Digital Marketing

All you got to know about Google Performance Max campaigns

By Steven, on November 2, 2022, updated on July 10, 2023 - 5 min read

Google Performance Max (former Smart Shopping) is a new type of goal-based campaign that allows performance advertisers to access all of their Google Ads inventory from a single campaign.

They’re designed to complement your keyword-based Search campaigns and help you find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels.

Want a complete overview of all your insights? Want to increase your sales? So, Google Performance Max campaigns are the way to go!

What are Google Performance Max campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns are a type of Google Ads campaign that helps you to reach your potential customers through multiple channels like :

  • YouTube
  • Display
  • Search
  • Discover
  • Gmail
  • and Maps

A brief Performance max campaign presentation from Google on the Google Ads YouTube channel:

How do Google Performance Max campaigns work?

Google Performance Max works by using your keyword lists from your Search campaigns. 

Google Ads will then create ad groups based on these keywords and target new potential customers who might not have been exposed to your brand before or who might be interested in what you have to offer.

Also read : Keyword Insights: find the best performing keywords with AI

Why use Google Performance Max?

There are 3 many reasons why performance advertisers would want to use Google PMax:

  1. It allows you to access all of Google’s inventory from a single campaign: this is especially useful if you’re trying to reach a larger audience or if you’re targeting customers in multiple countries.
  1. It is designed to complement your keyword-based Search campaigns: Performance Max campaigns from Google will allow you to reach more potential customers if you’re already running Search campaigns.
  2. It allows you to find more converting customers across all of Google’s channels: if you are looking for a way to increase your sales, PMax campaigns are a great way to do it. By reaching new prospects across multiple channels, you are more likely to address customers who are interested in what you have to offer.

Who is Google Performance Max best suited for?

Google Performance Max is specifically designed for:

  • Any advertiser with online sales goals using a Merchant Center feed: if you are an advertiser with online sales goals, then Google Performance Max can make it easy to reach your prospects.
  • Google Ads users who want to target a new audience: Performance Max can help you get the most out of your Google Ads spend by obtaining new leads and increasing your conversion rate.
  • Advertisers who want to consolidate their campaigns: with Performance Max, you can quickly consolidate all of your campaigns into one easy-to-manage location. By creating a single campaign that targets multiple channels, you can reduce the amount of time and money you spend on managing your Google Ads campaigns.

What are the Benefits of Google Performance Max?

There are many benefits of using Google Performance Max, including:

  • Increase your conversion rate: by targeting new potential customers who might not have been exposed to your brand before, you can reach a larger audience and increase your sales.
  • Complement your search campaigns: Google Performance Max can be used to complement your existing marketing efforts and get the most out of your Google Ads spend.
  • Get more insights: with Google Performance Max, you will get more information about how your advertisements are performing across all Google channels. This will help you to optimize your campaigns.

What are the main features of Google Performance Max?

The main features of Google Performance Max include:

  • Asset group scheduling: with this feature, you can schedule your assets to run at specific times and on specific days. This helps you to make the most of your Google Ads spend by ensuring that your advertisements are seen by potential customers at the times when they’re most likely to convert.
  • Performance explanations: with performance explanations, you can get insights into why your advertisements are performing the way they are. This helps you to optimize your campaigns and get the most out of your Google Ads spend.
  • More headlines: Google Performance Max allows you to use more headlines in your advertisements. This means that you can reach more potential customers with your message and increase your sales.
  • First-party audience insights: Google Performance Max gives you access to first-party audience insights. This means that you can target your advertisements to specific audiences and get the most out of your Google Ads spend.

How do I get started with Google Performance Max?

If you’re interested in using Google Performance Max, then there are a few things you need to do to get started:

  • Create a Merchant Center account: this is where you will upload your product data so that it can be used in your Google Ads campaigns.
    Note: it’s not mandatory to have shopping products and a merchant center account to run a Performance Max campaign. This only applies if you are an ecommerce website.
merchant center
  • Sign up for Google Ads: if you don’t already have a Google Ads account, you will need to sign up for one. You can do this by visiting the Google Ads website and clicking on the “Sign up now” button.
google ads
  • Create a Google Ads campaign: once you have an account, you’ll need to create a new campaign. To do this, click on the “Campaigns” tab and then click on the “+ New Campaign” button.
new campaing ads
  • Select your campaign type: when creating your campaign, you’ll need to select the “Sales” or “Leads” campaign type. This is the type of campaign that’s specifically designed for Google Performance Max.
sales

and your campaign type:

select performance max campaign
  • Enter your budget: once you’ve selected your advertising objectives, you’ll need to enter your budget. To do this, click on the “Budget” tab and then enter the amount that you’re willing to spend on your campaign.
budget
  • Enter your campaign settings: you’ll need to select the language, the location and the URL extension of your products.
settings
  • Select your asset groups: you’ll need to select the asset groups that you want to target with your Google Ads campaign. To do this, click on the “Asset groups” tab and then click on the “+ New asset group” button.
asset group
  • Start your Google Ads campaign: once you’ve entered all of the necessary information, you can start your campaign by clicking on the “Start Campaign” button.

If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to using Google Performance Max to get the most out of your Google Ads spend.

10 Tips to optimize Google Performance Max campaign

Want to optimize Google Performance Max campaign? Here are 10 tips:

  • Upload high-quality images: logo, image of products in situation, catching views,
  • Write compelling titles and descriptions for your products or services and fill all the available fields,
  • Add audiences: add in market or affinity audiences but create custom audiences based on the URL of your competitors or your best keywords,
  • Use negative keywords to exclude unqualified traffic: it’s still in beta but you can ask your Google representative or the Google support in order to have this done,
  • Monitor your campaign performance closely: it is hard to understand how your money is spent with this campaign so it will take you more time for less data,
  • Make sure you have enough budget to sustain your campaign,
  • Make sure to adjust the right CPA or ROAS in order to so that the algorithm can reach it. Giving a goal that is too difficult to reach is always counterproductive with smart bidding.
  • Don’t let it live alone. Be careful and challenge your settings.

Giving a goal that is too difficult to reach is always counterproductive with smart bidding.

Google Performance Max in a nutshell…

Google Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that’s specifically designed to help you get the most out of your Google Ads spend. So if you’re looking to get the most out of your Google Ads budget, then Google Performance Max is definitely worth considering!

  • Performance Max replaced Smart Shopping.
  • Performance Max is a type of Google Ads campaign that creates ads specifically designed to reach your target audience through multiple channels.
  • Google Performance Max is an excellent tool for advertisers who want to increase their online sales.
  • It works by using a shopping feed if you have one, the content of your website, some titles and description and audiences’ signals.
  • This tool allows you to access all of Google’s inventory from a single campaign.
  • If you are an advertiser or a Google Ads user, Pmax could work, or not. As always, it depends.

Featured image taken from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghM5eKVVdOo

Steven