PPC & PAID ADVERTISING
Google remarketing in 2026 requires Consent Mode v2 implementation for all UK and EU advertisers, with the Google tag (gtag.js) providing unified tracking across all Google products. Third-party cookies remain in Chrome after Google reversed its deprecation plans in July 2024, but 47% of web traffic is already cookieless due to Safari and Firefox restrictions. Whitehat's PPC team recommends prioritising first-party data collection through HubSpot CRM integration alongside Google's native remarketing capabilities.
Google Remarketing in 2026: The Complete Technical Guide for UK Advertisers
Google's original privacy plan has been entirely reversed. In July 2024, Google announced it would not phase out third-party cookies in Chrome. By October 2025, Google retired the Topics API, Protected Audience API, and Attribution Reporting API due to low adoption. The only surviving Privacy Sandbox technologies are CHIPS, FedCM, and Private State Tokens—none of which replace traditional remarketing.
This reversal doesn't reduce privacy requirements for UK advertisers. The ICO reviewed the top 1,000 UK websites in 2025, finding 134 of the top 200 non-compliant before enforcement action. By December 2025, 95% achieved compliance. The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, passed in June, raised PECR fines to £17.5 million or 4% of global turnover, aligning with GDPR penalties.
⚠️ Compliance Alert: All UK and EU advertisers must use a Google-certified CMP integrated with IAB TCF v2.2. Cookie banners must offer "Reject All" with equal prominence to "Accept All". Whitehat's GDPR compliance guide covers the full requirements.
Consent Mode v2 became mandatory for UK/EU advertisers targeting audiences in these regions from March 2024. Without proper implementation, Google Ads restricts remarketing capabilities, conversion tracking fails for non-consented users, and accounts risk suspension.
| Parameter | Purpose | Required For |
|---|---|---|
ad_storage |
Enables storage for advertising cookies | Remarketing lists, conversion tracking |
analytics_storage |
Enables storage for analytics cookies | GA4 audiences, cross-device tracking |
ad_user_data |
Consent for sending user data to Google | Enhanced conversions, Customer Match |
ad_personalization |
Consent for personalised advertising | Remarketing, similar audiences |
Basic Consent Mode prevents Google tags from loading until a user interacts with a consent banner. No data is sent to Google before user interaction. When consent is denied, no data transfers at all—not even consent status.
Advanced Consent Mode sends cookieless pings to Google even when consent is denied, enabling conversion modelling that can recover up to 70% of lost conversion data. Google recommends Advanced mode for better measurement accuracy, but it requires careful compliance review with your legal team.
The Google tag (gtag.js) now provides unified tagging across all Google products. A critical update takes effect 10 April 2025: Google Tag Manager containers with Google Ads tags will automatically load a Google tag first. Whitehat recommends manually adding the Google tag using the "Initialization - All Pages" trigger before this date.
Google Tag Manager remains the recommended implementation method for remarketing, offering centralised management, preview and debug capabilities, version control, and native Consent Mode integration. The basic setup requires:
The Conversion Linker stores the GCLID in first-party cookies (_gcl_aw), which is essential for attribution in browsers with cookie restrictions. For dynamic remarketing, your data layer must pass product information matching your Merchant Center feed exactly—product ID mismatches are the most common cause of dynamic remarketing failures.
Account-level enhanced conversions must be configured by October 2025 or Google will automatically upgrade accounts. Enhanced conversions send hashed first-party data (SHA256) to improve measurement accuracy. At minimum, collect email, phone number, or full name plus postal address. This integrates well with HubSpot CRM data when properly configured.
Google Ads has renamed "remarketing" to "your data segments" and consolidated audience management under Tools → Shared Library → Audience Manager. This terminology change reflects the shift toward first-party data and privacy-compliant targeting methods.
The Customer Match minimum reduction to 100 users opens remarketing opportunities for smaller businesses. However, a 540-day maximum retention limit for Customer Match lists takes effect in April 2025—existing lists must comply. Combined segments now allow AND/NOT logic for sophisticated targeting strategies.
Important: Lookalike segments (narrow 2.5%, balanced 5%, or broad 10%) are now only available in Demand Gen campaigns. They're no longer supported in Search, Display, or Performance Max campaigns.
Linking GA4 to Google Ads enables remarketing audiences built from behavioural data and machine learning predictions. All GA4 audiences automatically export to Google Ads when personalisation is enabled—they appear within 24-48 hours under Tools → Audience Manager, filtered by "Source: Google Analytics (GA4) and Firebase."
GA4's predictive audiences offer significant targeting advantages that Whitehat's analytics team considers essential for modern remarketing strategies:
Template audiences like "Likely 7-day purchasers" (90th percentile purchase probability) enable proactive targeting of high-intent users before they convert elsewhere. The eligibility requirements are demanding: you need at least 1,000 returning purchasing users AND 1,000 returning non-purchasing users within any 7-day period over the past 28 days.
GA4 uses four identity spaces in priority order: User-ID (your login system), Google Signals (Google account users), Device ID (cookies), and Modelling (machine learning for non-consenting users). The "Blended" reporting identity setting provides the most complete cross-device picture.
Implementing User-ID dramatically improves accuracy—assign consistent, non-PII identifiers via the data layer when users authenticate. This integrates seamlessly with HubSpot's ads integration for comprehensive cross-platform attribution.
