Performance Max campaigns - the all-in-one campaign in Google Ads
What Google's new campaign format means for you
Update 23.02.2023: After Google Performance Max, or PMax, completely replaced the previous Smart Shopping and Local campaigns in September 2022, the first functional enhancements have now been released. From February 2023, campaigns can be better targeted, optimized and tested with various functional enhancements that will gradually become available.
The fully automated PMax campaign type combines all existing campaign formats and not only makes it easier for advertisers to manage and use Shopping campaigns, but also increases performance by up to 12%, according to Google. But what is there to this advertising promise? In the following, we explain exactly what Performance Max campaigns are, what new features there are, how to create a PMax campaign and what advantages and disadvantages this campaign type can bring you.
What are Performance Max campaigns?
The new Performance Max campaigns are a fully automated campaign type, which should not only mean less work for you when creating campaigns, but also - as the name suggests - promise better performance.
Whereas with Google Shopping campaigns you previously had the option of choosing which ads you wanted to display on which channels, the new PMax format takes some of the work off your hands. Based on the assets you provide, which consist of ad titles, images, text and video, the fully automated campaign takes care of all the steps from placement and targeting to the final display of the ad and uses real-time data to reach your target group wherever they happen to be. The ads are automatically displayed across the entire Google network in the search, display and discovery networks as well as on GoogleMaps, Gmail and YouTube, giving them an extraordinary reach.
This is new with Google Performance Max campaign updates 2023 at a glance
After the first few months, Google has made functional enhancements for the smart campaign format and planned them for the coming months, which should increasingly guarantee maximum performance:
Optimization of performant Performance Max campaigns in the search inventory
Exclusion of keywords at account level
Keywords that are to be excluded across all campaigns can now be entered at account level. For example, you can exclude search queries from users who do not belong to the desired target group or exclude brand-related keywords from competitors. In future, all keywords entered there will be excluded in all campaign types except discovery campaigns.
Exclusion of brands at campaign level
Would you like to decide for yourself in your PMax campaigns which brands your ads are displayed for in the search and shopping results? In future, exclude certain brands on a campaign-specific or cross-campaign basis via a common exclusion list. Search queries in which brands to be excluded are misspelled are also taken into account.
Setting up page feeds
Would you like to direct the traffic generated by your Performance Max campaigns to specific landing pages? In future, you will be able to upload and group URLS to which you want to direct traffic via the "Extension of the final URL".
Testing the conversion increase
Not sure whether Performance Max campaigns are the right campaign type for you? Since February 2023, you have two test options for assessing the effectiveness of automated campaigns. Firstly, you can easily compare the performance of your manual campaigns with the performance of PMax campaigns. This test allows you to measure the extent to which PMax is reflected in conversions. You can also compare Performance Max campaigns directly with existing Shopping campaigns that advertise the same product.
Optimization of video assets
While video assets could previously be created via the asset library, they can now be conveniently created when setting up and editing the individual PMax campaigns. Before uploading, you can check the quality of your videos with the help of a preview.
More transparency: insight into additional data for evaluation
Insight into asset group reporting
In order to better understand the performance of individual asset groups in the future, advertisers gain insight into the exact number of conversions, costs and other metrics at asset group level. Based on this, derivations can be made for extensions to the asset groups.
Insight into budget distribution
By providing the data for budget grading, PMax will offer advertisers an insight into actual expenditure in future. This enables a direct comparison between forecast and actual costs and better tracking of campaign performance.
Performance Max campaigns: Who they are suitable for
According to the name Performance Max, the new campaign type is designed to deliver maximum performance. If you want to use Google Ads to generate leads, increase sales or drive traffic to your website, Performance Max campaigns are for you. Performance Max campaigns are designed to bring you to the attention of as many potential customers as possible and ultimately get you more calls, more visits to your store, website or online store. As with any other Google Ads campaign, you can specify in advance whether your campaign should pursue one or more of these goals.
PMax is mandatory for all retailers who use Google Shopping. Since September 2022, it is no longer possible to create Smart Shopping campaigns. The use of Performance Max campaigns is therefore essential.
How does Performance Max work?
Instead of creating ad groups, Google Ads users only need to store assets in the form of creatives and provide more detailed information about the target group to create a campaign. The Google algorithm then selects which combination of assets is best suited to which format and plays them out independently at the relevant touchpoints. Thanks to machine learning, Google remembers which combinations work best at which touchpoints and focuses on them. At the same time, less lucrative ads in certain channels are pushed into the background. All of this happens fully automatically.
In contrast to other campaign formats, Performance Max does not display ads to predefined target groups for certain keywords, but evaluates user signals to calculate the probability of a conversion for certain users. This enables context-based display.
How to create Performance Max campaigns
Selecting the target project
First select the target project for your campaign as usual. To be able to create a Performance Max campaign, you must select Leads, Sales and/or Local store visits and promotions as the target project.
Defining the budget
As usual, you can enter your average budget per day in the campaign. Depending on the user signals, the budget per day can sometimes be exceeded and sometimes fallen short of. At the end of the month, however, you will always reach your defined budget.
Choosing the desired bidding strategy
Even if the bid management is completely taken over by Google and cannot be set individually, you can at least specify in advance which bid strategy should be pursued. In principle, Performance Max campaigns only pursue smart bidding strategies.
