Does the Target Audiences setting work for Content Search Web Part Snippets?

Question

I am attempting to create a page layout in SharePoint 2013 that contains a Content Search Web Part snippet. 
I only want the CS Web Part to appear for certain users in a defined SP Group. 
I set the Target Audience property during the generation of the snippet. 
Unfortunately, the target audience property does not affect the appearance of the web part. 
It appears all the time, even when the current user is not a member of the named SP group.
Here is my snippet, the group I am targeting in called "US Region":
<!--CS: Start Content Search Snippet--><!--SPM:<%@Register Tagprefix="spsswc" 
Namespace="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>--><!--SPM:<%@Register Tagprefix="a2e8ead9d" 
Namespace="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>--><!--MS:<spsswc:ContentBySearchWebPart runat="server"
AlwaysRenderOnServer="False" ResultType="" DataProviderJSON="{&quot;QueryGroupName&quot;:&quot;Default&quot;,&quot;QueryPropertiesTemplateUrl&quot;:&quot;sitesearch://webroot&quot;,&quot;IgnoreQueryPropertiesTemplateUrl&quot;:false,&quot;SourceID&quot;:&quot;8413cd39-2156-4e00-b54d-11efd9abdb89&quot;,&quot;SourceName&quot;:&quot;Local
SharePoint Results&quot;,&quot;SourceLevel&quot;:&quot;Ssa&quot;,&quot;CollapseSpecification&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;QueryTemplate&quot;:&quot;(contentclass:sts_listitem OR IsDocument:True) SPSiteUrl:http://spvm2/sites/ProductCatalog
ListId:1380cfe0-d69d-4d7a-b616-c70469a46e9c owstaxIdProductGroup:{URLToken.1} owstaxIdWorldRegion:US&quot;,&quot;FallbackSort&quot;:[],&quot;FallbackSortJson&quot;:&quot;[]&quot;,&quot;RankRules&quot;:[],&quot;RankRulesJson&quot;:&quot;[]&quot;,&quot;AsynchronousResultRetrieval&quot;:false,&quot;SendContentBeforeQuery&quot;:true,&quot;BatchClientQuery&quot;:true,&quot;FallbackLanguage&quot;:-1,&quot;FallbackRankingModelID&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;EnableStemming&quot;:true,&quot;EnablePhonetic&quot;:false,&quot;EnableNicknames&quot;:false,&quot;EnableInterleaving&quot;:false,&quot;EnableQueryRules&quot;:true,&quot;EnableOrderingHitHighlightedProperty&quot;:false,&quot;HitHighlightedMultivaluePropertyLimit&quot;:-1,&quot;IgnoreContextualScope&quot;:true,&quot;ScopeResultsToCurrentSite&quot;:false,&quot;TrimDuplicates&quot;:false,&quot;Properties&quot;:{&quot;TryCache&quot;:true,&quot;Scope&quot;:&quot;{Site.URL}&quot;,&quot;ListId&quot;:&quot;00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&quot;,&quot;UpdateLinksForCatalogItems&quot;:true,&quot;EnableStacking&quot;:true},&quot;PropertiesJson&quot;:&quot;{\&quot;TryCache\&quot;:true,\&quot;Scope\&quot;:\&quot;{Site.URL}\&quot;,\&quot;ListId\&quot;:\&quot;00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000\&quot;,\&quot;UpdateLinksForCatalogItems\&quot;:true,\&quot;EnableStacking\&quot;:true}&quot;,&quot;ClientType&quot;:&quot;ContentSearchRegular&quot;,&quot;UpdateAjaxNavigate&quot;:true,&quot;SummaryLength&quot;:180,&quot;DesiredSnippetLength&quot;:90,&quot;PersonalizedQuery&quot;:false,&quot;FallbackRefinementFilters&quot;:null,&quot;IgnoreStaleServerQuery&quot;:false,&quot;RenderTemplateId&quot;:&quot;DefaultDataProvider&quot;,&quot;AlternateErrorMessage&quot;:null,&quot;Title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}"
BypassResultTypes="True" ItemTemplateId="~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Content Web Parts/Item_MediumPicture.js" GroupTemplateId="~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Content Web Parts/Group_Content.js"
ResultsPerPage="3" SelectedPropertiesJson="[&quot;PublishingImage&quot;,&quot;PictureURL&quot;,&quot;PictureThumbnailURL&quot;,&quot;Path&quot;,&quot;Title&quot;,&quot;Description&quot;,&quot;SecondaryFileExtension&quot;,&quot;ContentTypeId&quot;]"
HitHighlightedPropertiesJson="[&quot;Title&quot;,&quot;Path&quot;,&quot;Author&quot;,&quot;SectionNames&quot;,&quot;SiteDescription&quot;]" AvailableSortsJson="null" ShowBestBets="False"
ShowPersonalFavorites="False" ShowDefinitions="False" ShowDidYouMean="False" PreloadedItemTemplateIdsJson="null" ShowAlertMe="False" QueryGroupName="Default" RenderTemplateId="~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display
Templates/Content Web Parts/Control_ListWithPaging.js" StatesJson="{}" ServerIncludeScriptsJson="null" Title="United States" FrameType="TitleBarOnly" SuppressWebPartChrome="False" Description="&lt;%$Resources:Microsoft.Office.Server.Search,CBS_Description;%&gt;"
IsIncluded="True" ZoneID="ImportedPartZone" PartOrder="0" FrameState="Normal" AllowRemove="True" AllowZoneChange="True" AllowMinimize="True" AllowConnect="True" AllowEdit="True"
AllowHide="True" IsVisible="True" DetailLink="" HelpLink="" HelpMode="Modeless" Dir="Default" PartImageSmall="" MissingAssembly="&lt;%$Resources:core,ImportErrorMessage;%&gt;"
