le Performance Max: All you need to Know //

Performance Max is a powerful tool that even the PPC manager who has been in business for years can no longer deny. You’ll need to have a completely different approach than you would for Search and Shopping.

Here’s an example.

In the past, when you worked with retailers who sold products from multiple brands, you would typically create a separate Shopping Campaign for each brand. You’ll end up forcing Performance Max to do something that it wasn’t designed for. Performance will not be max.

Performance Max is all about consolidation. If you use its smart algorithms and machine learning, Performance Max will soar. If you continue to use the same habits that you used in more granular campaigns, Performance Max will penalize you.

You can use this guide to keep your needles moving forward.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max is what makes Google Ads the most popular search engine in the world. Google has been collecting data for years on the browsing and buying behavior of users. This allows them to tailor a campaign to each search.

Performance Max lets advertisers upload any type of asset and have all Google’s placements available in one campaign. This includes:

Performance Max was released in 2022 to all Google Ads accounts after being tested on a limited number of accounts for the alpha and beta stages (2020, 2021). This is just ahead of peak shopping season.

Google has since continued to support Performance Max with new features including brand-level exclusions as well as asset-group level reporting.

What makes Performance Max so powerful?

Google designed Performance Max as a campaign that could serve the needs of all advertisers. Here are some features that make this possible.

Targeting abilities

Keywords, audience, and product feeds are the cornerstones of targeting. Performance Max is no exception, but the way these three elements interact and work together sets it apart.

Performance Max will start off better if you use these settings from the beginning.


Audience Signals

You can use these to tell Performance Max which users you would like to see your ads. But remember, they won’t necessarily be the same people.

Uploading your list of customers as an audience indicator doesn’t necessarily mean that your ad is going to be shown to them or to other people like them, but rather as a starting point for the ad’s own targeting.


Keywords

Performance Max will begin quickly targeting queries that are not directly related to the initial targeting intent. (Based on custom intent audiences and product data feeds, website URL).

Although the lack of negative keywords may be frustrating, you will likely still find opportunities that you hadn’t considered. Performance Max will also analyze the custom intent audiences that you create from keywords.


Product feed

A strong data feed remains critical for the success of Shopping campaigns.

Google will not know what queries to display your products for without an optimized product feed.

Performance Max will diverge from your original path, allowing you to capture new opportunities.

Bid management

Performance Max offers advertisers two different bid strategies when setting cost-per click (CPC).

Google will be able to use a large amount of data to determine which strategies have worked in the past.

I recommend that newer account holders start with Search or Standard Shopping in order to collect data. They should only switch to Performance Max once they have reached their maximum impression share and a steady flow of conversions.

Auctions with complex bidding and intent matching

Google is a huge repository of data about how people behave on the internet.

Smart Bidding analyses over 70,000,000 signals near-real-time (actually in a tenth second), but the data points that are analyzed remain a secret. This system works if you have a certain level of trust.

Imagine 100 people searching the exact same query. Each person will be at a different stage of the purchasing journey. Their unique histories may also influence how quickly they convert. The system will look for those who are most likely to convert.

Fill out the data feeds with the correct information for ecommerce – keywords, titles, descriptions, product categories, etc. You will appear in the most searches, regardless of whether someone is just “window-shopping” or is ready to make a purchase.

Brand exclusions and new customer acquisition

Performance Max allows advertisers to target new net revenue by bidding more for new acquisitions. It has recently begun rolling out brand excludes to better control whether your ads appear for branded queries.

The features are not as crucial for smaller advertisers. However, larger brands that want to scale up can tell the system to concentrate on opportunities with greater value. These features, when used in conjunction, can dramatically change the speed and profitability a scaling process.

We can segment more effectively with asset group level reporting, which is now available to many accounts. We exclude certain product segments, such as brand, category or individual products, when we notice that they aren’t performing well.

Consider it as pruning campaigns that aren’t converting or getting enough traffic.

What to consider when excluding brands from Performance Max

Google announced recently that Dynamic Search campaigns can be upgraded to Performance Max. The capability has always been there, but now you have the option to upgrade with a single click.

Performance Max already includes Smart Shopping, Local , and Local campaigns. Now is the time to test it.

Search for daily newsletters that marketers use.

“> “> “>

Processing…Please wait.


Terms.

What makes Performance Max different from other Google Ads?

We’ll look at some of the characteristics that make Performance Max different from other, more specific placements.

Spending on inventory and advertising

Budgeting and bidding can only be done on a campaign-level, which is a familiar concept.