You can determine in advance whether the focus should be on increasing conversions with target costs and thus with a target cost-per-acquisition (target CPA) or on increasing the conversion value by setting the target return on advertising spend (target ROAS).
Location & language
Locations, languages and advertising times also play a role for PMax. Do you only want to reach users from a specific catchment area? Are your services or products only suitable for people who speak a certain language? Your company is closed on certain days and does not need to run ads on these days? Pass this information on to Google.
Assets instead of ad groups
While you are used to Google Ads grouping ads with the same target intent in an ad group, with Performance Max Campaigns you now have the option of dividing a campaign thematically into asset groups. There you can upload texts, images including company logos, videos, titles of your ads as well as call-to-actions, which represent the building blocks of each ad. PMax then creates the respective ads automatically. A minimum number of different assets is required for automated ad placement. In our infographic, you can see the minimum and maximum number of assets you need and can upload to run a Performance Max campaign and the formats in which they must be available.
Page feeds
In the near future, you will have the option of creating page feeds to direct traffic to landing pages that you have categorized as important. Simply upload the desired URLs. You also have the option of grouping the URLs, making it easier to assign them to specific campaigns or asset groups.
Set target group signals
Audience targeting is handled automatically by Google. However, you can set target group signals at the beginning to include users with whom you have already interacted and define mandatory interests and detailed demographic characteristics.
Ad extensions
Would you like to offer your potential customers additional information such as a sitelink or call extension? You can make these settings in the ad extensions.
Brand exclusion
In February 2023, Google announced that in the near future, brand names can be specifically excluded from Performance Max campaigns at campaign level. By entering certain brands, you can determine for which searches your ads should not be displayed in the search and shopping results.
Infographic: Google Performance Max Assets
Advantages of Performance Max
Simple campaign creation
Anyone who has previously struggled with campaign creation can breathe a sigh of relief. Because PMax takes care of a large part of it. The only thing you have to do is upload representative creatives that Google can use for automatic campaign creation. Before that, you define your goals and then you can sit back and relax.
Save time
Performance Max campaigns are not only easy to use, they also save time in terms of maintenance. This is because PMax not only takes care of campaign creation, but also automatically takes care of optimization. Leave it to Google to react to changes in the market and other external factors and concentrate on your day-to-day business. Whereas you previously had to create separate campaigns for each channel, you now only have to create a single campaign that virtually manages itself.
Increase your reach
In addition to displaying ads across the entire Google network, automatic targeting also allows you to increase your reach even further. Even more people who are likely to convert are addressed, who may not be taken into account with classic targeting.
Potential increase in performance
This advantage should be taken with a grain of salt, as Google cannot always keep its promise of an 8-12% increase in performance at the same cost. Nevertheless, this can happen. Try out Performance Max campaigns and test for yourself whether PMax can give you this advantage.
Simple video creation
Since September 2022, Google's video editor has made it possible to create videos quickly and easily based on uploaded assets. With the help of topic-specific templates, you can create appealing video ads in just a few clicks and add music or recorded voiceovers if you wish. The advantage of automatic video creation: the videos can be easily adapted to your corporate identity. Since the beginning of 2023, this editor can now be found in the assets, adapted to the workflow.
Disadvantages of Performance Max campaigns
Automated creation/optimization: loss of control
The automated mode of campaign creation and optimization means that you give up full control to Google Ads. You do not have the option of making any settings or optimizations yourself.
Automatic video creation
If you do not upload your own videos in the assets, Google Ads automatically creates a video based on your uploaded assets. If you do not have a video, simply use Google's video editor to turn this disadvantage into an advantage.
All assets must be compatible with each other
As Google Ads creates all ads based on the assets you have uploaded, you have no influence over which assets are combined with each other. To ensure that your ads work well both in terms of content and appearance, all assets must be compatible with each other.
Limited transparency
Would you like to know which ads perform particularly well or poorly on which channels or understand the reasons for sudden increases or decreases in performance? Even though Google Ads will provide deeper insights into the performance of your own Performance Max campaigns in the future, a lot of revealing information will still be withheld.
Tips for getting started with Performance Max
- If your product portfolio allows it, create several asset groups with a thematic connection so that Google can place as many different ads as possible
- Let your campaigns run for at least 6 weeks to get a representative impression
- Use Performance Max campaigns as a supplement and not exclusively to compensate for any performance reductions with a manual campaign .
Conclusion: Why you should try Performance Max!
With an increase in performance of up to 12%, Google promises a great deal with Performance Max campaigns and should definitely be tested. Even if success cannot be predicted and PMax ultimately even results in a drop in your performance, you should still see whether the campaign could bring you advantages. Run PMax in parallel with other campaign types and use the test options that Google Ads will soon make available to you. This will allow you to track the performance of your regular campaigns in direct comparison to Performance Max campaigns.
Do you need support with your Performance Max campaign?
If you haven't familiarized yourself with Performance Max in the last few months of regular Shopping campaigns, you need to get to grips with it now at the latest. Do you need support and would you like professional support for your Google Ads account? Get in touch with our Google expert Thomas Jürgens!
