits, cart starts, product configurator use, repeat content engagement, or app events.
5. Check consent and governance. Work with legal and data teams on consent management, retention rules, and customer data use policies.

For teams building these skills formally, Universal Business Council runs courses in Google Ads, digital marketing analytics, CRM data strategy, and marketing management. The technical settings are only half the job. Managers also need to set policy, measurement standards, and reporting expectations.

Use custom segments to regain some control

Custom segments are underused because they take more thinking than clicking a recommended audience. They can help you recover some of the intent and category control lost when Similar Audiences disappeared.

For Display and YouTube, build custom segments from:

• Search keywords your best prospects use before buying
• Competitor domains and comparison sites
• Industry publications and niche communities
• Relevant apps your audience is likely to use
• Problem-based terms, not just product terms

Take a B2B payroll platform. It should not stop at payroll software. Add phrases around payroll compliance, employee misclassification, contractor payments, and year-end tax reporting. That captures the messy way buyers actually research.

Do not overbuild. Twenty precise terms often beat 200 loose ones. Review search terms, GA4 landing page reports, and CRM notes from lost deals. The best custom segment ideas often come from sales calls, not keyword tools.

Where third-party modeled audiences still fit

In DV360 and programmatic buying, third-party modeled audiences can fill part of the gap. Providers such as Dstillery offer Custom AI Audiences that model behaviour from multiple data sources and can act as a lookalike-style alternative.

Use them when you need scale outside Google Ads campaign types, or when your first-party seed is too small for a single platform to model well. But be strict with measurement. Modeled audiences can look impressive on reach and CPM, then disappoint on incremental conversions.

Ask vendors three questions before testing:

• What data sources train the model?
• How often is the audience refreshed?
• How will we measure incrementality, not just attributed conversions?

Measurement: the part advertisers skip

Automated expansion makes reporting trickier. You need to separate more reach from better reach.

Track these metrics together:

• CPA or ROAS, depending on campaign objective
• Conversion quality, such as MQL to SQL rate or purchase margin
• New customer rate
• Incremental reach and frequency
• Search lift or branded query movement after video campaigns
• LTV to CAC for paid acquisition cohorts

A practical test: duplicate the old logic as closely as possible in one controlled campaign, then test optimized targeting or Demand Gen lookalikes against it with the same budget range, creative quality, and conversion action. Do not judge after three days. Give the system enough conversion volume to learn, but set a stop-loss before it burns a month of spend.

A practical rebuild plan

If you lost Similar Audiences and need reach back, use this order:

1. Rebuild seed audiences. Create Customer Match, remarketing, high-value customer, and CRM-stage lists.
2. Fix conversion quality. Use revenue, qualified leads, or offline conversion imports where possible.
3. Map tools to goals. Optimized targeting for performance, audience expansion for video reach, Performance Max signals for cross-channel campaigns, and Demand Gen lookalikes for visual prospecting.
4. Add custom segments. Build from keywords, competitor domains, apps, and high-intent content themes.
5. Test third-party modeled audiences. Use DV360 or programmatic partners only with clear incrementality measurement.
6. Report business outcomes. Leadership cares about pipeline, revenue, CAC, ROAS, churn impact, and LTV. Audience names are secondary.

To be blunt, the old Similar Audiences setup was simpler. It was also easier to run lazily. The new model rewards advertisers who bring cleaner data, sharper creative, and better measurement discipline.

What to learn next

Start with your highest-value seed list this week. Clean it, upload it through Customer Match, and use it in one controlled test: Demand Gen lookalikes if you need prospecting reach, or optimized targeting if you need conversion volume from Display or Video Action.

If you are developing a team, pair hands-on Google Ads practice with Universal Business Council training in digital marketing, analytics, and marketing management. The professionals who grow reach after audience changes will be the ones who understand both the ad platform and the business data behind it.