Performance Max is tricky because it doesn’t tell you where your money was spent. This has a direct correlation with the reporting features.

Performance Max still targets people who are likely to convert, even if you buy traffic for inventories which may not have the same quality as Search and Shopping. Performance Max can also reduce overall costs in industries with high click-through rates.

It is important to note that Performance Max has a high upfront cost. Don’t forget to include the costs of collecting data during the learning phase of a campaign.

This will take more time than usual if you have a brand new account.

As you gain experience and improve your results, you can run more successful campaigns and reduce costs. This will allow you to spend more money on more aggressive bids or more conversions.

Reporting

Performance Max reports can be viewed at campaign and asset groups levels. You can find them in the Reporting section of Google Ads.

But I’ve talked to a few people who never navigate to the page where you can create custom reports based upon landing pages, placements and time of day. You can also determine what percentage of your advertising budget is driven by data feeds and what proportion is driven by creative.

Google’s revamped Insights tab is also a big hit with us (updates are still being rolled out). You could only look back 7 or 28 days before, but you can now choose any period and download keywords. Don’t ignore the data!

Transparency

Third-party scripts can be used to track where your ads go. I personally tend to avoid that.

According to my view, the campaign either performs or it doesn’t. There are levers that you can use to change things up when it’s not working.

Performance Max allows you to guide and nudge the algorithm, but not decide where or when your ad appears. You can no longer see more specific keywords and instead have access to keyword themes.

Accepting this is crucial to my success with Performance Max.

While you cannot see your ads, an impression report at the account level is available. This report does not give you an overview of revenue and cost.

Remember that the ultimate goal is to create a system similar to Facebook’s Advantage Plus, where you only see data that can be acted upon.

Control

Many people believe that Performance Max is an “install it and forget about it” campaign. It’s not really.

It’s a different experience than we’re used to in other campaigns.

Performance Max allows you to program the machine to perform the tasks you used to do so that you can concentrate on making the decisions you cannot make. Performance Max boils down to:

Think of it not as one step back but rather a step back to get a better view.

Participation

How active should you be with Performance Max? You want to steer the machine in the right direction and make sure it doesn’t deviate from its course.

It’s important to learn how to control those compulsive thoughts that changing is the only thing that will make you feel like you are involved. It could be because clients are always asking you why you made only two changes in the last month.

Performance Max is sometimes all you need.

Your involvement is more likely to be in monitoring and making big-picture adjustments. Set up the campaign, then step back to let it run. While working behind the scenes, keep an eye on what’s happening.

Concentrate on ensuring that any first-party information is accurate and clean, that your CRM is integrated (for lead generation) and that the landing page content has been improved – all things that will impact profitability and efficiency.

Performance Max in action – Sample campaign structures

If you don’t understand how to set up a Performance Max Campaign, it can be difficult. Here are a few examples of campaigns I’ve created for different types accounts.

Ecommerce

There are two main types of online advertisers:


Own brand

They spend 70-80% or more of their advertising budgets on Facebook and TikTok. Google may even be an afterthought.

Performance Max and creative assets work best for these brands because they are also the ones that use paid social.


Multiple brands

Google Ads is the best way to reach retailers who sell hundreds of brands or thousands products. We have clients with catalogs that have hundreds of thousands SKUs.

We tend to shy away from the creative side of things and instead focus on “Smart Shopping”, which gives less importance to audience signals or ad copy. We focus on the data feed and make sure it is near perfect.

Lead generation

We start with Search for lead generation accounts to gather conversion data and volume, two key components that make Performance Max work.

After that, we’ll move on to Performance Max and split asset groups based on location and offer. The system can then target the correct people at the right place, so that a plumber in New Jersey doesn’t receive leads from Glasgow.

You can omit location if your service is available virtually or globally.

It is absolutely essential that you use a spam filter, such as reCAPTCHA. Otherwise you will be plagued by low-quality leads.

Google can then identify potential leads using data from the entire sales cycle.

Performance Max: Pros and Cons

Performance Max is a great campaign, but not perfect.

Here are some things I like about Google and a few I would change.

You can scale it beyond the intent

Imagine you are targeting a limited market, but want to explore opportunities beyond this limit.

Performance Max uses data signals to identify people who may not be looking for the keywords in your bottom-funnel but are interested and could become customers.

Performance Max is an entire funnel campaign. It will identify people who it believes are most likely to convert, based on millions of data signals. . will then move them along the customer journey.

