A Quiet Policy Change with Big Consequences
Between mid-2024 and late autumn, Google Ads implemented a subtle yet highly influential update: reducing the Customer Match list minimum for Search campaigns from 1,000 to just 100 active users. While it didn’t arrive with fanfare, the shift is already proving valuable for advertisers with smaller customer pools.
This policy change enables advertisers to run targeted Search campaigns using far smaller audience lists. Until now, only those with significant databases could activate Customer Match for Google Search. Now, even businesses with modest customer segments can create campaigns aligned to their marketing goals and conversion attribution window.
Understanding Customer Match and Its Original Constraints
Customer Match allows advertisers to upload customer lists built on first-party data—email addresses, phone numbers, or app users. Once uploaded, Google attempts to match these individuals across its properties, including Google Search, YouTube, and the Google Display Network.
Previously, advertisers needed at least 1,000 active users (people who’d engaged in the last 30 days) to run search ads using Customer Match. This blocked many small businesses from accessing advanced targeting tools. With the new 100-user threshold, Google Ads Customer Match is more inclusive, enabling a broader array of advertisers to reach potential customers using precise data-driven PPC strategies.
Why 1,000 Was Too High for Most Advertisers
Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) often work with a limited customer pool. A 2024 report from the US Small Business Administration revealed that nearly 90% of SMBs have fewer than 1,000 entries in their databases. The previous requirement essentially ruled out these businesses from applying Customer Match in Search campaigns.
Now, companies operating on leaner data—like independent retailers, boutique service providers, or local trades—can reach known users at different stages of the marketing funnel. Whether it’s re-engaging warm leads or targeting conversion-ready customers, the change offers a route to better campaign performance.
Updated Requirements for Different Campaign Types
As of 2025, Google’s help documentation confirms the revised thresholds:
- Google Display Network: 100 active users with Customer Match
- YouTube: 100 active users using Customer Match lists
- Google Search: 100 active users via Customer Match; 1,000 required for other audience segments
This nuance is important. The reduced threshold applies only to first-party customer lists—not general remarketing audiences. This shift prioritises user privacy and compliance with increasing privacy regulations.
Key Benefits for Smaller Advertisers
Targeted Reactivation Campaigns
Businesses with seasonal peaks—tax consultants, wedding planners, or holiday venues—can now retarget past customers during peak periods. With just 100 matched users, Search campaigns can be aligned with specific campaign goals like reactivations or renewals.
Improved Budget Efficiency via Exclusions
Customer Match also allows advertisers to exclude specific users. This means existing clients can be removed from acquisition campaigns, focusing spend on net-new conversions. It’s a smart strategy for subscription-based services or apps with recurring billing.
Behaviour-Based Retargeting
Customer lists can be segmented by behaviour—e.g., those who abandoned carts or clicked high-performing keywords. These micro-audiences can be targeted with tailored messaging to improve click-through rate and conversion rates.
Upselling to Loyal Customers
Using existing customer lists, brands can target segments that previously purchased lower-value items and offer premium products or services. This approach suits businesses with defined product categories, such as tech accessories, pet care, or wellness services.
Defending Branded Search Queries
By targeting known users in branded campaigns, businesses can better shield their presence against competitor keywords and maintain SERP visibility. This is especially important in competitive industries with high CPCs.
Addressing Common Misconceptions
“The Interface Still Shows 1,000 Users”
While some parts of Google Ads’ UI haven’t caught up, the official policy reflects the 100-user requirement. Advertisers should refer to the documentation rather than interface warnings.
“All Lists Are Eligible at 100 Users”
Only Customer Match lists qualify for the lower threshold. Standard remarketing or lookalike audiences still require 1,000 active users. This distinction is essential to avoid unexpected performance issues or campaign ramp delays.
“Customer Match Is Overly Complex”
Setting up Customer Match is more straightforward than many assume. With CSV upload, hashed data, and improved account-level insights, much of the manual effort involved in audience creation has been reduced.
Why Google Made the Change
This update is part of a broader shift towards privacy-first advertising. With third-party cookies nearing deprecation in Chrome and increasing user sensitivity around tracking, Google Ads has doubled down on first-party data strategies.
Customer Match complies with user privacy standards because it’s based on consented data. Users voluntarily provide their contact details, making this tactic more compliant under frameworks like GDPR and CCPA. By promoting this audience approach, Google is offering advertisers a future-proof method of running targeted search ads.
