Can i target Facebook users only?
Hi,
I’m currently using Google Ads.
I want to target my ads to Facebook users(who using Facebook).
Can i do that?
The short answer is:
No, you cannot directly target users who use Facebook with Google Ads.
Google Ads and Facebook Ads (Meta Ads) are completely separate advertising platforms, and neither platform allows you to upload or use the other platform’s proprietary user list or target their “active users” directly.
However, you can achieve a very similar and highly effective outcome by using Google Ads’ targeting features like custom segments to target people with an interest in “Facebook,” “social media marketing,” or who visit competitor URLs.
Crucially, you can also leverage a powerful cross-platform strategy using the Facebook Conversions API (CAPI) and Google Tag Manager (GTM) Server Container to get better quality data for retargeting, which will help your Facebook campaigns more efficiently reach users who first found you on Google.
The long answer is:
Your idea of targeting people on Google who are also Facebook users is a sound strategy that seeks to leverage the best of both platforms: Google’s high-intent search traffic and Facebook’s rich user profiling.
While direct targeting is blocked for privacy and competitive reasons, you can execute a highly effective workaround using a blend of Google’s native targeting and a powerful server-side data integration.
On the Google Ads side, the best method is to create a “Custom Segment” audience.
You can build this audience by telling Google to target people who demonstrate an interest in Facebook.
The options you can use include targeting users who have searched for certain keywords (like “Facebook login,” “Meta Business Suite,” or “social media tips”), users who browse websites related to social media, or users who use certain apps (like those related to social media).
This approach doesn’t guarantee a user is actively on Facebook, but it is the closest proxy Google provides to reach a “Facebook-interested” audience.
For a superior, data-driven cross-platform approach, an excellent and cost-effective solution is to use the Facebook Conversions API (CAPI) implemented through a server-side environment like Google Tag Manager (GTM) Server Container and a service like Stape or Google Cloud Platform.
Here is why this setup is so powerful: When a user clicks your Google Ad, they are tracked on your website.
Your standard browser-side tracking (like the Meta Pixel) can be easily blocked by ad blockers or browser privacy features.
By implementing the CAPI server-side via GTM and a hosting provider, you ensure that high-value actions a user takes on your website after clicking your Google Ad – like a Purchase, Lead, or CompleteRegistration Standard Event – are sent directly and reliably to Meta’s servers.
This server-side data is more accurate, has a higher Event Match Quality, and is less affected by privacy changes.
This setup is cheap because using a service like Stape to host your GTM Server Container is typically very affordable compared to a full custom cloud server setup.
The integration is simplified using the CAPI tag within GTM, which requires little to no direct code editing.
By sending these reliable conversion signals to Meta, you are directly informing the Facebook algorithm about the quality of the users who come from Google.
This enhances your ability to create highly effective retargeting audiences on Facebook and improves the performance of your Facebook lookalike audiences, as the source data is much cleaner.
Essentially, you are using the Google Ad as a magnet for high-intent traffic and the CAPI setup as a funnel to ensure that traffic is correctly used by Meta to optimize your future Facebook campaigns, indirectly bridging the gap between the two platforms.
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