Google Ads Optimization Performance Max Recommendations

How do you optimize your Performance Max campaigns? I’ll answer some of these key questions here. Learn the strategies below to help you improve your campaigns’ conversions.

1. Sufficient budget and learning cycle
   Since the PMax campaign is fully automated, it relies on data and machine learning to achieve results. Therefore, it is very important to allocate sufficient budget to PMax ads. The following table lists the minimum budget we recommend:

Google recommends allowing at least six weeks to give the machine learning algorithm enough time to collect data and accurately assess conversion performance. During this time, the algorithm will learn and adjust based on user behavior to optimize targeting, bidding, and ad delivery.

2. Create as many assets as possible

The more assets you create, the more likely your ads will show in a variety of ad placements. If you use a Google Merchant Center feed, you don’t need to upload product images separately. In this case, add creative images or videos of the product in use that complement the feed images.

If you run a Google Smart Shopping campaign exclusively, you can skip adding any assets in the PMax ad asset group settings and rely only on the feed. In this case, your ads will only run in Shopping ad placements.

3. Add at least 1 video asset

When you create a Maximize campaign, you’ll need to create many assets and organize them into asset groups. Asset groups are made up of various assets that are combined and paired together to create your ad. We recommend categorizing your asset groups by different themes, such as grouping different products or services.

5. Make sure your feed information is accurate

For advertisers using Merchant Center feeds for PMax ads, it’s critical that the feeds are comprehensive and up-to-date. In particular, make sure the following feed attributes are accurate:
Brand name
Manufacturer ID (MPN)
UPC code (also known as GTIN)
Descriptive title
Google product category
Price
Inventory

6. URL extensions
   Performance Max campaigns combine various Google ad formats into one comprehensive campaign, spanning search, display, demand generation, video, shopping, and local ads, with the exception of app campaigns (at least for now).

One feature that may be overlooked is URL extensions, similar to dynamic search ads. URL extensions are enabled by default in Performance Max campaigns. This means that unless you disable it, your campaigns can send users to a landing page that is different from the final URL.

If you don’t want certain URLs to serve, in Performance Max you can only set up exclusion rules to identify landing pages to exclude from your campaign traffic.

Choose the right bidding strategy

When you start a Maximize Performance campaign, you can use two bidding strategies:
Maximum conversions: This bid strategy aims to get the most conversions within your budget. Maximum conversion value: With this strategy, the focus is on getting higher-value conversions. Your ads may get fewer conversions, but the focus is on getting conversions with greater value.

Once you have a lot of conversion data, you can use advanced bidding strategies such as Maximum conversions at target CPA or Maximum conversion value at target ROAS. These strategies allow you to further optimize your campaigns and improve their performance.

Although you can initially use Target CPA or Target ROAS bidding strategies in new campaigns, it is recommended that you prioritize accumulating the necessary conversion data.

8. Use new customer acquisition features

This unique feature allows you to set whether you want to target both new and existing customers, or just focus on acquiring new customers. If your product repurchase cycle is very long, it is recommended to focus on acquiring new customers. If the repurchase cycle is very short, you can target both new and old customers.

9. Use additional information

Google Ads extensions (now called assets) improve ad visibility and relevance by providing additional information. While there are 14 different types of extensions available, here are some to focus on:

Sitelink extensions: Sitelink extensions direct users to relevant pages on your site, such as product categories, specific products, and about us pages. Having at least four sitelink extensions can increase clickthrough rates by an average of 20%.
Callout extensions: Short snippets of information, 25 characters or less, that highlight key selling points or unique selling points (USPs).
Including at least 8 callouts can enhance your ad performance. Structured snippets: Showcase specific products, services, or features in a list format.

10. Optimize audience signals

If you haven’t achieved the expected results after running a Maximize campaign for a while, it’s important to evaluate your audience signals. To improve the effectiveness of your audience signals, you can prioritize your own business data instead of relying solely on Google’s interests (such as in-market audiences and affinity audiences).

11. Implement a comprehensive conversion tracking setup
    Compared to other campaign types, Maximize campaigns rely heavily on automation in both bidding and targeting. Conversion tracking plays a vital role in Google Ads accounts, and it becomes even more important in Maximize campaigns. While e-commerce businesses are generally more likely to have easier conversion tracking, lead generation ads often face challenges in lead quality. This also highlights the importance of using tools such as enhanced conversions, offline conversion tracking, and CRM integration.

These tools can help solve this problem and ensure that the quality of leads in Performance Max campaigns is accurately measured. If you are running lead generation ads, such as lead collection, phone calls, etc., you can use the above three tools to assist our advertising.

12. Create PMax ad segments in Google Analytics