Performance Max automatically includes remarketing but provides no direct control. Dynamic remarketing activates automatically when Merchant Center is connected and the site is tagged. The campaign tends to prioritise warm traffic for easier conversions, but you cannot run PMax exclusively for remarketing or see budget splits between prospecting and remarketing.
Audience signals guide the algorithm but aren't targeting constraints—Google may ignore them if the AI finds better converters elsewhere. For businesses requiring precise remarketing control, this limitation is significant.
Demand Gen campaigns (which replaced Discovery in March 2024) offer dedicated remarketing support with actual targeting control. Whitehat's PPC management team recommends separating remarketing and prospecting into different Demand Gen campaigns for clearer budget control and performance analysis.
Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) remains powerful for targeting past visitors searching your keywords. Two modes exist: targeting mode (ads only show to remarketing list members) and observation mode (collect data and apply bid adjustments). The minimum 1,000-user requirement remains for RLSA.
The highest-priority segments are cart abandoners, pricing page visitors, product viewers, and lead form starters—users demonstrating clear purchase intent. Filter for high-intent page visits rather than all visitors to prevent wasted spend on bounced sessions.
Create timeframe-based segments matching your sales cycle:
| Segment | Timeframe | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Hot leads | 0-7 days | Highest intent, highest CPCs justified |
| Standard | 8-30 days | Default remarketing, balanced cost/intent |
| Consideration | 31-90 days | B2B, high-consideration purchases |
| Long cycle | 91-540 days | Enterprise B2B, major purchases |
GA4's Time Lag report reveals your actual purchase cycle. Always create exclusion lists for recent converters to prevent wasted spend on users who've already purchased.
Cross-platform frequency management in DV360 can increase effectiveness by 32%. For businesses using multiple Google advertising products, consolidated frequency management prevents ad fatigue while maintaining reach.
Data-Driven Attribution is now the default for all new conversion actions—Google retired first click, linear, time decay, and position-based models in 2024. Only DDA and Last Click remain. DDA uses machine learning to analyse conversion paths, giving credit to valuable touchpoints. It works best with 200+ conversions and 2,000+ ad interactions monthly but functions at any volume.
Membership duration should align with purchase cycles: 7 days for fast purchases, 30 days for consumer goods, 60-90 days for high-consideration items, and 180-540 days for B2B or major purchases. The maximum retention period is 540 days.
Remarketing consistently outperforms prospecting across all metrics. Understanding these benchmarks helps set realistic expectations and identify optimisation opportunities.
| Metric | Remarketing | Standard Display |
|---|---|---|
| Conversion rate | 2-3× higher | Baseline |
| Click-through rate | Up to 10× higher | Baseline |
| First-visit conversion | — | Only 3% |
| Conversion likelihood | 43% more likely | Baseline |
Budget allocation recommendations follow the 60/30/10 framework: 60% for awareness, 30% for remarketing warm audiences, and 10% for highly engaged prospects. Growth-stage companies typically allocate 10-15% to remarketing; established enterprises may allocate up to 50%. Ensure remarketing audiences have at least 1,000 users before heavy investment.
Yes. Since March 2024, Google Ads requires UK and EU advertisers to implement Consent Mode v2 for conversion tracking and remarketing. Without proper implementation, remarketing capabilities are restricted, conversion tracking fails for non-consented users, and accounts may be suspended. All advertisers must use a Google-certified CMP integrated with IAB TCF v2.2.
Display Network campaigns require 100 active users minimum. Search Network (RLSA) requires 1,000 active users. Customer Match now requires only 100 users across all networks (reduced from 1,000 in December 2024). Lookalike segments in Demand Gen campaigns need a 1,000-user seed list, though this was reduced to 100 for smaller advertisers at Google Marketing Live 2024.
No. Performance Max automatically includes remarketing but provides no direct control over audience targeting or budget allocation between remarketing and prospecting. Audience signals guide the algorithm but aren't constraints—Google may ignore them. For precise remarketing control, use Demand Gen campaigns, which offer dedicated remarketing support with actual targeting constraints.
GA4 predictive audiences use machine learning to identify users likely to purchase within 7 days, likely to churn, or predicted to generate high revenue over 28 days. Requirements are demanding: at least 1,000 returning purchasing users AND 1,000 returning non-purchasing users within any 7-day period over the past 28 days. Purchase events must include value and currency parameters.
Lookalike segments (narrow 2.5%, balanced 5%, or broad 10%) are now only available in Demand Gen campaigns. They're no longer supported in Search, Display, or Performance Max campaigns. Create them with minimum 1,000-user seed lists. This is one of the key reasons Demand Gen campaigns have become essential for sophisticated remarketing strategies.
Success in Google remarketing for 2026 requires immediate attention to compliance and strategic use of first-party data. Here's what to prioritise:
The shift from third-party cookies to first-party data strategies is permanent regardless of Chrome's reversal—building robust data collection now creates competitive advantage. Whitehat's marketing services team helps UK businesses implement compliant, high-performing remarketing campaigns that integrate seamlessly with HubSpot and broader inbound strategies.
Whitehat's PPC team specialises in compliant, high-ROI remarketing campaigns for UK B2B companies. Get a free audit of your current setup.
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