ImportErrorMessage="&lt;%$Resources:core,ImportErrorMessage;%&gt;" PartImageLarge="" IsIncludedFilter=";;;;US Region" AuthorizationFilter=";;;;US Region" ExportControlledProperties="True" ConnectionID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
ID="g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75" ChromeType="TitleOnly" ExportMode="All" Preview="&lt;div ms-webpart-chrome-vertical ms-webpart-chrome-fullWidth &quot;&gt; 
&lt;div id=&quot;WebPartwpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ChromeTitle&quot;&gt;  
&lt;span title=&quot;United States - $Resources:Microsoft.Office.Server.Search,CBS_Description;&quot; id=&quot;WebPartTitlewpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75&quot; States&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span id=&quot;WebPartCaptionwpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/nobr&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt; 
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div WebPartID=&quot;00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&quot; HasPers=&quot;true&quot; id=&quot;WebPartwpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; noindex ms-wpContentDivSpace
&quot; allowDelete=&quot;false&quot; style=&quot;&quot; &gt;&lt;div id=&quot;WebPartContent&quot;&gt;  
&lt;div componentid=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_csr&quot; id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_csr&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_noscript&quot;&gt;It
looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75&quot;&gt; 
&lt;div ms-webpart-chrome-fullWidth &quot;&gt;  
&lt;div id=&quot;WebPart_ChromeTitle&quot;&gt;   
&lt;span title=&quot;&quot; id=&quot;WebPartTitle&quot; style=&quot;text-align:justify;&quot; id=&quot;WebPartCaption&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/nobr&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div WebPartID=&quot;00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&quot; HasPers=&quot;true&quot; id=&quot;WebPart&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; ms-WPBorder noindex ms-wpContentDivSpace &quot; OnlyForMePart=&quot;true&quot;
allowDelete=&quot;false&quot; style=&quot;&quot; &gt;&lt;div componentid=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_csr&quot; id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_csr&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;&lt;div
id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_noscript&quot;&gt;It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;&lt;div id=&quot;wpz43_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00&quot;&gt;   
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div>  &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; 
&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div &lt;/div&gt;" __MarkupType="vsattributemarkup" __WebPartId="{2d49bab8-c61e-44b3-91c2-c1c44a4cea75}" WebPart="true" Height="" Width="">--><!--ME:</spsswc:ContentBySearchWebPart>--><!--PS:
Start of READ-ONLY PREVIEW (do not modify)-->
<div ms-webpart-chrome-fullWidth ">
<div id="WebPartWPQ1_ChromeTitle">
<span title="United States - $Resources:Microsoft.Office.Server.Search,CBS_Description;" id="WebPartTitleWPQ1"><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><nobr><span>United States</span><span id="WebPartCaptionWPQ1"></span></nobr></h2></span>
</div><div noindex ms-wpContentDivSpace " id="WebPartWPQ1" allowdelete="false" onlyformepart="true" width="100%" haspers="true" webpartid="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"><div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_csr" componentid="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_csr"></div><noscript>&lt;div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_noscript"&gt;It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again.&lt;/div&gt;</noscript><div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75">
<div>
<div id="WebPartWPQ2_ChromeTitle">
<span title="" id="WebPartTitleWPQ2"><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><nobr><span></span><span id="WebPartCaptionWPQ2"></span></nobr></h2></span>
</div><div ms-WPBorder noindex ms-wpContentDivSpace " id="WebPartWPQ2" allowdelete="false" onlyformepart="true" width="100%" haspers="true" webpartid="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"><div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_csr" componentid="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_csr"></div><noscript>&lt;div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00_noscript"&gt;It looks like your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Please turn on JavaScript and try again.&lt;/div&gt;</noscript><div
id="ctl00_ctl00_PlaceHolderMain_ComponentMain_ComponentPropertyGrids_g_2d49bab8_c61e_44b3_91c2_c1c44a4cea75_ctl00">
</div><div></div></div>
</div>
</div><div></div></div>
</div><!--PE: End of READ-ONLY PREVIEW--><!--CE: End Content Search Snippet-->       

Answer 1

I am having the same issue.  Did you ever resolve it?