Google display ads and remarketing agency in Toronto

Google display ads and remarketing built around your buyers

Visitors often leave while comparing options or deciding what to do next. Google display advertising and remarketing can support discovery and reconnect with eligible audiences across supported websites, apps and Google surfaces. Canada Create™ plans, designs, builds and manages these campaigns for businesses across Canada and the United States, with goals and reporting matched to awareness, qualified enquiries or sales.

Our team runs search, display, YouTube and remarketing campaigns side by side from our office at 126 Willowdale Ave., Suite #3, Toronto, and our designers produce the ad creative in house. Strategy, audiences, banners and landing pages are planned together by one team with a shared brief, approval process and performance review. That matters with display, because a campaign is only as good as the weakest link between the tag on your site, the audience it builds, the banner people see and the page they land on.

What Google display ads and remarketing actually are

Display describes visual advertising formats and inventory. Remarketing, also called retargeting, uses eligible previous interactions to define an audience. Display can reach new prospects, and remarketing can also use video or search; they do not have to be purchased as one program.

The Google Display Network

The Google Display Network, or GDN, includes participating websites and apps. It is one inventory channel within the wider Google Ads offering, alongside surfaces such as YouTube, Gmail and Discover. Google is transitioning Display campaigns into Demand Gen, where channel controls can support GDN-only delivery or a broader mix. We check the inventory, formats and controls actually available in your account.

Remarketing and retargeting: the same idea with two names

Remarketing and retargeting commonly mean showing ads to people who previously interacted with your business. Google Ads calls these audiences your data segments. Eligible sources can include website or app activity, supported YouTube interactions and first-party customer information. The source, consent, account eligibility and advertising category determine what can be used.

Can you retarget with Google Ads?

Yes, through eligible audience features in supported campaigns. A dedicated remarketing setup must account for audience expansion and exclusions; optimized targeting can reach beyond a selected list. Performance Max uses audience signals rather than hard audience targeting, so it is not a visitor-only remarketing campaign. Search data segments can also inform targeting and bidding within the chosen strategy.

How to do remarketing in Google Ads, step by step

We plan creative and tracking together, with permissions, measurement and campaign settings checked before launch. A remarketing build follows these steps:

1. Install the Google tag. The Google tag, placed directly or through Google Tag Manager, records visits and actions on your site. For dynamic remarketing it also passes the product or service IDs people viewed.
2. Connect consent handling. Your site shows a clear consent notice, and the tag respects the choices visitors make. We test the actual tag behaviour; a banner alone does not establish permission or prevent policy issues.
3. Link Google Analytics 4. Where appropriate, a GA4 link supports eligible audiences from approved events. A direct Google Ads tag can also support website data segments; GA4 is not a universal prerequisite.
4. Build data segments. We create segments by page visited, action taken and time since the visit, with membership durations that match your sales cycle.
5. Let the lists fill. Google needs a minimum number of active users in a segment before it will serve ads to it, so smaller sites need patience here.
6. Create the campaign. We choose the campaign type, add the segments, configure supported frequency controls, exclusions, audience-expansion settings and bidding, and attach creative that speaks to what each segment did.
7. Measure and adjust. Conversion reporting connects available ad interactions to calls, forms, bookings and sales. We review lead quality, attribution limits and costs before reallocating budget.

Types of remarketing you can run on Google

Standard and dynamic remarketing are useful ways to describe creative built for previous visitors. Customer Match, YouTube data segments and search audiences provide other routes. We select the combination that fits your eligible data and available campaign features rather than adding methods for their own sake.

Standard remarketing

Standard remarketing uses a relevant set of ads for an eligible audience. Someone who viewed a roofing service might later see a roofing message; an ecommerce visitor might see a general product-category offer. Sensitive interests and restricted categories require a different targeting plan.

Dynamic remarketing

Dynamic remarketing uses a supported feed and eligible activity signals to assemble relevant product or service ads; it does not guarantee that each person sees the exact item they viewed. Retail setups commonly use Merchant Center. Non-retail feed support varies with the business type and campaign, including during the Demand Gen transition. We confirm compatibility, map item IDs and monitor approvals and feed changes before committing to a build.

