Skip to main content
Mobius
Intermediate

What is retargeting

Also known as: remarketing, retargeting ads

Definition

Retargeting is showing ads to people who already visited your site or engaged with your page, to bring back those who left without buying or booking.

Why it matters

Most visitors leave without writing or booking, and retargeting is the most direct way to remind them.

Common mistakes

Trusting the report's credit, when part of the people it reached would have come back anyway.

Related terms

Worked exampleIllustration

The retargeting test of a fictional pilates studio

A fictional neighbourhood pilates studio checks how many bookings its retargeting ads really add.

  1. The visits

    The site gets 600 visits a month, 400 of them from the Google ads, and 40 people write, call or book.

    600 − 40 = 560

  2. The audience

    The other 560 enter a 30 day retargeting audience. The owner excludes the 40 and the current members.

  3. The ad

    A member's review and the class schedule, capped at a few views a week, with no health claim.

  4. Ads on

    In two weeks with the ads running, 6 past visitors book.

    6

  5. Ads paused

    In two weeks with the ads paused, 4 past visitors book.

    4

  6. What the ads added

    The difference between the two periods.

    6 − 4 = about 2

The ads added about 2 bookings, not 6. A pause is a rough test, weeks differ, but it is the owner's own number.

Illustration

The window has a shelf life

  1. Site visit
  2. Exit without buying
  3. Retargeting ad
  4. Return and convert
With the studio's 30 day window, about 560 people are in the audience, and only 23% of them visited in the last week, where interest is highest. The rest are reminders to people who are cooling off.⁨⁦30⁩ day window⁩⁨Interest after the visit⁩0306090⁨Days since the visit⁩

People in the audience≈ 560

Visited in the last 7 days23%

With the studio's 30 day window, about 560 people are in the audience, and only 23% of them visited in the last week, where interest is highest. The rest are reminders to people who are cooling off.

The audience sizes come from the worked example: 560 people a month, about 19 a day, so a window of N days holds about N days of visitors. The fading line is a drawn shape, not a measured return rate. Compare two windows the way the worked example compares ads on and off: by the bookings they add.

The fictional studio keeps each visitor in its retargeting audience for a set number of days. The green line is how interest fades after a visit, the gold area the days the ads still reach them.

Who the retargeting ads reach

With the ads on, 6 past visitors book. The report gives all 6 to retargeting, but 4 booked in the paused weeks too, so the ads added about 2.
  • Wrote, called or booked, left out: 40
  • In the 30 day audience: 560
  • Booked in the paused weeks too: 4
  • Added by the ads: 2

With the ads on, 6 past visitors book. The report gives all 6 to retargeting, but 4 booked in the paused weeks too, so the ads added about 2.

One dot is one visit to the fictional studio's site in a month. The 40 who already wrote, called or booked are left out, and the other 560 enter a 30 day audience.

Definition

Retargeting shows ads to people who already met the business: they visited the site, watched a video or engaged with the Instagram or Facebook page, and left without writing, booking or buying. The platform builds that audience from a tracking code on the site or from its own record of who engaged, and keeps each person in it for a set time. Google calls the same idea remarketing. It follows up with people who already know you, it does not find new ones, and it works only when the audience is large enough: both platforms set a minimum size before they show ads to a list.

Why it matters

Its reports often make it look better than it is, because part of the people it reaches would have come back anyway. So the useful question is not how many bookings the report credits to retargeting, but how many it adds, which a small business can test by pausing it for a while.

Directly related: Attribution, Customer Journey, Conversion Rate.

Improvement tips

  • Exclude people who already wrote, booked or bought, and your current customers.
  • Cap how often one person sees the ads, so a reminder does not turn into a nuisance.
  • Show something new: a customer's review, the schedule, an answer to a common question, not the ad they already ignored.
  • With little site traffic, build the audience from people who engaged with your Instagram or Facebook page or watched your videos.
  • Test what it adds: pause it for two weeks and compare your own bookings.

Common mistakes

  • Showing the same ad for weeks to the same small audience.
  • Not excluding people who already booked, so they keep seeing an offer they already used.
  • Running retargeting for a health or cosmetic treatment on Google without reading its health policy, which restricts the audiences you build yourself.

Related terms

MarketingAdvanced

Attribution

Attribution is how credit for a sale is split between the ads and channels a customer met before buying. The rule you choose, the model, decides the split.

MarketingIntermediate

Customer Journey

A customer journey is the whole path a customer walks with your business, seen from their side, from first hearing of you to buying, using and coming back.

MarketingBeginner

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the share of people who took the step you count, such as booking or buying, out of those who reached the stage before it, like clicks.

