While most advertising struggles to find the right audience at the right time, Google’s Life Events targeting cuts through the noise. This specialized audience option connects advertisers with users during major life changes, not just on a single day but throughout the milestone period. It’s genius, really. People getting married or moving homes don’t just make one purchase—they make dozens.

Life Events targeting works by analyzing signals from signed-in Google users, including search histories, websites visited, and video consumption patterns. The system identifies people approaching or recently experiencing significant life changes. Not rocket science, but pretty darn effective.

Google’s algorithm reads your digital footprint to spot major life transitions. Simple concept, powerful results.

Google offers a range of life event categories to choose from. Getting hitched? There’s a segment for that. Buying a home? Yep. Other options include college graduation, job changes, business creation, retirement, home renovation, and even getting a new pet. You can access these targeting options through the audience segments under the browse section. Each category typically offers “about to” or “recently” options. Because timing matters.

Unlike demographic targeting (which is basically permanent) or in-market audiences (short-term purchase intent), Life Events zeroes in on those rare but significant change periods when brand loyalties shift and shopping carts fill up. People moving homes need everything from furniture to internet service. Newlyweds? They’re building their lives together, one credit card swipe at a time.

The targeting is available primarily for Display, YouTube/Video, and Gmail campaigns, plus as audience signals in Performance Max. Traditional Search and Shopping campaigns are left out of the party. Too bad for them. This targeting is particularly powerful as shown by Purple mattress company, which achieved a 175% increase in brand search lift from their campaign targeting newly married users.

Setup is straightforward—just navigate to Audiences > Edit Audience Segments > Browse > Life Events in the Google Ads interface. These segments are applied at the Ad Group level, not campaigns.

One notable limitation: Life Events segments typically reach smaller audience pools than broader targeting options. Makes sense. Not everyone’s graduating college tomorrow. But what these audiences lack in size, they make up for in relevance and purchasing power when it matters most.