From August 2022, Performance Max campaigns will replace your smart shopping campaigns on Google Ads. To get ahead of this change, the Keyweo team has a detailed summary that tells you all about Performance Max in just 3 minutes reading time.
First of all: What is Max Performance?
The Performance Max campaign is a new type of smart campaign that has been in beta testing since November 2021 and available to everyone since early 2022. As its name suggests, its purpose is to maximize the performance of your campaigns. Google Ads analyses your goals and audiences, then the Performance Max campaign spans across multiple networks (YouTube, Gmail, Search, Display, Discover and Maps) to reach the largest possible number of users. You no longer need to combine, search, shopping, video, and display campaigns separately. With Performance Max, you have everything combined in one campaign.
How do you create a Performance Max campaign?
Similar to search and display campaigns, you can include multiple titles, descriptions, logos, images, and videos in your Performance Max campaign. Next, define the campaign’s goal and conversion values (awareness, engagement, visitors, conversion), set a budget, and select the appropriate intelligent bidding strategy, the algorithm takes care of the rest.
Hier zijn de specificaties:
- Up to 20 images
- Up to 5 logos
- Up to 5 videos
- Up to 5 short titles (30 characters)
- Up to 5 long titels (90 characters)
- Up to 5 descriptions (90 characters)
As with displays, you can also customise the call-to-action button.
Following the same principle as responsive search ads, all these elements are combined to get the best-performing combinations. Unlike search campaigns, which rely on keywords and user-entered search terms, Performance Max also runs on the networks that convert the best. This is determined based on users’ affinities or interests. In summary, we are moving from a keyword-based search engine to one based on target groups.
Why would you want to run this campaign in your Google Ads account?
The main benefit of Performance Max is primarily its conversion potential. As a smart campaign, it relies on automation and machine learning algorithms to target audiences that provide the most value.
While you can optimize the learning phase by integrating audience signals, Performance Max will attract new leads. This is done by analyzing user behaviour and displaying relevant ads at the right time and place.
Finally, it’s important to note that Performance Max will replace all your smart shopping campaigns by August 2022. Therefore, it’s wise to start a Performance Max campaign soon to prepare for this campaign migration.
How do I achieve optimal Performance Max results?
After integrating your audiences, we recommend regularly updating and adjusting your ad materials. By reviewing Google Ads reports, you can gain valuable insights. This will allow you to evaluate the details of your elements, retain the most effective ones, and identify underperforming ones. You can then replace them to improve your campaign.
What are the weaknesses of this campaign?
Performance Max has two drawbacks: the lack of control and the lack of detailed performance information. While it’s challenging to prioritize specific ad placements, Performance Max’s powerful algorithm automatically detects relevant channels without manual management.
In conclusion, do we recommend Performance Max?
Absolutely! Despite its drawbacks, Performance Max remains a powerful campaign type. We use it for a wide range of accounts in different sectors like real estate, hospitality, retail, human resources, transportation, and more. We often see that the ROAS is significantly higher compared to traditional campaigns. Therefore, we strongly recommend embracing the Performance Max adventure, which is attracting more and more advertisers, and for good reason.
If you’re still unsure, we encourage you to visit the official Google page for more convincing details.
