Launched in November 2021, Google's Performance Max has been the industry's buzz in 2022. In this guide, we’ll dive into what the Google's Performance Max campaign is all about.

1. What is Google's Performance Max?

Performance Max is Google's campaign type designed to maximize your campaigns’ performance with the help of machine learning. It allows you to advertise from a single campaign across multiple Google ad channels (Youtube, Search, Display, Gmail and Discovery, etc).

2. How Does Google's Performance Max Work?

With Performance Max, you can boost your performance based on your specific conversion objectives. It optimizes performance across channels and in real-time using Smart Bidding, leading to more conversions and greater value. Performance Max harnesses Google's automation technologies, which include budget optimization, bidding, attribution, audience targeting, and more. All of these features are customized according to your advertising objective (such as a target CPA or ROAS) and are enhanced by the creative assets, audience signals, and optional data feeds you provide.

3. When Should You Use Performance Max?

Performance Max can be used in the most efficient manner possible when:

- You have multiple campaign goals, such as driving online sales and brand awareness.

Performance Max allows you to combine several campaign goals into one campaign and show your ads across the Google Network. Instead of having multiple campaigns with different goals, PMax allows you to combine these goals into a single goal-based campaign.

- You are willing to give up control and allow Google to adjust the bid in real-time to achieve your goal.

Manual bidding is not an option when running PMax campaign. Google will take control of your bids and adjust them based on machine learning. However, advertisers can choose either Maximise Conversions or Conversion Value as their bidding strategy while setting targeted ROAS for Conversion Value or Target CPA to Maximise Conversions.

- You have prior campaign history.

For Performance Max to function effectively, it heavily depends on data to fine-tune bidding and targeting. It is recommended to use it in conjunction with your core, keyword-based search campaigns, rather than on its own. Google requires more details regarding your business and the specific keywords you intend to target, in order to ensure that Performance Max operates optimally.

4. What Are The Benefits of Performance Max campaign?

- Expanding your audience across multiple channels: With PMax, you can tap into previously untapped audience segments by leveraging the search engine's real-time comprehension of consumer intent, preferences, and other behavioral characteristics across all channels. This allows you to precisely target your advertisements to the appropriate individuals at the right moment when they are actively searching for products or services that match yours.

- Driving more value for your budget: Through enhanced machine learning, PMax is capable of optimizing your budget and bids across Google channels in real-time, which can help increase conversions. Advertisers who have fully utilized Performance Max campaigns have observed an average increase of 13% in total incremental conversions, all while maintaining a similar cost per action.

- Integrated consumer and market insights: The Insights page is a valuable resource that can assist you in answering strategic inquiries and promptly identifying critical takeaways about your campaign. These insights provide fresh perspectives on your customers, ads, and overall performance, which can aid in informing your marketing and broader business strategy. Additionally, the Insights page delivers practical recommendations that can be implemented to enhance your campaigns immediately.

5. How do businesses set up and manage their ad campaigns on Google's Performance Max?

- Select your campaign objective - Google's PMax campaign is available for leads, sales, and website traffic objectives.

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- Set your conversion goals - Google will optimize your ads according to the conversion goals selected, whether it's for purchases, lead generation, subscriptions, etc. You want to define at least one as your primary goal.

- Determine your budget and bid strategy - Set your budget for your ads and select your bidding strategy. Options include maximizing conversions and maximizing conversion values, setting a maximum cost per acquisition (CPA), or setting a target cost.

- Configure your campaign settings - Set up your campaign settings which involves specifying your intended location, language, and Final URL expansion. With URL expansion, you can opt for Google to select the URLs that are most relevant to your objectives, or you can limit traffic to the URLs you provide. Additionally, you have the option to create an ad schedule to enhance the effectiveness of your ads by showing them at optimal times of the day or week to maximize conversions.

- Create an asset group - Pmax allows advertisers to upload their creative assets and ad copies in a centralised place. Assets include:

- Images (Up to 20)

- Logos (Up to 5)

- Videos (Up to 5 videos. If you don't have one, Google will create videos automatically when  possible.)

- Headlines (Up to 5, character limit 30)

- Long Headlines(Up to 5, character limit 90)

- Descriptions(1 short description, character limit 60 & up to 4 descriptions, character limit 90) 

- Audience signals(Optional) - Audience signals enables you to reach your the right audience faster. Begin by either creating a new audience or adding an existing one. PMax will leverage it as a reference point to find audiences with similar or stronger intent across Google’s ad network.

- Add ad extensions - You can choose several extensions, such as site links, callouts, promotions, and more.

- Review the setup of your new Google's Performance Max campaign.

6. How much does it cost to use Google's Performance Max?

Google's Performance Max is a pay-per-click-based campaign type. Factors such as the target audience and goals can affect the cost per click. Apart from that, the bids are dependant on your historical performance. Ultimately, you still have full control over your ad spends through the daily budget setup.

7. Where do Performance Max ads appear on?

With a single campaign, you can run ads scrolls all Google ads channels: Search Ads, Display Ads, Youtube Ads, E-mails, and more.

To summarize, Performance Max is a good option for advertisers who want to maximize the return on their ad spend and are willing to let Google make bid adjustments in real-time to try to achieve their target ROAS.

‍Are you wondering if Performance Max is suitable for your brand? Win a free consultation with KPI Media, to get a customized plan to reach your business goals with PMax.