The Keyword is Dead; Long Live the Intent Signal
For a decade, Brisbane business owners were told that Google Ads was a simple game of matching keywords. You bid on "plumber Brisbane," you showed up, you got a lead. Those days are gone. If you are still building campaigns based purely on keyword lists, you are overpaying for mediocre traffic.
In 2026, Google’s AI doesn't just look at what someone types; it looks at who they are. This is where Audience Signals come in. Most agencies treat these as an optional "extra" or a passive observation layer. They’re wrong. Audience signals are the steering wheel for Google’s machine learning. Without them, you’re just a passenger in a car headed toward a budget blowout.
What Are Audience Signals (And Why Most Get Them Wrong)?
Audience signals are not targets. This is the biggest point of confusion for beginners. In a Performance Max or Demand Gen campaign, an audience signal is a suggestion you give to Google to say, "Start by looking for people like this."
Google then takes that data and finds patterns. If you provide junk data, Google finds more junk. If you provide high-intent data, you unlock smart bidding strategies that actually work because the algorithm knows exactly what a 'converter' looks like.
The Three Pillars of a Winning Signal
1. Your Own Data (Customer Match): This is the gold standard. Uploading your hashed customer email lists tells Google, "Find more people exactly like my existing clients." It is the most powerful signal you have. 2. Custom Intent (Search Themes): Forget broad keywords. Use custom segments based on what people have actually searched for on Google. For a boutique gym in Newstead, this isn't just "gym"; it’s "best HIIT classes near me" or "private personal trainer reviews." 3. Interests and Demographics: This is the weakest signal but useful for scale. It defines the lifestyle and habits of your persona.
Stop Chasing Clicks, Start Training the Machine
I see it every week: Brisbane SMEs spending thousands on "awareness" clicks that never turn into revenue. They blame the platform, but the reality is they haven't trained the machine.
If your landing page conversion is poor, Google’s AI gets confused. It sees people clicking but not buying, so it starts looking for more people who like to click but not buy. You must break this cycle by feeding it high-quality audience signals from the start.
Why "Observation" Mode is a Waste of Time
Many old-school consultants suggest running audiences in "Observation" mode first. In the modern era of automated campaigns, this is often a cowardly approach. It’s a way of saying, "I don’t know who your customer is, so let's wait and see."
Directly applying signals allows you to bypass the "learning phase" faster. You should have a clear profile of your ideal customer before you spend a single cent. If you don't know who they are, your marketing strategy has bigger problems than Google Ads.
How to Build an Audience Signal That Actually Converts
To master audience signals, you need to combine your internal knowledge with Google's massive data pool. Here is the framework we use at Local Marketing Group:
The "Heavy Hitter" Segment: Create a custom segment of people who have visited your competitors' websites. If you’re a commercial lawyer in the CBD, target people who have frequented the sites of other top-tier firms. The Recency Filter: Don't just target "home buyers." Target people who have searched for "mortgage rates" in the last 7 days. Recency is the difference between a lead and a ghost.
- The Re-engagement Loop: Use signals to re-engage Brisbane leads who abandoned their cart or spent more than two minutes on your service page but didn't call.
The Verdict: Data is the New Keyword
If your agency is still talking to you about "keyword density" in your ads but hasn't asked for your customer email list, they are living in 2015. Google Ads is now an AI-driven competition. The winner isn't the one with the biggest keyword list; it’s the one who provides the best data to the algorithm.
Audience signals are your way of telling the machine who matters. Ignore them, and you’re just donating money to Google's bottom line.
Ready to stop wasting your ad spend?
At Local Marketing Group, we don't just set and forget. We build data-driven strategies that help Brisbane businesses dominate their niche. If your Google Ads feel like a black box of wasted budget, it’s time for a change.
Contact Local Marketing Group today and let’s fix your signals.