The Google Ads advertising platform is one of the largest advertising platforms in the world with over 5 million active users. Google’s platform provides users with excellent opportunities to reach new customers and expand your business’s reach. However, alongside these opportunities comes significant competition, so it is crucial to know how to use the system properly. One of the highly recommended campaign types is Performance Max, a goal-based campaign that allows advertisers to access all Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. In this article, we will go over Performance Max campaigns and how to create one in Google Ads.
What is Google Performance Max?
Google Performance Max is a goal-based campaign that allows advertisers to access multiple ads simultaneously and manage them easily from a single central location. These types of campaigns automatically optimize your ads to help you make the most of your budget and achieve the advertising goals you’ve set. You can use the Performance Max option across YouTube, the Display Network, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps – all in one campaign. Now, you have the ability to reach customers across multiple channels with Performance Max campaigns, aiming to significantly boost conversions from your Google ads.
How Does a Performance Max Campaign Work?
In a Performance Max campaign, several different factors are used to enhance existing campaigns and optimize based on multiple elements where even a slight adjustment can significantly improve campaign performance:
- The type of user action you are targeting (conversions, clicks, etc.).
- Historical campaign performance
- Competition for the keywords you are bidding on
Next, Performance Max uses this data to automatically adjust your bid and budget so that the campaign performs at its best. For instance, suppose you are running a conversions campaign on Google; Performance Max will review your campaign’s historical performance and the keyword competition within the campaign to determine the optimal bid cost and how much budget to allocate. If your campaign is performing well and the competition for the keywords you are running on is relatively low, Performance Max will increase your budget so you get more conversions. On the other hand, if your campaign is not performing well or keyword competition is high, Performance Max will lower the bid and budget to avoid wasting money.
Why Should You Use Google Performance Max?
Google Performance Max is particularly suitable for advertisers who have already run campaigns and ads on Google’s platform in the past and are interested in achieving more conversions at a lower customer acquisition cost. Truth be told, any advertiser (even beginners) can achieve good results with Performance Max. You can use this option to achieve a variety of marketing goals. There are many reasons to use Performance Max in your Google campaigns:
- Discover new audience segments – Since Performance Max uses data from multiple sources across Google, you can use it to discover additional audience segments that you might have missed or were not aware of. For example, if you target a Performance Max campaign to an audience in Israel, the system will use data from Google Analytics and other Google tools to discover audience segments that may not have been accessible before.
- Get more conversions at a lower cost per acquisition – Performance Max can get you conversions at a lower cost per acquisition (CPA). The reason for this is that Performance Max uses historical campaign performance data to optimize bids and budgets in real time.
- Insights and recommendations – In addition to getting more conversions, you will also gain access to insights and recommendations that can help you improve your campaigns. For example, Performance Max can tell you which assets (images, videos, etc.) are performing better in your campaigns.
- Easier optimization – Google Performance Max makes optimizing your campaigns easier. All you need to do is set up the campaign properly and let the campaign do the rest without worrying about manually changing bids or budgets. This approach will save you time and energy in the long run.
- Matching creative to audience – Creative can be anything – images, videos, products, blog posts, and more. Performance Max automatically targets these assets to the right audience so you can make the most out of your campaigns.
Google Performance Max Campaign Creation Guide
Getting started with Google Performance Max is relatively straightforward, and now we will show you how to build a Performance Max campaign. Before starting, you need to create a Google Ads account. After you have opened and logged into your Google Ads account, you can start creating the campaign:
Step 1 - Choose the Campaign Objective
The first step in creating your campaign is choosing the campaign goal. You need to log in to Google Ads and select Campaigns from the menu on the left. Then, click on the plus sign (+) to create a new campaign. In the new campaign settings, select the campaign goal according to your business objectives. You will most likely want to choose leads or conversions as your campaign goal.
Step 2 - Select Google Performance Max Campaign Type
After choosing the campaign objective, you need to select the Performance Max campaign type, as you see in the image. This will allow Google to automatically optimize your campaigns for maximum performance.
Step 3 - Set Budget, Bidding Strategy, and Additional Settings
The next step in a Performance Max campaign is determining your budget and bidding strategy. In this type of campaign, you have various bidding strategies; make sure to choose the one that best fits your campaign objective. Setting the budget is important but can be changed at any time, and under additional campaign settings, you can configure targeting by location, languages, ad scheduling, and more. Make sure to complete all necessary settings to maximize your ads in the best possible way.
Step 4 - Create an Asset Group and Ad Extensions
Asset groups are a great way to organize your campaigns. You can create an Asset Group for different products, services, and even specific target audiences. This will help you keep your campaigns organized and make tracking performance easier. After creating an asset group for the ad, create ad extensions to enhance your ad. Ad extensions allow you to include additional information in your ads, and using these extensions will help improve your click-through rate and make it easier for users to find and reach you.
Step 5 - Review the Campaign and Publish It
After creating your ad, you need to review all the details before publishing the campaign. This will help ensure that you did everything correctly and set up all the settings properly. Now click on Publish to launch the campaign.
Why Should You Use Google Performance Max for E-commerce?
A Performance Max campaign for e-commerce includes several key advantages that will help you generate more from the campaigns you run in your online store. Highlighting the benefits of Performance Max for e-commerce will help you make better use of this option. Here are 5 reasons why you should use Google Performance Max for e-commerce websites:
- Performance Max leverages audiences – This type of campaign allows you to leverage your store’s existing customer list and use it to build additional audiences and maximize the remarketing campaigns you run.
- Performance Max makes creative more efficient – In this campaign type, you can upload media from your product page and Performance Max will automatically select the appropriate assets while also providing you with a real-time “Ad Strength” score to guide you.
- Performance Max automation reaches consumers mid-funnel as well – This type of campaign allows us to define specific goals when creating a campaign and identify the optimal ad for each consumer.
- Value-based bidding utilizes the budget better – In Performance Max, you can choose goal-based bidding such as Target ROAS, which optimizes for total revenue itself rather than just the number of conversions.
- Higher level optimization – Performance Max aims to deliver more data and does so intuitively. This campaign type also integrates with insights and performance to discover what works and ultimately achieve better results.
Summary
If after reading the article you feel that a Google Performance Max campaign is something that could fit your business and the Google Ads strategy you have built, you should definitely give it a try. These types of campaigns can be very practical and help you reach the relevant target audience more effectively using the automations provided by Google. While automated optimizations aren’t always preferable to manual campaign reviews, when working with large volumes of accounts, campaigns, ad groups, and ads – using Google Performance Max can be a perfect fit for you.
About the Author
Dvir Naaman, 27, graduate of the Digital Marketing course at HackerU College. Experienced in building WordPress sites and managing paid advertising on Google, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok platforms. Specializes in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) at Fialkov Digital. Has extensive experience in e-commerce and dropshipping, and is the owner of Merchant Center – a website providing information on e-commerce platforms and advanced marketing systems to increase business conversions with a focus on e-commerce store sales.
