How Google Ads Marketing Agencies Perfect Their Performance Max Campaigns

In 2021, Google introduced Performance Max (or Pmax) campaigns as a shiny new way to generate leads and drive sales for Google Ads marketing campaigns. Pmax campaigns utilize automation and machine learning to target specific needs across Search, Display, Discovery, YouTube, and Google Maps.

When Google introduced this new ad model, marketing agencies scrambled to learn all the idiosyncrasies of this new and improved model so their clients could continue to garner the best results possible. Along the way, our Google Ad gurus have picked up a few tips and tricks that have optimized our own clients’ Google Ad marketing campaigns. Here are some of the most powerful ways to take your performance max campaigns to the next level.

Make sure All Products Are Uploaded Correctly

While it may seem self-explanatory, a key step we think every ad agency should follow is double-checking that all products have successfully uploaded to Google Merchant Center. Next, make sure you have completed every step to have your products properly listed as shopping ads, local inventory listings, or whatever fits your Google Ads marketing strategy best. After uploading your products, check if Google was able to catch any discrepancies between what you uploaded and what is on the website. These discrepancies can potentially cause Google to limit certain products’ performance until the issue is resolved and as a result, can harm the PMax campaign’s performance.

Create a Plan Before You Start

As a Denver marketing company, we are firm believers that thorough planning garners the best results, especially when you’re working on a Google Ads marketing campaign. While each campaign probably necessitates a different planning strategy, there are a few things we generally suggest:

  • Place some images and videos in there: Make sure there are two or more images that represent your company and its products. This will help improve the quality of your Performance Max campaign and bring in more high-quality traffic to your Google Ads marketing account. If you have one, try adding a professional-looking video too. This will help Google reach more platforms and give high-intent users more opportunities to click on your ad.

  • Research, research, research: Do some research on your account’s current ads and note your best headlines and description lines. These can be used when building the search ad for your Performance Max campaign.

Consider Creating More Than One Asset Group

The more asset groups, the better! Depending on the scale of your inventory, ad agencies should categorize their products into separate asset groups. Creating separate asset groups provides you a more transparent view of how your products are performing and where improvements and optimizations can be made. Plus, you can create ads tailored to your asset groups’ specific products, which improves the strength of your ads.

Set The Right Bid Strategy and Target CPA

Google offers multiple bidding strategy types for Performance Max campaigns, but like shopping campaigns, “maximize conversion value” is probably your best bet. “Maximize conversion value” tells Google to find users across all available Google Ads marketing platforms and only spend on the users they think are going to have at least a 150% ROAS or higher. This target ROAS can be adjusted by setting a target CPA when first changing the bid strategy type to maximize conversion value.

Pro Tip

Try not setting a target ROAS right away. Let the campaign run for a month or two and see what kind of ROAS you average. Then, based off the data you gain, set an appropriate ROAS target.

Make Big Changes at The Beginning & Small Changes Later On

Big changes like changing the bid strategy type, adding a new asset group, or making edits to your listing groups will cause your Performance Max campaign to go back to a learning phase. This phase usually spends less and captures less traffic because it is readjusting its focus based off the changes you made. This learning phase can take around 21 days to complete, so it can really hinder any immediate leads your marketing team was hoping to capture.

Try having all the large pieces planned out and set at the beginning of the campaign’s life and only make small changes later on. These smaller changes, like adjusting the budget by a few dollars or adding new products in Google Merchant Center, will not cause the campaign to go back to the learning phase. This allows your Google Ads marketing strategy to get the most out of your Performance Max campaign.

Google Ads Marketing Made Easy

Whether you’re a small business looking for leads or a larger business interested in trying something new, it’s important to ensure that you’re finding room in your marketing budget to take a whack at Google Ads to round out your marketing strategy. However, even with these Pmax marketing tips we outlined, Google Ads can be finicky. They can be tough to get right, especially if your team doesn’t have much experience with Pmax campaigns.

If you feel like you’re not getting enough out of your Performance Max campaigns, or that your account could be performing at a higher level, we strongly encourage you to reach out to a Denver marketing company you trust. At Red Egg, our nimble, quick-thinking Google Ads professionals know their way around Pmax campaigns, social media ad campaigns, and more. Reach out to us here and we can get the ball rolling on optimizing your Google ads marketing campaigns.