Google Ads Has Lowered Audience Size Requirements. Here’s Why That Matters

Google Ads has quietly rolled out a change that most advertisers will miss, but it fixes a long-standing frustration, especially if you manage smaller or more specialised accounts.

For years, audience targeting in Google Ads came with a hard minimum. If your list didn’t reach 1,000 users, it simply couldn’t serve on Search. You could build the list, wait patiently, check back a few weeks later, and still see “Too small to serve”. Anyone running B2B, local services, niche ecommerce, or smaller businesses will know how common that was.

That minimum has now been reduced to 100 active users across Search, Display, and YouTube.

Why this Matters for Real Accounts

This change is particularly useful if you work with businesses that don’t drive thousands of visitors every month. That includes specialist consultants, B2B SaaS, local services, and smaller businesses with limited but high-intent traffic.

A typical small business site might only see a few hundred visitors a month. Under the old rules, most remarketing strategies were effectively off the table. Now, lists like “visited pricing page”, “started a form”, or “previous converters” can actually be used within Search campaigns.

That means smaller advertisers can stop treating every searcher the same. If someone has already been on the site, shown intent, or engaged before, you can factor that into bidding decisions without needing enterprise-level traffic volumes.

How to Use this Without Forcing it

This isn’t an excuse to launch aggressive, audience-only campaigns on tiny lists. If you try to run Search ads solely against 120 users, delivery will still be limited and inconsistent. That part hasn’t changed.

Where this update really helps is audience layering. You keep your keyword targeting as normal, but allow Google to adjust bids or prioritise users who already have some intent history with the brand.

In practice, that means someone who’s already been on your site might see your ad more often, or in a stronger position, when they search again. That’s how audiences add value rather than complexity.

A Quick Note on Rollout and Eligibility

Not every account will show this immediately. Google is rolling the change out gradually, so some audiences may still show “too small” warnings for now.

It’s also worth checking membership duration. A list with 100 users spread over months won’t behave the same as 100 users from the last 30 days. Recency still matters.

Final Thoughts

This isn’t a flashy update, but it’s an impactful one. It removes an unnecessary barrier and makes audience signals more accessible to accounts that were previously locked out, including smaller businesses that were never going to hit 1,000 users in the first place.

If you’ve written off remarketing lists because they never reached the old threshold, it’s worth revisiting them. There’s a good chance they’re usable now, and better audience signals usually lead to better decisions in accounts.