The Paid Search Podcast | A Weekly Podcast About Google Ads and Online Marketing

Should You Exclude by Age & Income Demographics? (Episode 512)

May 11, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In this solo episode of the Paid Search Podcast, host Chris Schaefer examines whether advertisers should exclude age, income, or gender demographics in Google Ads. He argues that these demographic audiences are unreliable statistical guesses and advises against routine exclusions, emphasizing search intent over assumptions about who searchers are.

What Are Demographic Audiences?

Google Ads offers demographic audiences—age, gender, and income—in the audiences tab, separate from affinity or in-market targeting. Every search receives an inferred label: age ranges like 18-24 or 65+, gender as male/female/unknown, and income as national percentiles (e.g., top 10-20%). Advertisers often exclude lower income brackets or younger ages, assuming they won't convert for high-end services like interior design. Schaefer sees this as common but misguided, as it blocks potential traffic without solid evidence.

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What you'll learn

1 (00:19) **Podcast Intro and Topic Setup** - Host Chris introduces excluding age, income, gender demographics in Google Ads and teases upsides/downsides
2 (01:54) **Demographic Audiences Explained** - Defines age, gender, income as statistical guesses Google makes for every searcher
3 (03:11) **Common Exclusion Practices** - Advertisers often exclude low-income or certain ages assuming poor fit
4 (06:39) **How Google Determines Demographics** - Details sources like third-party data (Experian), census, zip codes, behavior, device
5 (10:06) **Income Brackets Are National Scale** - Top 10-20% means national percentiles, not local
6 (11:45) **Age and Gender Inaccuracies** - Age inferred without verification; gender has large unknown category
7 (14:33) **Why Demographics Are Unreliable** - High unknown %, location errors (miles/states off), mobile searching away from home

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Do you know how Google determines the age, gender, and income of your paid traffic? Well that's an important question to ask! In today's podcast we discuss why you should not exclude traffic based on obscure demographics that have no real analytical weight in the performance of your account. Don't settle for the chicken nuggets of PPC, pull up a chair and enjoy the real meat being served. Let's talk about that!

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Chris Schaeffer - http://www.chrisschaeffer.com

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