Performance Max has a lot of advantages.

The inability to set bids on an asset group basis is a major disadvantage, and I can understand why PPC people are frustrated by the obfuscation or search term data.

But – this may be a mentality problem – do all the other things matter? Why not figure out how to make the most of this toolbox rather than how to hack it instead?

Negative keywords are not necessary when you bid with a ROAS goal. If you’re not reaching your target, then it shouldn’t be getting that traffic.

I understand that people are eager to test the system, especially when budgets are limited, but it is worth waiting to see Performance Max’s full potential.

Cons: It is expensive to start.

Performance Max is a rocket that can take you places you’ve never been before – but at the expense of a long and expensive takeoff.

It can take up to six weeks to get anywhere worthwhile, and this period can be expensive.

Google does not optimize for conversions but rather monitors user behavior. This means you spend more money for fewer conversions.

Clear communication and honest expectations are required to convince clients and managers that Google Ads is the new avatar.

Pro: This is a great opportunity to test out new types of campaigns.

Performance Max can be a great way for brands to test out new media without committing to it.

Google claims that Performance Max is the best route to take for performance, and it is. The official figure is a gain of 18% on average, but mileage will vary.

Con: It is not as simple as Google claims

Performance Max is not as easy as it appears. While there will always be PPC managers in place, we must also put forth the effort to keep up with things.

Nuance, patience and persistence are required to get Performance Max just right. After a few weeks, many marketers give up on Performance Max because they don’t see any progress.

It is easy to understand but shortsighted.

This will refresh your marketing priorities

Performance Max encourages PPC managers to act more like marketers and less like media buyers.

I like the fact that it allows me to search beyond Search, which is great for those who don’t have the skills to manage Discovery or YouTube, Display and other niche networks.

It is a good way to go beyond your current capabilities, without requiring a high-level of expertise.

You’ll still reach your audience, but they may not be the same people who are on the network where you advertise. Google has simplified the process.

Cons: Its suggestions are not ideal

Google’s suggestions are always a concern.

Many people do not understand what they are signing up for. They may seem like things you would never think about. Use them with caution, as they may have more serious effects.

It’s a great place to find ideas. You don’t need to act immediately and you can weigh the risks and rewards.

It is “eyes-on, hands-off” like everything else in Performance Max.

Pro: This is a good reminder that our work is still needed

Performance Max confirms that PPC managers will not be going anywhere.

Performance Max is not something that can be run by the average business owner from day one. Our roles have changed and will continue to change. If there’s one thing more difficult than running an effective Performance Max campaign, then it’s fixing a campaign that’s full of mistakes.

You’ll be needed whether you are building from scratch or repairing what is broken.

Should you run a Performance Max Campaign?

Performance Max is an excellent option. It’s only an option.

It’s not mandatory to use it. You may not want to use it in some situations.

What accounts are eligible for Performance Max?

What accounts would benefit from other types of campaigns?

Special Case: Regulated Industries

Disclaimer – This is a speculative article.

Retargeting is not allowed for accounts that advertise pharmaceuticals or medical services. Performance Max is a good way to get around this because you’re not targeting specific people but the system will probably do it anyway.

It shouldn’t be a problem as long as you have the right teams to approve your creative and ad copy.

How to optimize, monitor and report Performance Max

Are you ready to launch your first Performance Max campaign and create your first Performance Max campaign plan? You have a campaign running, but you’re not sure what to do about it? These resources may help.

Checklist for pre-launch

Since Google Ads’ Performance Max campaign was released in beta, my team has been able to fine-tune our go-live procedure.

This detailed guide will help you maximize your Performance with Performance Max.

Learn how to create Performance Max campaigns in the correct way.

The optimization stage

There are few levers that can be used to optimize Performance Max campaigns directly, but this doesn’t mean they cannot be shaped.

Your job is to guide your campaign’s system. Here’s an in-depth walkthrough on what you can do (and should do) to improve performance.

Learn how to improve your Performance in Performance Max

Monitoring stage

Performance Max’s asset group reporting makes it easier to extract data and insights. These tips and tricks will help you with your monitoring and reporting process.

Learn how to get the most out of Performance Max.

Tips and Tricks that are Underrated

Performance Max must be approached differently by Ecommerce and Lead-generation accounts. But what does this mean?

These guides will help you avoid making the same mistakes as advertisers who have run Performance Max campaigns.



Read More:

The first time Search Engine Land published the article Google Performance Max – Everything You Need to Know.

Tagged

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *