# Optimised targeting serves outside the groups you picked | Illia BizTech

> Google states that the setting is turned on automatically for all campaigns, and it deliberately serves beyond the chosen segments and demographics.

Source: https://illia-biztech.de/en/forum/die-kampagne-bedient-altersgruppen-die-ausdrucklich-ausgeschlossen-sind

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# The campaign serves age groups that were explicitly excluded

Clicks arrive from groups that appear nowhere in the targeting.

* ##### Asked by  
QuietLedger464
* ##### Asked on  
September 15, 2026

We advertise a professional training course and deliberately narrowed the audience. The report for August 2026 still shows clicks from age groups we never selected.

I have checked the settings twice. They hold what we asked for.

#### Answers

![Portrait of Illia Belichenko, technical specialist at Illia BizTech](/_ipx/f_webp,q_75/https://cms.illia-biztech.de/uploads/small_Illia_Belichenko_author_81f88864f0.png)

##### Illia Belichenko · Founder & Technical Lead

✓ Accepted answer September 16, 2026 

What you are looking for is a setting called optimised targeting. Google writes that it is turned on automatically for all campaigns, and its stated job is to serve beyond the segments and beyond the demographics the advertiser picked.

There is no fault in your targeting. This is the documented behaviour of a feature nobody deliberately turned on.

You can trace it in the report, because the figures it produces appear in a row of their own. Compare that row against the rest and you will see how much of the budget went outside the chosen groups.

A related rule belongs in the same place, because the two get confused. For certain sensitive subjects, audiences assembled by the advertiser are unavailable, while predefined audiences from Google can still be used. Anyone assuming all targeting is barred in those areas is giving away options.

Turn the feature off for a week and compare the two periods before forming a view on it. Comparisons like that are run with the periods kept properly apart at [Illia BizTech](https://illia-biztech.de/en/), leaving a number at the end.

##### 

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**Topics** 
* Google Ads
* Audiences

Google Ads carries a setting that is active from the outset in many campaign types. Its stated purpose is to serve beyond the segments and beyond the demographic criteria the advertiser selected.

The figures it produces appear in the report as a row of their own, which makes a comparison possible. A separate rule applies to sensitive subjects, where audiences assembled by the advertiser are unavailable while predefined audiences remain in use.