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Google Ads

Overview​

The Google Ads connector exports DMP audiences directly to Google Ads as Customer Match user lists, making them available for targeting in your campaigns.

Each audience selected for export is uploaded as a separate Customer Match user list. Members are sent through Google's Data Manager API in batches.

Google's APIs do not support clearing a user list, so the connector is append-only: on each run, members are added to the matching list, and members who are no longer in the audience age out automatically once they reach the membership duration you configure. To produce a clean snapshot per run instead, use a date-tokenized name suffix (see Step 4).

Prerequisites​

Setting up the connector requires steps in Google Cloud and in Google Ads before you configure the export in Decentriq. A single service account can be reused for several Google Ads accounts.

In Google Cloud​

  1. Open or create a Google Cloud project (console.cloud.google.com).
  2. Enable both the Google Ads API and the Data Manager API (APIs & Services → Library).
  3. Create a service account (IAM & Admin → Service accounts). No project roles are required.
  4. On that service account, create a JSON key (Keys → Add key → Create new key → JSON) and download it. This JSON file is the credential you will paste into Decentriq. Note the service account's email (for example dmp-export@my-project.iam.gserviceaccount.com).

In Google Ads​

  1. Sign in to the Google Ads account that will receive the audiences and note its Customer ID — the 10-digit number shown at the top of the account (for example 123-456-7890).

  2. Grant the service account access: go to Admin → Access and security → Users, click +, enter the service account email, and assign Standard (or Admin) access. A service account does not receive an email invitation — access applies immediately, though it can take a few minutes to propagate.

    caution

    Add the service account directly to the customer account you will configure in Decentriq. Manager-account (MCC) routing is not supported: granting access only on a parent manager account is not sufficient — the service account must be a user on the specific customer account whose ID you enter in Decentriq.

  3. The account must be eligible for Customer Match. Eligibility depends on the account's standing and policy compliance (see Google's Customer Match policy). Audiences will only become usable for targeting once the account is eligible.

You must have obtained the user consent required for Customer Match for the data you upload — you confirm this when configuring the export.

The service-account credentials are encrypted and stored securely by Decentriq.

Step-by-step guide​

Step 1: Select the destination​

Follow the steps to create a new export and select Google Ads from the list of connectors.

Step 2: Configure connection​

Click Continue to proceed to connection configuration. Enter the required connection details:

  • Customer ID: Your Google Ads customer ID (10 digits).
  • Service account credentials: Paste the full contents of the service-account JSON key created in Google Cloud.

Step 3: Select audiences​

Click Continue to proceed to audience selection. Select the identifier to use for matching:

  • Email (SHA256 hashed)

Emails must be pre-hashed with SHA256 by the publisher before they reach the DMP — the connector does not hash on your behalf.

Then choose the audiences to export. Multiple audiences can be selected; each will be uploaded as its own Customer Match user list.

Step 4: Configure the export​

Click Continue to proceed to export configuration:

  • Export name: The name of this export configuration in the DMP.
  • Google Ads user list names: A preview of the names the exported lists will have in Google Ads, derived from each audience's name in the DMP. On each run, the connector finds the existing list by name and appends new members to it (it does not overwrite). To create a fresh list per run instead, set a suffix below.
  • Audience name suffix: An optional suffix appended to each list name. Supports the date tokens {yyyy}, {mm}, {dd}, and {q}, which are replaced with the export date (for example, " - {yyyy}-{mm}-{dd}" becomes - 2026-05-04).
  • Description: An optional description applied to the user lists created in Google Ads.
  • Membership duration: How long (in days, 1–10000) a member remains in the list before expiring. Because the connector is append-only, this is how members who have left the audience age out.
  • Consent: Confirm that you have obtained the user consent required for Customer Match (ad user data and ad personalization). This is required — the export cannot be saved without it.
  • Schedule settings: Define how often the export should run (run once, daily, weekly, or monthly).

Step 5: Create the export​

Click Continue to create the export. Once created, the export appears in the Exports table with the export name provided in the previous step. From there, you can monitor its status, review execution history, and manage future runs.

After the first run​

The user list appears in Google Ads (Tools → Shared library → Audience manager → Your data segments) as soon as the first run completes. Google then processes the uploaded members before the list becomes usable and a match rate is shown — usually within a few hours, but up to 48 hours in some cases.

Note that, for privacy reasons, Google reports the list size as 0 until the list contains at least 1,000 matched members. A newly created or small list can therefore show a size of 0 even when the upload succeeded. Membership only populates for accounts that are eligible for Customer Match.