MarketingIntermediate

CPA

CPA (cost per acquisition) is what you pay on average for one conversion you chose to count, such as a booking or a sale: spend divided by those conversions.

SalesBeginner

Lead

A lead is a person or business that showed interest in what you sell and left a way to reach them, such as a phone number, before you check if they can buy.

Quick check

With retargeting on for two weeks, 6 past visitors booked. With it paused for two weeks, 4 booked. About how many bookings did the ads add?

Choose an answer

Frequently asked questions

What is retargeting in plain words?
Showing your ads again to people who already visited your site or engaged with your page, and left without writing, booking or buying. It is a reminder to people who already know you.
Is retargeting the same as remarketing?
Yes, the same idea under two names. Remarketing is the word Google uses, and retargeting is the word most others use.
Is my site big enough for retargeting?
It may not be. Both platforms set a minimum audience size before they show ads to a list, and a maximum time a visitor stays on it, and both change over time, so check them in your account. With few visits, build the audience from people who engaged with your Instagram or Facebook page or watched a video.
Can I retarget people who wrote to me on WhatsApp?
The platforms build audiences from your site and your pages. To reach people who wrote to you on WhatsApp, the usual way is a customer list you upload yourself, and that list is personal data: Israel's Privacy Protection Law, 1981, as amended by Amendment 13, in force since 14 August 2025, governs collecting and using it. Educational material, not legal or tax advice. Check your own case with a lawyer or an accountant.
Does a tracking code on my site raise privacy questions?
Yes. A tracking code collects data about the people who visit your site, and Israel's Privacy Protection Law, 1981, as amended by Amendment 13, in force since 14 August 2025, governs collecting and using personal details, including when you track visitors. Check what your code collects before you turn it on. Educational material, not legal or tax advice. Check your own case with a lawyer or an accountant.
I run a clinic or a cosmetics business. Can I use retargeting?
On Google, read its health policy first. Its personalized advertising rules treat health as a sensitive category, which names invasive medical procedures, including cosmetic surgery, surgical procedures, or injections, and in that category advertisers cannot use audiences they built themselves, such as visitor or customer lists. On Meta, read its own advertising policies before you start.
How much of my budget should go to retargeting?
There is no correct share. Start small, cap how often people see the ads, and judge it by the bookings it adds, which you can test by pausing it for two weeks.
What should a retargeting ad say?
Something the person has not seen yet: a customer's review, the schedule, an answer to the question people ask most. No pressure, no promise of results, and for a health related service no health claim.
How often should one person see my retargeting ads?
Few enough that it stays a reminder. Set a frequency cap in the campaign, change the ad every few weeks, and stop showing it to people who already booked.
Why does retargeting look so good in the reports?
Because it reaches people who already showed interest, and some of them would have come back anyway. The report credits the ad for their booking. A pause test shows how many bookings the ads really added.
How do I test whether retargeting works for me?
Run it for two weeks, pause it for two similar weeks, and compare the bookings from past visitors in your own calendar. In the example above the report showed 6 and the test showed about 2.
Do I need a developer to set up retargeting?
Usually not. Most site builders let you add the platform's tracking code in their settings, and the ad platforms guide you through it. A developer helps when the code does not fire or the site is custom built.

Sources: Google Advertising Policies Help, "Health in personalized advertising" (support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/16701855), Privacy Protection Authority, Amendment 13 questions and answers (gov.il/he/pages/tikun13_qa)

Last reviewed: 2026-09-24

I have worked with

What Clients Say

From different fields, at different stages of business

Dan Manto

Eclipse Capital

Real Estate Investment and Finance, USA

Arty McLabin

GameReady

Game Development Education and Outsourcing, International

Anna, Beautician

Anna

Beautician

After I finished a cosmetology course at a leading company, I was confused. I didn't know how to open a business, what to sell from home, or how to bring in clients. Since I reached out to Mobius, everything has changed. We built an organized plan with clear steps and no unnecessary risks. Today I see results, and I'm growing and developing every month.

Mark, Massage therapist, Gan Yavne

Mark

Massage therapist, Gan Yavne

When I finished a massage course, I imagined a different world. I found out it's a hard field, and financial stability isn't easy to find. When I came to Mobius, something changed. We started an organized process and built a business plan. Without Mobius? I probably would have given up. Today I believe in myself and in my own path.

Not sure your marketing is paying off?

Alex helps Israeli businesses turn marketing spend into real customers. The first call is free.

+972 055-248-6151. Better on WhatsApp: I am in meetings most of the day and answer as soon as I am free.