What is Performance Max?
It's a bit of a one-size-fits-all type of campaign. In Performance max, you use the entire Google network in 1 campaign. When creating a performance max, you work with a combination of assets and can create up to
- 15 images
- 5 logo variants
- 5 videos
- 5 headlines of 30 characters
- 5 long headlines of 90 characters
- 5 descriptions
create. Then Google's machine learning goes to work on launching the campaign and the ads are automatically distributed across all Google platforms: Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail & Discovery. Performance Max is currently rolled out for both lead gen and retail.
Audience signals
Audience Signals is a new feature in Performance Max built to help advertisers speed up campaign ramp-up time while driving automation with the best of Google's automated targeting technology. As advertisers build Performance Max campaigns, Audience Signals allows them to influence automation by directly targeting the audiences that are most relevant to their business and have the highest likelihood of conversion. Audience Signals is to accelerate a campaign's learning period while driving automation with the best of Google's automated targeting technology.
Do you have insight into which target groups are more likely to convert for a particular asset group (e.g. 1P lists, specific custom or Google Audiences)?
Yes: Use Audience Signals to let Google know which audiences are most likely to convert.
No: No action required! Performance Max uses machine learning to automatically optimize to the best performing audience segments to achieve your marketing goals.
Performance Max campaign vs. Smart Shopping campaign?
The biggest difference between Performance Max and Smart Shopping Campaigns is that Performance Max goes much further in automation and targeting possibilities. For instance, with Smart Shopping it is not possible to add audiences, but with Performance Max it is. Furthermore, Performance Max campaigns are shown on a much larger network, which allows you to reach many more people.
Therefore, Smart Shopping campaigns will be replaced by Performance Max campaigns.
Advice, tips & tricks
Here are some tips, tricks and advice we like to give you about Performance Max campaigns.
- First, start setting up Performance Max campaigns along your current campaigns. This way there is no hard switch and you can collect data in your current campaigns, but also in your new Performance Max campaigns.
- After 1 to 2 months, you can make an analysis of how your Performance Max campaign performed.
- Be sure to add enough assets (or even multiple asset groups). The more assets, the greater the chance that your campaign will perform better.
- Then regularly analyze your assets (copy, visuals, videos). After a certain period of time, you can see how well each facet is performing.
- Monitor budget and bids closely. Making strategic decisions based on budget, volume, cost per lead or return on ad spend is crucial to making any campaign successful.
- Track which channels are spending the most budget (this is only visible for retail companies or if you add a product feed, because here you can see the share of shopping). If it is clear that all conversions come through shopping, but only 1/3rd of the total budget goes to shopping, then of course you can conclude that quite a bit of budget is burned in other channels that are less relevant or yield less.
We don't recommend completely switching to Performance Max at this time. It is a nice extra addition to your Google Ads account and certainly does provide an uplift in leads, sales and conversion value. However, the algorithm behind this is not yet out of the learning phase and right now Performance Max campaigns have little insight into reporting.
Please do not hesitate to contact us, Digitong is currently the only Google Premier Partner agency in Limburg.
So if you still have questions or are convinced that a Performance Max campaign in Google Ads makes sense, don't hesitate to contact us, we don't bite 😉.
