Google continues to update and innovate its ad campaign formats to help businesses leverage its platforms and ad networks effectively. With the launch of Performance Max campaign types, Google has demonstrated its A.I. and machine-learning capabilities for ads have stepped up a gear, and with the end of Shopping campaigns later this year, means this campaign type is a must-have for many businesses who are already using Google Ads. Here is everything you need to know about the changes surrounding Shopping Ads and how Performance Max comes into play.
If you’re a business advertising your products online or running an e-commerce website, you might be familiar with Smart Shopping Campaigns. Google has officially announced that Performance Max will be replacing Smart Shopping and Local campaigns by the end of Q3 2022.
We’re here to answer questions like what exactly is Performance Max? What are the benefits? And when should you implement it?
What exactly is Performance Max?
Performance Max is Google’s latest campaign type. It was introduced in November 2021 to advertise shopping ads across Google’s advertising platforms without the integration of the Google Merchant Centre. After strong beta results, Google has started the rollout of Performance Max and the disappearance of Smart Shopping and Local Campaigns. Google pitches Performance Max as a tool to help increase conversions across Google’s various advertising channels. These include Search, Display, Discover, Maps, Gmail, and YouTube.
How does it work?
Performance Max is an automated goal-based campaign that uses machine learning and automated bidding to serve your audience relevant ads to improve conversions. Performance Max works best if you have specific goals to achieve. For example, Performance Max allows you to choose conversion goals such as increasing online sales, generating leads, or increasing offline sales.
So What Are The Benefits Of Performance Max?
Performance Max promises higher impressions and increased in-store visits to brick-and-mortar businesses. It focuses on using audience signals rather than audience segments to enable you to discover new consumers and get your ads in front of more shoppers. According to Google, this campaign can drive 13% more conversions at the same or lower cost per conversion, and we have seen similar positive results in accounts that have adopted this new campaign type.
Performance Max uses creative assets such as images, videos, or logos to create asset groups that suit your different audience signals. This gives you control over your creative assets, improves the relevance of your ads, and allows you to put your best foot forward with your business.
Performance Max works with automated bidding, therefore it’s important to use values with conversion goals to tell Google’s automation which goal is important. The automation process will prioritise driving those high-value conversion goals. This means your budget will be allocated to what’s most important for your business. You can rest, while Performance Max does the work.
“Performance Max Campaigns put your business goals front and centre and allow our automation to target your business goals above all else. This is crucial to maximising performance from Google Ads” – Google
When Should I start using Performance Max?
Google has officially announced that they will be sunsetting Smart Shopping Campaigns at the end of July 2022. They will also be automatically transitioning all Smart Shopping campaigns into PMax unless it is done manually.
We would highly recommend creating your own Performance Max campaign and switching off your Smart Shopping before this happens. Pmax campaigns run in a lot of different placements and as a result, Google will likely auto-select the assets it believes will perform best, therefore running the risk of the ads not being on-brand. Doing this manually will also allow you to select your own audience signals, meaning you can add insights about your customers that Google may not have initially.
If you’re interested in integrating Performance Max into your digital marketing strategy but don’t know where to start, get in touch with our team.
Article By Jazmin Lee