Additionally, aligning thresholds across YouTube, Display, and Search simplifies campaign settings and reduces learning periods across campaign types. This means marketers can scale efforts more predictably, without adjusting audience strategies for each platform.
The Role of AI-Driven Campaigns in This Shift
The rollout of Performance Max and AI-driven campaign types has shifted attention to automation and machine learning. These campaigns use AI-driven audience insights to deliver ads across channels based on campaign goals, budget, and customer intent.
Customer Match now complements this model. Advertisers can feed their customer lists into Performance Max to influence bidding strategies, audience segments, and campaign optimisation. With the reduced threshold, even modest-sized businesses can contribute to smarter machine learning models with better source data.
Strategic Applications Across the Sales Cycle
Whether you’re building awareness or capturing deep conversions, smaller audience lists can now be integrated into every stage of your sales cycle:
- Top of Funnel: Use Customer Match to exclude existing customers, ensuring new acquisition ads target only net-new prospects.
- Mid-Funnel: Segment audiences by level of user interaction and serve messaging that reflects behavioural patterns.
- Bottom Funnel: Retarget high-intent users with competitor-aligned search themes or bid more aggressively using tailored match types.
This structured use of data contributes to better campaign effectiveness without inflating costs.
Real-World Scenarios Using Customer Match with 100 Users
Case Study A: Local Florist
A florist in Manchester uploads a list of 120 customers who placed online orders in 2023. In the run-up to Valentine’s Day, a short-run campaign targets this group with time-sensitive offers. With improved click-through rate and increased footfall, their average conversion doubled within two weeks.
Case Study B: SaaS Platform
A niche SaaS provider segments 100 active users who engaged with a trial but didn’t convert. They create a follow-up campaign targeting these users with a ‘limited-time discount’ and adjust the bidding strategy to maximise impressions during peak usage hours. Result: 17% uplift in conversions in 14 days.
Making It Work in the Google Ads Interface
While the change is official, advertisers may need to adapt how they set up campaigns:
- Check campaign asset specs to ensure your lists are formatted correctly
- Monitor performance across platforms to identify where Customer Match has the biggest impact
- Adjust campaign level settings to avoid overlap between general and specific audience lists
- Use Campaign-Level Negative Keywords and account-level negative keywords to keep search ads tightly targeted
- Evaluate conversion attribution window to align with each campaign’s intent
Integration with Video Ads and YouTube Shorts
Customer Match isn’t limited to search ads. For advertisers running Video Ads, YouTube Shorts, or transitioning from a legacy video action campaign to an AI-driven campaign upgrade, this change means higher synergy across placements.
Whether using static images or CPMYouTube image formats, aligning your video action campaign audience with first-party lists helps streamline budget allocation. Even campaigns like original video action campaign and source video action campaigns can benefit from tighter targeting, reduced campaign ramp friction, and more focused Video action campaign billing strategies.
Looking Ahead: What This Could Signal
Experts speculate that this is part of a larger strategic direction for Google Ads. Future changes may include:
- Greater transparency in search query data
- Improved tools for keyword research using natural language queries
- Refined bid strategies tied to user-intent
Expect more advertisers to integrate Customer Match into prospecting strategies, especially with performance across platforms improving.
The Bottom Line for Search Campaigns in 2025
Lowering the Customer Match threshold from 1,000 to 100 active users is not a minor backend update—it’s a fundamental shift that unlocks Google’s suite of tools for thousands more advertisers.
It empowers businesses to:
- Use audience segments more effectively
- Reduce waste using negative keyword list configurations
- Better align campaign settings with real audience behaviour
- Optimise for conversion rates across shorter sales cycles
Marketers who prioritise First-party data, maintain clean customer lists, and refine their strategy with the right PPC tools will find themselves better positioned in a competitive landscape.
About Search Engine Ascend
Search Engine Ascend is your go-to source for expert insights on SEO, Google Ads, and digital campaign strategies. We support advertisers through every stage of their journey—from keyword theme discovery and customer acquisition bidding goal planning to Conversion Rate Optimization and performance tracking. Our content reflects a strong commitment to accurate, actionable, and user-first marketing strategies that deliver long-term results.
If you’re ready to put this Google Ads Customer Match update into action, our team is here to help. Whether you’re working with a seed list of 100 or managing lots of campaigns across campaign types, we provide human strategy tailored to real business needs.
