Retargeting Ads Not Working Anymore? Here’s Why (And How to Fix It)
Remember when you could run a simple retargeting campaign and get great results?
You’d show ads to people who visited your website, and a good chunk of them would come back and buy. Simple, effective, and a great return on ad spend.
But now… not so much. Your retargeting audiences are shrinking, or they’re just not converting like they used to. What gives?
What happened to retargeting?
The short answer: third-party cookies are going away.
Retargeting relies heavily on cookies to identify who’s been on your site. But as more browsers block third-party cookies, fewer users are being added to your retargeting audiences. That means:
Your audience pool gets smaller
Your ads show to the wrong people
You waste spend on ineffective campaigns
How to build better retargeting in 2025
Good news: there is a way forward — but it involves rethinking how you track and target. At Clever Digital, here’s what we’re doing for clients:
Switching to first-party data tracking (Enhanced Conversions, Conversions API)
Encouraging email capture and list-building so we can remarket via custom audiences
Using server-side tagging to improve match quality and tracking reliability
It’s not about giving up on retargeting — it’s about building it on smarter foundations.
Need help rebuilding your audiences?
We help small businesses across NZ and Australia get their ad setup back on track.
