Performance Max campaigns. Still a myth?

Best practice for Performance Max campaigns:

The now-established Google Ads campaign format (Performance Max Campaign) can be found in almost every Google Ads account designed for e-commerce. However, as a Google Ads agency , we see that the full potential of the Ads campaign is not being utilized.

The structure of a Performance Max campaign:

Managing individual channels (Google Search, Google Shopping, YouTube, Display & Discovery) is one of the biggest challenges in campaign creation. Therefore, you should generally work with two types of Performance Max campaigns.

1. Variant 1
2. Here, you store your shopping feed and don't add any other assets. This ensures that this campaign is targeted exclusively at the Shopping Network. The advantage of this model over a standard Shopping campaign is that it works similarly to the Smart Shopping campaigns, which Google no longer offers.
3. Tip: If you still have a Smart Shopping campaign, convert it to an asset-free Performance Max campaign. This way, you can further increase the campaign's performance while remaining solely in the Shopping Network.
4. Variant 2
5. In this campaign, you store all assets and do not store the shopping feed.

This way you can separate shopping and the other channels from each other.

Video assets

You probably know that video assets are not a must, so you can exclude video ads.

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How can I influence the display ads?

For creative assets to be delivered, you must adhere to specific design guidelines. Failure to comply with these guidelines will result in the creative assets being automatically rejected.

Caution : We do not recommend this tactic. It will result in rejected assets, which in turn will negatively impact overall campaign performance, even if the ad effectiveness is "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? The solution is asset and target groups.

Let’s start with the asset groups:

Rule number 1: Granular asset groups are always best.

So, you have the option to create multiple asset groups. Use it.

The structure of individual asset groups depends heavily on the respective marketing strategy. However, one possible idea is to divide the asset groups into categories.

Perhaps the most important asset group you should create is the remarketing asset group. But more on that in the Target Audiences section.

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

Reason 1:

It's impossible to formulate ad copy for your entire product range in one asset group. With multiple asset groups, you can address your target audience much more effectively.

Reason 2:

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

Reason 3:

Target audiences. Nesting all target audience signals in one asset group is the wrong approach. To make your target audience as refined as possible, you should also assign different target audiences to each asset group.

Reason 4:

You can now analyze asset groups for their performance, allowing you to assess where you're profitable and where you're not.

So, we've got the basics now. Let's move on to the most important part: the target groups.

Overview of target group signals

Target group segments are what truly define a Performance Max campaign. Target groups allow you to secure a competitive advantage and also target the campaign.

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

Custom segments

Self-collected data

Interests and detailed demographic characteristics

Demographic characteristics

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Custom segments

Custom segments are a huge lever for the success of your Performance Max campaign. For example, you can enter keywords that users have searched for in the past. Keywords similar to the keywords you've entered will also be considered.

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

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

The most interesting segment here is your competitors' websites, which you can add. This will target users who have visited your competitors' websites.

Pro tip: Use this segment in conjunction with self-collected data and a specific target audience approach in the assets. This will help you avoid comparability.

Self-collected data:

We know and love this segment. Our familiar target group lists from Google Ads and Google Analytics.

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

Interests and detailed demographic characteristics:

Be careful with this. Google also targets ads to other audiences. The less you specify here, the clearer the guidelines will be for Google.

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

Check the statistics to see which target groups you are actually being shown to and adjust your target group accordingly.

Demographic characteristics:

Do you sell a product exclusively to young people? Is your product only of interest to one gender? Do you sell a product for the luxury sector? This is where you can configure these settings.

Reminder: Use different target groups for different asset groups. If you sell clothes, the keyword "buy hoodie" has no place in the target group of the asset group where you're advertising your pants.

Bidding strategies:

Even if Performance Max campaigns only work with Smart Bidding, the hierarchy should be adhered to. Don't launch a Performance Max campaign directly with Conversion Value Maximization or even ROAS. Let the campaign collect conversions first before switching to Target CPA or Conversion Value.

Conversion:

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

Tip: Distinguish between primary and secondary conversions. Shopping carts, payment processes initiated, etc. are not conversions and should therefore not be included in conversion tracking. Only target your campaigns toward conversion goals that generate cash.

Statistics:

Keep an eye on your statistics. This will show you which keywords are converting. You'll also get insight into which target groups are interacting most with your ads.

• Fully automated campaign format for all Google channels and maximum conversions.
• Exclusion of 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, precise targeting, and easy video creation.

If you use Google Ads, you've probably already heard of Performance Max campaigns. These special campaigns combine all Google Ads campaign types and allow you to advertise across all Google channels with a single campaign. Performance Max campaigns are a fully automated Google Ads campaign format that not only simplifies your work but also maximizes conversions for your business goals.

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

Exclusion of brand keywords

Until now, it was difficult to exclude keywords related to your brand at the campaign level. But that's changing with Performance Max campaigns! You can finally exclude brand keywords without having to rely on Google Ads representatives for help.

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

TIP

So, if you're targeting campaigns for your business name, you should create a search campaign and set a maximum bid of €1 for the keywords. This way, you can ensure you're buying these keywords at a reasonable price.

Insights into asset groups

Another innovation concerns the analysis of asset groups within a Performance Max campaign. While the data could be analyzed using specially created Google Ads scripts, the data was previously hidden in the Google Ads account.

Now you can analyze spend across asset groups and attribute conversions to a specific asset group. This helps you better understand which asset group is performing best in your Performance Max campaign.

Experiments in Performance Max campaigns

Until now, it wasn't possible to run experiments in a Performance Max campaign. But that will change in the coming days and weeks. Experiments allow you to understand how Performance Max impacts your overall mix and test standard shopping against the Performance Max campaign, which targets the same products.

Page feeds

A new feature allows you to target traffic to specific landing page URLs on websites. Labels let you group URLs by topic and target specific campaigns or asset groups.

Video creation

The video editing tool, previously only available in the object library, will now be integrated into the setup and editing flow of Performance Max campaigns.

This change simplifies the creation of video content, saving advertisers time and resources.

Conclusion

Performance Max campaigns offer you many benefits and now offer even more optimization options. You can now exclude keywords based on your brand, gain insights into asset groups, run experiments, and direct traffic to specific website landing page URLs. Use these new features to make your Performance Max campaigns even more successful!

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

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