Visitors who Took Specific Actions

You can populate your audience list with people who have taken specific actions on your website. If you're using conversion tracking, you can target ads to people who previously triggered a conversion (such as a purchase) on your website.

You can also target ads to people who have taken a particular action on your website that you do not consider a conversion, such as when a person adds but then deletes an item from their shopping cart without making a purchase.

In either case, you would set the basic_user_list field of a UserList with a BasicUserListInfo object containing references to the conversions you are targeting.

Triggered a conversion

If you haven't yet created a conversion tracker, you can do so using ConversionActionService. You can then install the conversion tracker tag on your website.

A basic user list defines its membership as people who had triggered one or more conversion trackers on your website. When you create a basic user list, you provide the resource name of the ConversionAction to a UserListActionInfo object, which is ultimately passed to the UserList.

The following example creates a basic user list associated with two existing conversion trackers:

Java

private void runExample(
    GoogleAdsClient googleAdsClient, long customerId, List<Long> conversionActionIds) {
  List<UserListActionInfo> userListActionInfoList = new ArrayList<>();
  for (long conversionActionId : conversionActionIds) {
    // Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This specifies the
    // conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be added to a UserList.
    UserListActionInfo userListActionInfo =
        UserListActionInfo.newBuilder()
            .setConversionAction(ResourceNames.conversionAction(customerId, conversionActionId))
            .build();
    userListActionInfoList.add(userListActionInfo);
  }

  // Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
  BasicUserListInfo basicUserListInfo =
      BasicUserListInfo.newBuilder().addAllActions(userListActionInfoList).build();

  // Creates the basic user list.
  UserList basicUserList =
      UserList.newBuilder()
          .setName("Example BasicUserList #" + getPrintableDateTime())
          .setDescription("A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions")
          .setMembershipLifeSpan(365)
          .setBasicUserList(basicUserListInfo)
          .setMembershipStatus(UserListMembershipStatus.OPEN)
          .build();

  // Creates the operation.
  UserListOperation operation = UserListOperation.newBuilder().setCreate(basicUserList).build();

  // Creates the service client.
  try (UserListServiceClient userListServiceClient =
      googleAdsClient.getLatestVersion().createUserListServiceClient()) {
    // Adds the basic user list.
    MutateUserListsResponse response =
        userListServiceClient.mutateUserLists(
            Long.toString(customerId), ImmutableList.of(operation));
    // Prints the results.
    System.out.printf(
        "Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.%n",
        response.getResults(0).getResourceName());
  }
}
AddConversionBasedUserList.java
      

C#

public void Run(GoogleAdsClient client, long customerId, long[] conversionActionIds)
{
    // Creates the service client.
    UserListServiceClient userListServiceClient =
        client.GetService(Services.V14.UserListService);

    List<UserListActionInfo> userListActionInfoList = new List<UserListActionInfo>();
    foreach (long conversionActionId in conversionActionIds)
    {
        // Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This
        // specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be
        // added to a UserList.
        userListActionInfoList.Add(new UserListActionInfo
        {
            ConversionAction =
                ResourceNames.ConversionAction(customerId, conversionActionId)
        });
    }

    // Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
    BasicUserListInfo basicUserListInfo = new BasicUserListInfo();
    basicUserListInfo.Actions.Add(userListActionInfoList);

    // Creates the basic user list.
    UserList basicUserList = new UserList
    {
        Name = $"Example BasicUserList #{ExampleUtilities.GetShortRandomString()}",
        Description = "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions",
        MembershipLifeSpan = 365L,
        BasicUserList = basicUserListInfo,
        MembershipStatus = UserListMembershipStatus.Open
    };

    // Creates the operation.
    UserListOperation operation = new UserListOperation
    {
        Create = basicUserList
    };

    try
    {
        // Adds the new user list.
        MutateUserListsResponse response = userListServiceClient.MutateUserLists
            (customerId.ToString(), new[] { operation });

        // Prints the result.
        Console.WriteLine("Created basic user list with resource name: " +
            $"{response.Results.First().ResourceName}");
    }
    catch (GoogleAdsException e)
    {
        Console.WriteLine("Failure:");
        Console.WriteLine($"Message: {e.Message}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Failure: {e.Failure}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Request ID: {e.RequestId}");
        throw;
    }
}
AddConversionBasedUserList.cs
      

PHP

public static function runExample(
    GoogleAdsClient $googleAdsClient,
    int $customerId,
    array $conversionActionIds
) {
    $userListActionInfoList = [];
    foreach ($conversionActionIds as $conversionActionId) {
        // Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This specifies
        // the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to be added to a
        // UserList.
        $userListActionInfoList[] = new UserListActionInfo([
            'conversion_action' => ResourceNames::forConversionAction(
                $customerId,
                $conversionActionId
            )
        ]);
    }

    // Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
    $basicUserListInfo = new BasicUserListInfo(['actions' => $userListActionInfoList]);

    // Creates the basic user list.
    $basicUserList = new UserList([
        'name' => 'Example BasicUserList #' . Helper::getPrintableDatetime(),
        'description' => 'A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions',
        'membership_status' => UserListMembershipStatus::OPEN,
        'membership_life_span' => 365,
        'basic_user_list' => $basicUserListInfo
    ]);

    // Creates the operation.
    $operation = new UserListOperation();
    $operation->setCreate($basicUserList);

    // Issues a mutate request to add the user list and prints some information.
    $userListServiceClient = $googleAdsClient->getUserListServiceClient();
    $response = $userListServiceClient->mutateUserLists(
        MutateUserListsRequest::build($customerId, [$operation])
    );
    printf(
        "Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.%s",
        $response->getResults()[0]->getResourceName(),
        PHP_EOL
    );
}
AddConversionBasedUserList.php
      

Python

def main(client, customer_id, conversion_action_ids):
    """Creates a combination user list.

