Glossary /
Retargeting / Remarketing
Efficiency & cost
Retargeting / Remarketing
Re-engage the people who already raised their hand — even as signal loss quietly shrinks the pools you can reach.
Attribution & Measurement
Unit Economics
Data Governance & Nomenclature
Creative & Delivery
Audiences & Targeting
Mobile & Privacy
Retargeting (also called remarketing) is the practice of serving ads to users who have already interacted with your brand — visiting your site, using your app, or engaging with content — to bring them back toward conversion.
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What is Retargeting / Remarketing?
Retargeting and remarketing describe the same idea: reaching people who already know you. Someone browsed a product, abandoned a cart, watched a video, or installed your app — retargeting puts your ad back in front of them to nudge the next step. Because these users have warmer intent, retargeting historically posts the strongest efficiency in an account. The two words are largely interchangeable; "remarketing" is Google's preferred term, "retargeting" the broader industry one. The underlying motion is identical. What's changed is supply. Retargeting pools depend on tracking users across sessions and sites, and that's exactly what signal loss attacks. Cookie deprecation, iOS privacy changes, and consent requirements have shrunk the matchable, addressable pools. The audiences are smaller and noisier than they were, which means retargeting still works but reaches fewer people — and measuring it accurately is harder.
How Retargeting / Remarketing differs across ad platforms
Meta
Meta retargeting relies on pixel and SDK signals plus engagement audiences (people who interacted with your Page, posts, or videos). Post-iOS privacy changes, web-based retargeting pools shrank, pushing advertisers toward on-platform engagement audiences and the Conversions API for server-side signal.
Google calls it Remarketing and runs it across Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping using tags and lists. Cookie deprecation and consent mode reduce the size of web-based remarketing lists, and Google increasingly leans on first-party data and Customer Match to compensate.
TikTok
TikTok retargeting builds engagement-based Custom Audiences (video views, profile interactions) plus pixel/site-visitor audiences. As a younger ad platform its retargeting tooling is leaner, and like everyone it's exposed to the same signal-loss pressures.
Common Retargeting / Remarketing misconceptions
Retargeting and remarketing are two different tactics.
They're essentially the same practice under two names — "remarketing" is Google's term, "retargeting" the broader industry one. Both mean re-engaging users who already interacted with you. Don't overthink the distinction.
Retargeting pools are stable, so I can rely on the same lists indefinitely.
Pools are shrinking. Cookie deprecation, iOS privacy changes, and consent requirements steadily erode what's matchable and addressable. Lists decay faster than they used to, so retargeting reach and measurability are both under structural pressure.
Related Terms
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Retargeting / Remarketing in simple terms?
Retargeting (or remarketing) is showing ads to people who've already interacted with you — visited your site, used your app, or engaged with your content — to bring them back. They already know you, so they tend to convert better than cold audiences.
How does Retargeting / Remarketing work?
Why does Retargeting / Remarketing differ across ad platforms?
How does Clarisights report on Retargeting / Remarketing?
Attribution & Measurement
Unit Economics
Data Governance & Nomenclature
Creative & Delivery
Audiences & Targeting
Mobile & Privacy
Retargeting (also called remarketing) is the practice of serving ads to users who have already interacted with your brand — visiting your site, using your app, or engaging with content — to bring them back toward conversion.
?
?
What is Retargeting / Remarketing?
Retargeting and remarketing describe the same idea: reaching people who already know you. Someone browsed a product, abandoned a cart, watched a video, or installed your app — retargeting puts your ad back in front of them to nudge the next step. Because these users have warmer intent, retargeting historically posts the strongest efficiency in an account. The two words are largely interchangeable; "remarketing" is Google's preferred term, "retargeting" the broader industry one. The underlying motion is identical. What's changed is supply. Retargeting pools depend on tracking users across sessions and sites, and that's exactly what signal loss attacks. Cookie deprecation, iOS privacy changes, and consent requirements have shrunk the matchable, addressable pools. The audiences are smaller and noisier than they were, which means retargeting still works but reaches fewer people — and measuring it accurately is harder.
How Retargeting / Remarketing differs across ad platforms
Meta
Meta retargeting relies on pixel and SDK signals plus engagement audiences (people who interacted with your Page, posts, or videos). Post-iOS privacy changes, web-based retargeting pools shrank, pushing advertisers toward on-platform engagement audiences and the Conversions API for server-side signal.
Google calls it Remarketing and runs it across Search, Display, YouTube, and Shopping using tags and lists. Cookie deprecation and consent mode reduce the size of web-based remarketing lists, and Google increasingly leans on first-party data and Customer Match to compensate.
TikTok
TikTok retargeting builds engagement-based Custom Audiences (video views, profile interactions) plus pixel/site-visitor audiences. As a younger ad platform its retargeting tooling is leaner, and like everyone it's exposed to the same signal-loss pressures.
Common Retargeting / Remarketing misconceptions
Retargeting and remarketing are two different tactics.
They're essentially the same practice under two names — "remarketing" is Google's term, "retargeting" the broader industry one. Both mean re-engaging users who already interacted with you. Don't overthink the distinction.
Retargeting pools are stable, so I can rely on the same lists indefinitely.
Pools are shrinking. Cookie deprecation, iOS privacy changes, and consent requirements steadily erode what's matchable and addressable. Lists decay faster than they used to, so retargeting reach and measurability are both under structural pressure.
Related Terms
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Retargeting / Remarketing in simple terms?
Retargeting (or remarketing) is showing ads to people who've already interacted with you — visited your site, used your app, or engaged with your content — to bring them back. They already know you, so they tend to convert better than cold audiences.
How does Retargeting / Remarketing work?
Why does Retargeting / Remarketing differ across ad platforms?
How does Clarisights report on Retargeting / Remarketing?
See Viewable Impression across every channel in one report
See Viewable Impression across every channel in one report
See viewability and vCPM across every platform—display, video, programmatic— in one normalized report, instead of reconciling vendor numbers by hand.
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