Klaviyo + Google Ads: the native audience sync, and what it can feed

What this integration unlocks

• A live sync from a Klaviyo list or segment to a Google Ads Customer Match audience, with no CSV exports
• An existing-customer list for the customer acquisition goal on Search, Performance Max, Shopping, and Demand Gen
• Recent-purchaser exclusions, which work even before an account qualifies to target Customer Match lists
• An Audience condition for conversion value rules, so high-value segments carry more value into Smart Bidding
• Seed lists for Lookalike segments in Demand Gen and Video brand campaigns

Setup steps

1. 1

   Check what your account can do with Customer Match

   Klaviyo's Google Ads app only works if the Google Ads account is eligible for Customer Match, so start on the Google side. Every advertiser needs a good history of policy compliance and payment. Beyond that, Google splits the features: an account with more than 90 days of history and over $50,000 USD in lifetime spend can use a Customer Match list with the Targeting setting and manual bid adjustments. Below that, lists are limited to the Observation setting and exclusions.

   This decides the plan. A smaller account still gets real value from the sync, because exclusions and the customer acquisition goal work without targeting. See our Customer Match glossary entry for the background.

2. 2

   Install the Google Ads app in Klaviyo

   In Klaviyo, go to Integrations > Explore apps, search for Google Ads, click Install, then Connect to Google. Sign in and choose the Google Ads account from the dropdown.

   You must be a direct administrator of that Google Ads account. Klaviyo does not support access through a manager (MCC) account, which is the most common reason an agency login cannot complete the connection. Have the account owner add the right Google login as an admin on the ad account itself first.

3. 3

   Map one Klaviyo segment to one Google audience

   Each connection pairs a single Klaviyo list or segment with a single Google audience. The mapping is strictly one to one: the same Google audience cannot take two Klaviyo segments, and the same segment cannot feed two Google audiences. If you want both an all-customers audience and a recent-purchasers audience, build two Klaviyo segments.

   A useful starting set is three segments: all customers (for the acquisition goal), purchasers in a recent window (for exclusions), and top customers by lifetime value (for value rules and lookalike seeds). Klaviyo sends membership changes in real time, so the segment definitions you write here become the audience logic in Google.

4. 4

   Gate EEA and UK profiles on ad consent

   If you sync profiles from the EEA or UK, Klaviyo's guidance is to send only audiences that have granted consent for ad targeting. That consent is separate from email marketing consent and is usually collected through a consent management platform.

   In practice, add an ad-consent condition to every segment you sync, rather than relying on the subscribed status. A segment built only on email consent can send people to Google who never agreed to ad targeting.

5. 5

   Expect smaller audiences and a 48-hour lag

   A new connection can take up to 48 hours to populate the audience in Google Ads. After that, Klaviyo sends membership changes in real time, but Google can take up to 48 hours to process them, so a purchase today may not reach an exclusion list until later.

   Only profiles associated with a Google account appear in the audience, so Google will always show fewer members than the Klaviyo segment. Google also needs at least 100 members added or updated within the last 540 days for a list to stay eligible, and memberships older than 540 days drop out.

6. 6

   Feed the all-customers audience into the acquisition goal

   Google's customer acquisition goal uses your first-party data, a customer list plus the website tag, to tell new customers from existing ones. It runs on Search, Performance Max, Shopping, and Demand Gen, in two modes: New Customer Value, which bids higher for new customers while still serving returning ones, and New Customer Only, which bids only for new customers.

   The synced all-customers segment is the natural input here, and because Klaviyo keeps it current, the definition of an existing customer does not go stale the way a one-off upload does.

7. 7

   Add a value rule for top customers and seed lookalikes

   Conversion value rules can adjust conversion values by Audience, Location, or Device, and the Audience condition accepts first-party lists. A rule on the top-customers audience tells Smart Bidding that a conversion from that group is worth more. Value rules apply to Search, Shopping, Display, and Performance Max, and some conditions are unavailable to housing, employment, and credit advertisers.

   Similar audiences no longer exist: Google stopped generating them on May 1, 2023. The replacement, Lookalike segments, only runs in Demand Gen and Video brand campaigns, and the combined seed lists need over 100 active matched people. Use the top-customers audience as that seed.

Common issues

Common questions