Dynamic prospecting

Feed-based prospecting can introduce products to new audiences where the campaign supports it. We assess feed quality, product eligibility and new-customer goals separately from remarketing, rather than assuming that a feed alone makes a prospecting campaign worthwhile.

Customer list remarketing

Customer Match uses permitted first-party customer data to create matched audiences. Not every contact will match or be reachable, and feature access depends on Google’s account and policy requirements. We review the collection source, notice, consent where required, suppression and intended use before upload. Buying a third-party list does not make it eligible for Customer Match.

Video remarketing

Video remarketing can use supported interactions with a linked YouTube channel or eligible ads; not every format or view creates a usable audience. It tells a fuller story than a static banner and works well for services people need to understand before they buy. Our team also runs YouTube advertising campaigns that feed these audiences in the first place, and our videography team can produce short ads designed for this use.

Remarketing lists for search ads

Eligible website or customer data segments can be used in Search targeting or observation. How they affect bids depends on the bidding strategy; manual audience bid adjustments are not a universal Smart Bidding control. We test message, keyword and audience choices against qualified outcomes rather than assuming they improve results without more budget.

Practical remarketing examples

These are planning examples, not reported client results. Each depends on a permitted audience, sufficient reachable users and supported settings. Delivery is auction-based, so no example promises that a particular person will see an ad.

• Unfinished quote form. An eligible kitchen-renovation audience can receive a relevant project example and an invitation to return, using an agreed membership window.
• Viewed product, no purchase. An eligible footwear audience can receive feed-based ads for relevant boots or related products.
• Service page visitor. A business owner reads your bookkeeping services page. A standard remarketing ad invites them to book a short call and explains what the first meeting covers.
• Video viewer. Someone watches most of your explainer video on YouTube. A follow-up ad shows a client story or a clear offer to take the next step.
• Past customer cross-sell. A customer who bought a furnace service plan sees an ad for air conditioning maintenance before summer.
• Event or webinar registrant. People who registered but did not attend see an ad offering the recording and a consultation.
• Seasonal reactivation. A permitted audience can receive a general seasonal reminder. Sensitive tax, financial or travel details are not used to build the audience.
• Pricing page visitor. An eligible audience can receive a clear explanation of the offer or an invitation to request an estimate, without implying knowledge of financial hardship.

The examples connect a useful message with a relevant next step. Audience separation can improve interpretation where enough data exists, but very small segments may not serve or support reliable comparisons. Housing, employment, education and other offers need their category-specific eligibility checked.

Where display advertising fits in your marketing mix

Search captures existing demand, while visual campaigns can introduce an offer or reconnect with eligible audiences. We compare their combined contribution with the cost of the program. Repeated exposure is not proof of extra sales, and a search-only strategy can still be appropriate for some businesses.

Visual storytelling

Display ads use images, logos, video and motion, so they can show your work, your products or your team in a way a text ad cannot. For businesses with visual results, such as renovation companies, cosmetic clinics, restaurants and real estate agents, this matters.

Audience and contextual targeting

Available controls vary by campaign, inventory and policy category. Custom segments can use interests, search terms or competitor websites as inputs. URL inputs describe people who browse similar sites; they do not identify that competitor’s visitors or place ads on that URL. Search-term inputs use searches on Google properties where supported and act as interest signals elsewhere. Contextual or placement options are checked for the chosen campaign.

Is retargeting still effective?

Retargeting can be useful when there is a sufficiently large eligible audience, a relevant offer and a worthwhile next action. Consent choices, browser restrictions and platform matching affect reach. We compare qualified outcomes and incremental value where measurable, rather than assuming past visitors always convert profitably.

Is Google getting rid of display ads?

Google continues to offer display inventory, but campaign management is changing. Its May 2026 announcement says Display is moving into Demand Gen, with the transition expected to complete by 2027. Eligible advertisers began getting a voluntary migration route in June 2026; availability and later automatic migration depend on Google’s rollout. We review the account’s current options, controls and reporting before proposing any change.

What our display advertising agency handles

We handle every part of a display and remarketing program, from tracking setup to creative to monthly optimization. You approve the plan and the creative before anything goes live.

