In the fast-paced world of online advertising, staying ahead of the competition is essential. Performance Max is Google's latest advertising product designed to help advertisers reach their target audience most effectively. With a range of new features and best practices to master, Performance Max is quickly becoming the go-to platform for online advertising.
Some of the best practices for performance max and campaign setup are ad extensions such as sitelinks and callouts. Furthermore, choosing the appropriate bidding strategy and including many assets such as images, videos, headlines, and descriptions are also best practices. These practices will help increase visibility and engagement with potential customers and improve ad performance.
In this article, you'll learn everything you need to know about Performance Max, including how it works and how to set up your campaigns for success. We'll cover best practices like using ad extensions and choosing the right bidding strategy. Furthermore, we will also discuss the pros and cons of using Performance Max.
Performance Max is a relatively new addition to Google Ads accounts that offer an automated campaign structure to help businesses optimize their ad spend. It uses machine learning to analyze consumer trends and adjust ads accordingly to be displayed across Google's various channels. These include platforms like YouTube, Display, Search, Gmail, Shopping, Maps, and Discovery.
The idea behind Performance Max is to help businesses target the right audience on the channels they visit the most. To get started, specify your advertising goal and provide the necessary assets like images, videos, headlines, and descriptions.
Once your campaign is live, Google will use machine learning to generate ads across appropriate channels. This process also ensures your ads are served to the right people at the right time with the correct bid to optimize your goal. With this approach, performance max provides a streamlined and efficient way to advertise across multiple channels with just one campaign.
In this step-by-step guide, we'll walk you through the process of setting up your Performance Max campaign:
The first step is to head to your Google Ads account and click the "New Campaign" button.
You'll be prompted to choose a campaign goal. For this example, we're going to choose "Sales," but you can select "Leads" or "Website Traffic" if that's more applicable to your campaign.
Next, choose the conversion goals for your campaign. Include phone calls, online purchases, or other actions you want users to take.
When you select the campaign type selection, choose "Performance Max" and name your campaign.
For Performance Max campaigns, Google will automatically focus on "conversion value." You can set a target return on ad spending if you choose.
On the next page, you'll choose your campaign settings. This includes location targeting, language targeting, and the URLs you want to send traffic to. Here's a pro tip: exclude specific URLs from your site or send traffic to specific URLs.
Finally, on the ad asset page, you'll notice that the ad setup process looks completely different from setting up your standard search or display ads. You'll name each asset group and then set the following: images, videos, logos, headlines, descriptions, and the final URL.
It's essential to preview the ads under each ad type. If you don't create a video for YouTube Ads, Google will make one. It's best to put together even a quick, short 30-second clip so that you're in control of your ad inventory.
Performance Max campaigns are a great way to optimize your Google Ads campaigns and achieve your business goals. Following the best practices outlined below is essential to get the most out of your Performance Max campaigns.
One of the best practices for Performance Max is using it with other search campaigns. If the query matches a keyword you're bidding on, your search campaign will show its ad. However, if it doesn't match exactly, Google will show either the search ad or the
Performance Max ad (whichever has the highest Ad Rank score). This way, you can maximize your ad reach and increase your chances of getting conversions.
Selecting the right bidding strategy that aligns with your business goals is crucial. If you want to get the most conversions possible, use the "Maximize Conversions" strategy. On the other hand, if you value specific conversions more than others, such as leads over phone calls, use the "Maximize Conversion Value" strategy.
By using data such as Customer Match/Audience lists or Audience Signals, Google can quickly discover new audiences to target through machine learning. Make sure you optimize your audience signals to reach the right target audience and improve your campaign's performance.
Use "Final URL Expansion" to customize ads based on audience queries, even if not bidding on keywords. Google chooses the best landing page and generates dynamic headlines and descriptions. To control which pages Google determines, use "URL Exclusion" to restrict specific URLs.
One of the best practices for Performance Max is to supply as many assets as possible. Upload as many headlines, descriptions, target signals, match lists, high-quality videos, and photos as feasible. This will give Google more options when optimizing your Performance Max campaign.
Ensure you have at least five versions of text and image assets to contribute to a higher ad strength.
Visual content is essential to connect with your users and capture their attention. Keep your content fresh and upload new, highly relevant assets regularly. Additionally, pay attention to how well your investments are performing and replace the ones that aren't performing well.
If you're targeting multiple products, try focusing on only one for each asset group so it can be as personalized as possible. You can have a maximum of 100 asset groups per campaign. However, ensure you have enough budget, as the more asset groups you have, the more you'll need.
Using campaign exclusions is another best practice for Performance Max. This way, you can exclude irrelevant groups, placements, and keywords, improving ad spend efficiency and ROI.
It's crucial to ensure that your data feed is up to scratch to optimize your campaign performance. Ensure your data feed is comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date, and review it regularly to ensure it's optimized.
Finally, commit to your campaigns and keep them running for at least six weeks. This way, Google will have enough time to learn your strategies
Performance Max can be a valuable tool for businesses looking to improve their ad performance. However, it also has its drawbacks. This section will discuss the benefits and disadvantages of using performance max to help you determine if it is right for your business.
Performance Max can help companies optimize their ads, reach new audiences, save time, and create creative ads. However, it has drawbacks like poor search terms and location visibility, ad cannibalization, and limited campaign success visibility. Before using Performance Max, companies should consider their goals, resources, and the tool's pros and cons. Interested in e-commerce SEO services? Contact our team at Bluetuskr, an e-commerce marketing agency.