Performance Max campaigns. Still a myth?

Best practice for Performance Max campaigns:

The now established Google Ads campaign format (Performacne Max campaign) can be found in almost every Google Ads account that is designed for e-commerce. Yet we see as Google Ads agencythat the full potential of the ad campaign is not being exploited.

Setting up a Performance Max campaign:

Managing individual channels (Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube, Display & Discovery) is one of the biggest hurdles when creating campaigns. Therefore, you should work with two types of Performance Max campaigns in principle.

1. variant 1
2. This is where you store your shopping feed and do not store any further assets. This guarantees that this campaign is aimed purely at the shopping network. The advantage of this model compared to a standard shopping campaign is that this variant works in a similar way to the smart shopping campaigns that Google no longer provides.
3. Tip: If you still have a Smart Shopping campaign, convert it into an asset-free Performacne Max campaign. This allows you to further increase the performance of the campaign and remain only in the shopping network.
4. variant 2
5. In this campaign, you store all assets and do not store the shopping feed.

This is how you separate shopping and the other channels from each other.

Video Assets

You certainly know that you're not a must for video assets, so you can exclude video ads from time to time.

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How can I influence display ads?

For creative assets to be delivered, you must comply with specific design guidelines. If these are not met, the creative assets are automatically rejected.

prudence: We don't recommend this tactic. This results in rejected assets, which in turn affects overall campaign performance, although ad effectiveness may be “very good.”

We have now solved the problem of separating the individual channels from each other.

But how do I get even more performance out of the campaign now. Asset and target groups are the solution.

Let's start with asset groups:

Rule number 1. It's always best to drive with granular asset groups.

So You have the option to create multiple asset groups. Make use of them.

The division into individual asset groups is very dependent on the respective marketing strategy. One possible idea, however, is to divide asset groups into categories.

Probably the most important asset group you should create is the asset group for remarketing. But more about that in the Target groups section.

There are 4 key reasons why you should use multiple asset groups in your Performance Max campaigns (PMAX).

Reason 1:

It is impossible to formulate ad texts for your entire product range in an asset group. With multiple asset groups, you can reach your target group much better.

Reason 2:

This allows Googel to understand much better which products belong together and for whom they could be relevant. Based on this data, Google can therefore display your ads much more efficiently.

Reason 3:

target groups. Nesting all target group signals in an asset group is the wrong approach. To ensure that your target group is as specific as possible, you should also give the respective asset groups different target groups.

Reason 4:

You can now analyze asset groups for their performance. This allows you to assess where you are profitable and where not.

Well, we have the basics now. Let's just get to what is arguably the most important part: the target groups.

Overview of target group signals

Target group segments really make up a Performance Max campaign. With target groups, you can secure competitive advantages and also target the campaign.

The target group of a Performance Max campaign consists of the following target group signals:

User-defined segments

Self-collected data

Interests and detailed demographics

Demographic characteristics

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User-defined segments

Custom segments are a huge lever for the success of your Performance Max campaign. Here, for example, you can store keywords that users have searched for in the past. Keywords that are similar to the stored keywords are also taken into account here.

Tip: Since keywords are also stored that are similar to the keyword, it is best to use generic ones here.

You can also add keywords that describe certain areas of interest. These keywords are relevant to support interests related to a specific purchase intent or campaign direction.

The most interesting segment here is your competitor's websites, which you can store. This is aimed at users who have visited your competitors' websites.

Pro tip: Use this segment in connection with self-collected data and a specific target group approach in the assets. This will help you get out of comparability.

Self-collected data:

We know and love this segment. Our well-known target group lists from Google Ads and Google Analytics.

Reminder: used the self-collected data in a separate asset group.

Interests and detailed demographics:

Handle this carefully. Google also targets the ads to other target groups. The less you store here, the clearer the requirement for Google is here.

Test target groups against each other. See which target group works best for you here.

Under the statistics, check which target groups you are actually being targeted at and adapt your target group.

Demographics:

Do you only sell a product to young people? Is your product only interesting for one gender? Are you selling a product for the luxury sector? Here is the place where you can make these settings.

Reminder: Use different target groups for different asset groups. If you sell clothes, the keyword “buy a hoodie” hasn't lost anything in the target audience of the asset group in which you advertise your pants.

Bidding strategies:

Even though Performance Max Kampangen only works with smart bidding, the hierarchy should be adhered to. Don't start a Performacne Max campaign directly with conversion value maximization or even ROAS. Let the campaign collect conversion first before you switch to target CPA or conversion value here.

Conversion:

Make sure you've set up conversion tracking correctly. Ideally, you should also include extended conversions, as this provides a better data basis for campaigns.

Tip: Distinguish between primary and secondary conversion. Shopping cart, payment process started, etc. are not a conversion and should therefore not be included for conversion tracking. Focus your campaigns only on conversion goals that bring you cash.

statistics:

Keep an eye on your statistics. Here you can see which keywords are converting. You'll also get an insight into which target groups interact the most with your ads.

• Fully automated campaign format for all Google channels and maximum conversions.
• Exclude brand keywords, asset groups, insights, experiments, landing page URL targeting, and video creation.
• More effective performance max campaigns through better control over brand keywords, detailed insights, testing options, targeted targeting, and easy video creation.

If you use Google Ads, you've probably heard of Performance Max campaigns. These special campaigns combine all Google Ads campaign types and enable advertising on all Google channels with just a single campaign. Performance Max campaigns are therefore a fully automated Google Ads campaign format that not only makes your work easier, but also offers you the maximum number of conversions for your business goal.

But until a few days ago, Google withheld important information, which will soon be made available in Google Ads accounts. We'll show you what's changing with Performance-Max campaigns:

Excluding brand keywords

Until now, it was difficult to exclude keywords after your own brand at campaign level. But that's changing now with Performance-Max campaigns! You can finally exclude brand keywords without relying on the help of Google Ads contacts.

This feature allows you to separate conversions resulting from a Performance-Max campaign from brand and non-brand keywords.

TIP

So if you target campaigns to your company's name, you should create a search campaign and bid the keywords a maximum of €1. This way, you can ensure that you buy these keywords cheaply.

Asset group insights

Another new feature concerns the evaluation of asset groups within a Performance-Max campaign. Although the data could be evaluated using specially created Google Ads scripts, the data had remained hidden in the Google Ads account so far.

Now you can analyze spending on asset groups and assign conversions to a specific asset group. This allows you to better understand which asset group is the most successful in your Performance Max campaign.

Experiments in Performance-Max Campaigns

Until now, it has not been possible to carry out experiments in a Performance-Max campaign. But that will change over the next few days and weeks. With experiments, you can understand how Performance-Max affects your overall mix and test standard shopping versus the Performance-Max campaign, which is aimed at the same products.

Page feeds

A new feature allows you to target traffic to specific landing page URLs of websites. With labels, you can group URLs by a specific topic and target specific campaigns or asset groups to them.

Video creation

The tool for editing videos, which was previously only available in the object library, is now to be integrated into the setup and editing flow of Performance-Max campaigns.

This change makes video content creation easier, saving advertisers time and resources.

conclusion

Performance Max campaigns offer you many benefits and now even more opportunities for optimization. You now have the option to exclude keywords after your own brand, get insights into asset groups, carry out experiments and drive traffic specifically to specific landing page URLs of websites. Use these new features to make your Performance-Max campaigns even more successful!

As a partner for high visibility on search engines, advertising on Facebook and Instagram, among others. Of course, we also provide the individual services separately.

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