Overview
The connector uploads user lists to Google Ads, where they become available as audience segments for targeting across Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, and Display campaigns. It supports creating new user lists or appending to existing ones.Requirements
Account setup
Link your Google Ads account
You link your Google Ads account to Narrative I/O once, in Google Ads. After that you can create profiles and deliver audiences without further setup.1
Open Data manager
In your Google Ads account, click the Tools icon, then click Data manager.
2
Find Narrative I/O
Find Narrative I/O among the data platforms and click it. The Create a link request window opens.
3
Authorize the link
Review the link request and the information on data sharing, then click Authorize.
Supported identifiers
Your data must include at least one of these identifier types, mapped to the corresponding Rosetta Stone attribute:
Your data must include at least one email-based identifier or the complete set of name, postal code, and country attributes. Both can be present on the same row.
For name-based matching, all three attributes are required together:
- SHA256 hashed first name and last name
- Postal code
- Country code (ISO 3166-1)
Hashed identifiers must use SHA256. See Hashing PII for Upload for formatting requirements.
Installation
1
Link your Google Ads account
In Google Ads Data manager, authorize the link to Narrative I/O. See Link your Google Ads account.
2
Navigate to the connector
In Narrative, go to Installed Apps and select Google Ads Connector.
3
Create a profile
Enter your Google Ads Customer ID, a Profile name, and an optional description.
Delivering audiences
When connecting a dataset to the Google Ads connector, you choose how the audience is created:New user list
Creates a new Customer Match user list in your Google Ads account.Existing user list
Appends data to a user list that already exists in your Google Ads account.Audience membership duration
Membership duration is how long a delivered identifier remains active in the destination audience before the destination platform expires it. It is distinct from the dataset’s retention policy (which governs data stored in Narrative) and the interface’s refresh window (which governs how stale the source dataset may get).
The duration is fixed when the user list is created and the connector never updates it afterward. Connections that deliver to an existing user list have no duration setting — the list keeps its current duration. Membership duration through this connector is capped at 540 days, with no “no expiration” option; a value outside the valid range falls back to the default of 540 days rather than producing an error.
Related content
Delivering Customer Match audiences via the API
Deliver to a new or existing user list with an API key
Data Activation Overview
Understand how connectors deliver data
Google DV360 Connector
Activate audiences in Display & Video 360
Hashing PII
Prepare identifiers for Google Ads
Structuring Audiences
Organize datasets for delivery