    Args:
        client: The Google Ads client.
        customer_id: The customer ID for which to add the user list.
        conversion_action_ids: The IDs of the conversion actions for the basic
            user list.
    """
    # Get the UserListService and ConversionActionService clients.
    user_list_service = client.get_service("UserListService")
    conversion_action_service = client.get_service("ConversionActionService")

    # Create a list of UserListActionInfo objects for the given conversion
    # actions. These specify the conversion actions that, when triggered, will
    # cause a user to be added to a UserList.
    user_list_action_info_list = []
    for conversion_action_id in conversion_action_ids:
        user_list_action_info = client.get_type("UserListActionInfo")
        user_list_action_info.conversion_action = conversion_action_service.conversion_action_path(
            customer_id, conversion_action_id
        )
        user_list_action_info_list.append(user_list_action_info)

    # Create a UserListOperation and populate the UserList.
    user_list_operation = client.get_type("UserListOperation")
    user_list = user_list_operation.create
    user_list.name = f"Example BasicUserList #{uuid4()}"
    user_list.description = (
        "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions"
    )
    user_list.membership_status = client.enums.UserListMembershipStatusEnum.OPEN
    user_list.membership_life_span = 365
    # The basic user list info object contains the conversion action info.
    user_list.basic_user_list.actions.extend(user_list_action_info_list)

    # Issue a mutate request to add the user list, then print the results.
    response = user_list_service.mutate_user_lists(
        customer_id=customer_id, operations=[user_list_operation]
    )
    print(
        "Created basic user list with resource name "
        f"'{response.results[0].resource_name}.'"
    )
add_conversion_based_user_list.py
      

Ruby

def add_conversion_based_user_list(customer_id, conversion_action_ids)
  # GoogleAdsClient will read a config file from
  # ENV['HOME']/google_ads_config.rb when called without parameters
  client = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::GoogleAdsClient.new

  # Creates the basic user list.
  operation = client.operation.create_resource.user_list do |u|
    u.name = "Example BasicUserList ##{(Time.new.to_f * 100).to_i}"
    u.description = "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions"
    u.membership_status = :OPEN
    u.membership_life_span = 365
    # Creates a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
    u.basic_user_list = client.resource.basic_user_list_info do |info|
      conversion_action_ids.each do |conversion_action_id|
        # Creates the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action.
        # This specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a
        # user to be added to a user_list.
        info.actions << client.resource.user_list_action_info do |action|
          action.conversion_action =
            client.path.conversion_action(customer_id, conversion_action_id)
        end
      end
    end
  end

  # Issues a mutate request to add the user list and prints some information.
  response = client.service.user_list.mutate_user_lists(
    customer_id: customer_id,
    operations: [operation],
  )

  puts "Created basic user list with resource name " \
    "#{response.results.first.resource_name}"
end
add_conversion_based_user_list.rb
      

Perl

sub add_conversion_based_user_list {
  my ($api_client, $customer_id, $conversion_action_ids) = @_;

  my $user_list_action_info_list = [];
  foreach my $conversion_action_id (@$conversion_action_ids) {
    # Create the UserListActionInfo object for a given conversion action. This
    # specifies the conversion action that, when triggered, will cause a user to
    # be added to a UserList.
    push @$user_list_action_info_list,
      Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V14::Common::UserListActionInfo->new({
        conversionAction =>
          Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V14::Utils::ResourceNames::conversion_action(
          $customer_id, $conversion_action_id
          )});
  }

  # Create a basic user list info object with all of the conversion actions.
  my $basic_user_list_info =
    Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V14::Common::BasicUserListInfo->new({
      actions => $user_list_action_info_list
    });

  # Create the basic user list.
  my $basic_user_list = Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V14::Resources::UserList->new({
    name        => "Example BasicUserList #" . uniqid(),
    description =>
      "A list of people who have triggered one or more conversion actions",
    membershipStatus   => OPEN,
    membershipLifeSpan => 365,
    basicUserList      => $basic_user_list_info
  });

  # Create the operation.
  my $user_list_operation =
    Google::Ads::GoogleAds::V14::Services::UserListService::UserListOperation->
    new({
      create => $basic_user_list
    });

  # Issue a mutate request to add the user list and print some information.
  my $user_lists_response = $api_client->UserListService()->mutate({
      customerId => $customer_id,
      operations => [$user_list_operation]});

  printf
    "Created basic user list with resource name '%s'.\n",
    $user_lists_response->{results}[0]{resourceName};

  return 1;
}
add_conversion_based_user_list.pl
      

Non-conversion actions

You can create a basic user list for people who took actions on your website that you do not consider conversions by associating it with a RemarketingAction instead of a ConversionAction. The example below demonstrates how to create a RemarketingAction and retrieve the associated site tags.

Key Point: A RemarketingAction does not appear in the Conversions section of the Google Ads UI. Its status is always set to HIDDEN and cannot be changed.