Tracking and audience setup

We scope Google tag or Tag Manager work, optional GA4 linking, eligible audience events and conversion measurement for calls, forms, bookings and purchases. Custom CRM connections can link approved sales outcomes to advertising. Events, identifiers and destinations are documented before implementation, including what must remain in internal reporting.

Consent and privacy

Consent mode communicates choices to supported Google tags; it is not a consent banner or legal determination. Basic and advanced implementations behave differently: advanced mode can send cookieless pings after storage consent is denied. We agree the required data flows with you and your adviser, configure the appropriate mode and test requests rather than promising that a declined choice sends no data.

Campaign strategy

We decide which audiences to reach, what each should see and how much to spend on each. A typical structure separates recent visitors, people who started but did not finish a form or purchase, past customers and prospecting audiences, so each can be measured and budgeted on its own.

Banner and ad creative

Our team produces image, logo, headline, description and video assets for the selected campaign formats, including responsive and fixed-size creative where supported. We test clear messages and refreshes against the objective. AI may assist research, design, drafting and analysis, with human review, editorial judgement and applied expertise; you approve final assets and claims before publication.

Feeds for dynamic remarketing

We can connect retail product feeds and scope supported non-retail or custom feed work. The review checks platform and category eligibility, IDs, destinations, approvals and update frequency. Mismatches may limit serving or show irrelevant items, so monitoring includes feed diagnostics and actual campaign results.

Landing pages

The destination should answer the promise made in the ad; a dedicated page is useful when the home page cannot do that clearly. We match each ad to a landing page with the same offer and message, and improve those pages when the data shows people are leaving without acting. Our web design team builds new pages where the current site cannot support the offer.

Frequency and placement control

We review frequency, reach and reported placements, and use available suitability settings and exclusions. Manual frequency capping is supported in eligible Display and Video campaigns, but not in Demand Gen. There we manage exposure through supported settings, audience design, budgets and creative, without promising a per-person cap or perfect placement control.

Optimization and reporting

We review performance every week, adjust bids, budgets, audiences and creative, and report monthly in plain language: what was spent, what it produced and what we are changing next. Ad spend is paid directly to Google from your own account, with your business retaining administrator control and the access Google makes available.

Display campaign types we manage

Google offers several ways to run display and remarketing. We choose the campaign type based on your goal, your data and your budget, and we explain the trade-offs before we start.

Display campaigns during the transition

We can manage existing supported Display campaigns and plan their transition where appropriate. We check which targeting, placements, bidding and creative features carry into Demand Gen instead of assuming complete feature parity. Campaign reports provide aggregate performance and available placements, not the identity of every viewer.

Uploaded and HTML5 ads

Uploaded assets can give designers precise control over the supplied artwork. Actual rendering still depends on placement and format. HTML5 availability has account, format and campaign requirements, so we confirm those before scoping animation and can use other image or video formats where suitable.

Demand Gen campaigns

Demand Gen supports image and video advertising across eligible YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps and GDN inventory, with channel controls. Actual serving depends on settings, assets, policy category and account availability. Audience expansion, lookalike features and exclusions are reviewed against whether the campaign should reach existing audiences, new prospects or both.

Performance Max

Performance Max combines eligible Google inventory around conversion or value goals. It can use retail product feeds and audience signals, but those signals do not limit delivery to your selected visitors. We review conversion quality, asset coverage, available brand controls and channel reporting before recommending it; it is not a substitute for a tightly bounded remarketing campaign.

Automated bidding

Smart Bidding is the conversion- or conversion-value-focused subset of automated bidding, using auction-time signals to set bids. Other automated strategies can pursue clicks or reach. We choose the strategy around the campaign goal and data quality, with realistic targets and checks for duplicate or low-value conversion events.

How a display and remarketing project runs

1. Audit and goals

We review your current Google Ads account, website tracking, audiences and results, and agree what a successful campaign looks like: the actions to count, the cost per lead or return you need, and the markets to reach.

2. Tracking, consent and audiences

We fix or install tracking, confirm conversions fire correctly, check the consent notice and consent handling, and build the audience segments. Remarketing lists need time to fill, so this happens first.

