How Can Realtors Set Up a YouTube Retargeting Ad Strategy?
Noah Haupt walks real estate agents through building warm audiences, choosing a campaign objective, and creating retargeting messages that build familiarity. The tutorial also explains why his demonstration uses a display campaign for broader visibility rather than a YouTube-only video campaign.
By Noah Haupt, founder of Peak Presence
What does this video cover?
- —Build YouTube-user and customer-list audiences in Google Ads.
- —Choose between lead collection and top-of-mind awareness.
- —Keep a warm-audience campaign from expanding into cold traffic.
- —Write value-driven retargeting scripts and booking-page calls to action.
- —Record recognizable local footage and complete the ad assets.
- —Segment neighborhood, relocation, and YouTube-viewer campaigns.
How do you build your retargeting audiences in Google Ads?
Begin in Google Ads, where Haupt manages YouTube advertising. Search for audiences, open your data segments, and use the plus button to create a YouTube users segment. If the channel is not linked, select the linking option, find the channel, enter its associated email address, complete verification, and save the account link. In his demonstration, he refreshes the page and checks that view counts, remarketing, and engagement are connected.
For an existing database, return to your data segments and create a customer list. Upload the file manually, give the list a descriptive name such as old leads, select the customer type, and complete the required confirmation. Haupt demonstrates choosing qualified leads as the customer type and explains that the list can contain previous leads or past clients you want to stay in touch with.
Choose how long contacts remain in the list. Haupt contrasts a 90-day membership period with no expiration and uses no expiration in the walkthrough. Review the audience sizes as they populate; his point is to match the campaign to the warm audience you actually have rather than treating retargeting like broad prospecting.
Should your retargeting campaign generate leads or build awareness?
Haupt separates two purposes. A leads campaign makes sense when you want people to identify themselves again, submit their name, email, and phone number, and potentially answer qualification questions. That approach sends traffic to a landing page so the agent can see who has renewed interest and follow up.
For a database whose contact information you already have, he demonstrates awareness and consideration instead. The goal is repeated recognition, not another form submission. Although the video is framed around YouTube retargeting, he selects display in this example because he wants visibility across placements, including the sides of web pages, rather than limiting the demonstration to a YouTube-only video campaign.
That distinction also changes his approach to testing. For this top-of-mind brand campaign, Haupt says he does not recommend split testing simply for its own sake. He distinguishes that from a retargeting campaign still focused on generating leads, where performance has a different purpose.
Which targeting settings keep the campaign focused on warm prospects?
Haupt advises against adding narrow geographic restrictions by default when the audience already identifies the people to reach. He leaves room for a local-market restriction when appropriate, but explains that past visitors or relocating prospects may currently be outside the service area. His demonstration discusses all countries and territories or the US rather than assuming everyone in the list is physically local.
He leaves device targeting unrestricted to support repeated exposure wherever the audience browses. He also starts the campaign the next day rather than the same day, explaining that a same-day start can compress spending into the remaining hours.
The crucial setting is the audience. Browse to how people have interacted with your business, then select the relevant data segments; the demonstration uses website visitors and YouTube users. Turn optimized targeting off. Haupt explains that expansion outside the selected lists defeats the purpose of this particular warm-audience campaign, and he avoids a custom combination that would reach beyond the existing network.
What should a real estate retargeting video actually say?
Haupt initially asks ChatGPT for a casual, value-driven script for a St. Paul agent, aimed at people who have seen an ad, visited the website, or joined the database. The initial request specifies under 45 seconds and a strategy-call invitation. He then revises that constraint because the short drafts do not provide enough substance to build trust.
His preferred direction is not another claim that the agent is the best. Explain how you approach the homeowner’s neighborhood, price point, circumstances, and goals, even when the right recommendation could be waiting six months. When mentioning a successful sale, explain how it happened and share useful tips rather than expecting the result alone to matter to the viewer.
He also discusses admitting a limitation while showing its upside: a smaller operation can offer personal access and communication that a large company may not. For familiar audiences, he may favor raw footage without an elaborate hook. If there is a next step, he prefers a landing page or calendar booking link over asking people to retrieve their phone and call a number.
How can agents make retargeting feel local and relevant?
Record outside a listing, while walking through a recognizable neighborhood, or with local landmarks behind you. Haupt argues that those visual cues reinforce local familiarity before the viewer consciously evaluates the message. A natural joke can also help the ad stand out, provided the video still gives the audience something useful.
In the ad setup, add the business URL, business name, logo, and supporting copy. Haupt recommends making the headline the hook, using the long headline to communicate the benefit of watching, and writing the description as a summary of the video.
For a more relevant message, separate campaigns by list. YouTube viewers can receive extra tips related to earlier videos, out-of-state contacts can receive relocation content, and a neighborhood database can receive monthly market updates. His neighborhood example pairs a local sale story with an explanation of the strategy and an invitation to get an updated home evaluation. These are suggested applications, not documented performance comparisons with direct mail.
What else should you know about this video?
What is YouTube retargeting for real estate agents?
YouTube retargeting for real estate agents means advertising again to people who have already interacted with the agent, such as video viewers, website visitors, or database contacts. Noah Haupt uses it to build familiarity or invite interested prospects to take another step.
Do I need to link my YouTube channel to Google Ads for retargeting?
In Noah Haupt’s walkthrough, agents link their YouTube channel to Google Ads before creating a YouTube users audience. He demonstrates completing email verification and checking the account link before using channel engagement in the retargeting setup.
Should optimized targeting be enabled for a retargeting campaign?
Noah Haupt turns optimized targeting off for the warm-audience campaign he demonstrates. His reason is that the campaign should reach the selected existing audiences, not expand to people outside those lists.
What call to action should a realtor use in a retargeting ad?
For a response-focused retargeting ad, Noah Haupt recommends directing viewers to a landing page or calendar booking page rather than only displaying a phone number. For an awareness campaign, he allows a softer invitation because repeated recognition is the main goal.
How can realtors use retargeting to farm a neighborhood?
Noah Haupt suggests creating a separate campaign for an existing neighborhood list and sharing monthly market updates, local sale examples, and practical buying or selling advice. The message can end with an invitation to request an updated home evaluation.
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