3. Creative and landing pages

Our designers produce the ad sets and our copywriters write headlines and descriptions. Landing pages are reviewed and improved where needed. You approve everything before launch.

4. Launch

Campaigns launch with approved budgets, supported exposure controls, exclusions and tested measurement. We monitor initial delivery and investigate policy, audience or data issues rather than treating launch as proof that the setup is complete.

5. Optimize

We shift budget toward the audiences, placements and ads that produce enquiries, pause what does not, and refresh creative on a schedule.

6. Report and plan

Monthly reports show spend, conversions, cost per conversion and what changed. Every quarter we review the strategy against your goals.

Remarketing, privacy and Google’s advertising policies

Remarketing uses information about what people did on your website, so it has to respect their privacy. Getting this right protects your visitors, your reputation and your Google Ads account.

Consent notice on your site

The required notice and form of consent depend on the jurisdiction, purpose and sensitivity of the information. Canadian privacy guidance permits some opt-out models under specific conditions; sensitive information needs greater protection. Quebec has additional rules for identifying, locating and profiling technologies. We implement your approved requirements and document collection, sharing and retention; your adviser determines the legal position.

Google’s personalized advertising policies

Google restricts personalized advertising involving sensitive interests and applies additional rules to housing, employment and consumer finance in Canada and the United States. We assess the actual offer, targeting method and data, rather than treating an entire profession as uniformly prohibited. Ads must not suggest knowledge of a person’s sensitive circumstances.

Clinics, law firms and financial businesses

Clinics, law firms and financial businesses may have eligible advertising options, such as permitted contextual delivery or predefined Google audiences. Availability differs by offer and campaign; Demand Gen has additional sensitive-category inventory limits. Sensitive visits are not used to build advertiser-curated audiences where prohibited. The client approves professional claims, and Google retains ad-review authority.

What affects the cost of display and remarketing

There are two separate costs. Your ad spend is your own budget, paid directly to Google from your account. Our management fee covers strategy, setup, creative and ongoing optimization, and it is quoted in writing before we start. We do not publish a flat price for display management, because the work changes a lot from one account to the next. The main cost drivers are:

• Audience size. Smaller websites build smaller remarketing lists, which limits how much can usefully be spent on remarketing alone.
• Markets. The number of cities, provinces, states or countries targeted and whether ads run in one language or several.
• Campaign types. Display, Demand Gen, Performance Max and YouTube each need their own setup, creative and reporting.
• Creative volume. How many ad sets, sizes, videos and refreshes are needed each month.
• Feeds. Whether dynamic remarketing needs a product or business data feed built and maintained.
• Tracking work. Whether conversion tracking, GA4 and consent handling need to be built or repaired first.
• Landing pages. Whether current pages can carry the offer or new pages are needed.

Setup, monthly management and ad spend are always listed separately in your proposal. We recommend a starting ad budget based on your remarketing audience size and goals, and we tell you plainly if your traffic is too low for remarketing to be worth running yet. In that case, building traffic through SEO or search ads usually comes first. Our SEO programs are custom-scoped, with a proposal after discovery.

Measuring display and remarketing properly

Reporting starts with the campaign objective. Reach and frequency matter for awareness; qualified enquiries, sales and contribution matter for acquisition. We show these together with spend and limitations so a large impression count is not mistaken for profitable growth.

Measures matched to your objective

For acquisition, we track defined calls, forms, bookings or purchases and their quality and cost. For awareness, reach and other agreed measures may be primary. A high click-through rate alone does not establish either business value or failure.

View-through conversions

View-through conversions associate a later conversion with an eligible ad impression without a qualifying click or engagement. Video can also generate engaged-view conversions, which are distinct and may appear in standard conversion totals. We separate click-through, engaged-view and view-through reporting, state the windows and avoid adding overlapping columns. None by itself proves incremental impact.

Assisted conversions and the bigger picture

Attribution reports describe recorded paths under a chosen model; they do not show every exposure or establish causation. We compare Ads, GA4 and CRM results while accounting for their different definitions and missing data. Holdout or lift tests can help estimate incremental effects when the budget, eligibility and audience support them.

Lead quality

CS+ or another CRM can help connect eligible enquiries to qualified opportunities and sales. Standard offline imports use supported click identifiers; enhanced conversions use hashed first-party contact details and carry additional customer-data requirements. We review event eligibility, permissions and disclosures separately from audience targeting. Sensitive records and prohibited events stay out of ad uploads; hashing does not make them anonymous or automatically eligible.

Common display and remarketing mistakes

Common issues we check include:

• Display mixed into search campaigns. Older search campaigns sometimes have the Display Network option switched on, combining inventory that needs separate performance analysis.
• No placement exclusions. Ads running in mobile games and apps where accidental taps or poor-fit inventory can distort click counts.
• One audience for everyone. Recent buyers, job applicants and first-time visitors all seeing the same ad.
• Stale creative. The same banner running without a review of response and fatigue.
• Unlimited frequency. People seeing an ad so often that it becomes irritating and harms the brand.
• Broken tracking. Conversions that are double counted, missing or counting page views, so automated bidding optimizes toward the wrong thing.
• Feeds out of step. Missing or mismatched item IDs that can limit serving or produce irrelevant creative.
• Ignoring policy and consent. Remarketing in restricted categories or without a consent notice, which can lead to disapproved ads, account problems and complaints.

A free review of your account will show which of these apply to you. We check campaign settings, tracking, audiences, placements, creative and landing pages, then send a short written summary of what we would keep, fix and stop, whether or not you decide to work with us.

Display ad creative that earns attention

People scroll past most banner ads without noticing them. The ads that work share a few traits, and our designers build every set around them.

• One idea per ad. Keep a free estimate, seasonal offer or clear benefit easy to understand at a glance.
• A visible brand. Clear logos and brand colours help viewers recognize who the message is from.
• A clear action. A short button label such as Book a consultation or Get a quote tells people what happens next.
• Readable at small sizes. Many placements are small mobile banners, so text is short and large enough to read on a phone.
• Consistent with the landing page. The offer, image and wording match the page people arrive on, so they know they are in the right place.
• Fresh variations. Plan new versions while monitoring response and fatigue, then use the results to decide what to keep.

For responsive display ads, Google combines the images, logos, headlines and descriptions you supply into many formats automatically. We supply a full set of high-quality assets in the recommended ratios, because the quality of those inputs has a direct effect on where and how often the ads can appear.

How display fits with search, video and media buying

Display and remarketing work best as part of a connected program. Our SEO team develops organic traffic, with only eligible, permitted activity used for advertising audiences. Our Google Ads management team runs the search campaigns that capture demand, and remarketing follows up with the visitors who did not convert. Our web designers build the landing pages, and our designers and video team produce the creative. When a campaign needs reach beyond Google, such as streaming audio, connected TV or social platforms, our media buying team plans those placements alongside your display budget. Because one team sees all of it, we can compare the available evidence across channels and recommend budget changes for your approval.

Why businesses choose Canada Create™ for display advertising

Canada Create™ has managed digital advertising since 2008 and serves clients across Canada and the United States. We are BBB Accredited with an A+ rating. Sales and AI support intake are available 24/7 at +1 (800) 808-9235, toll-free. Standard support responses are targeted within 24–48 hours during business days under the Terms.

• Your account, your data. You retain control of your business’s Google Ads account and authorized first-party records. Platform audiences and reporting remain subject to Google’s access and export limits; final custom deliverables, third-party licences, credits and handover follow the Agreement and Terms.
• Every result is reported in plain language.
• Ads and creative under one roof. Strategy, banners, video and landing pages are planned together.
• Your approval first. Nothing goes live without your review.
• Clear fees. Management is quoted in writing, and ad spend is paid to Google from your own account.
• Lead follow-up. CS+, our CRM, helps connect ad clicks to the clients they became.

Related guides: improving PPC advertising ROI and how much Google Ads costs.

Start your display and remarketing campaign

Ask for a free review of your current tracking, audiences and campaigns, or tell us about a new launch. Request a scoped proposal with what we found, what we recommend and a written quote. Use the form on this page or call our toll-free line at +1 (800) 808-9235.