The days of managing multiple campaigns on Google Ads are over.
And it is thanks to Performance Max Campaigns (PMax).
Advertisers are placing their bets on PMax because it significantly simplifies the advertising process, and it has been showing surprising results with one case study showing a 22% increase in conversions from PMax campaigns and a 20% decrease in overall CPA.
Do you want to explore the power of PMax campaigns further? Keep reading and learn more about:
- What are Performance Campaigns in Google Ads?
- How Many Performance Max Campaigns Should I Have?
- Performance Max Campaign Examples
- How to Optimize Performance Max Campaigns
- What Assets Do You Need for a Performance Max Campaign?
- How Much to Spend on a Performance Max Campaign
- Benefits of Performance Max Campaigns
- How to Analyze Performance Max Campaigns
- How Long Does Performance Max Take to Optimize?
- How Many Asset Groups Per PMax Campaign?
- Challenges with PMax Campaigns and Ad Fraud
- The Best Spider AF Solutions for PMax Campaigns
What are Performance Max Campaigns in Google Ads?
PMax campaigns are the answer to the prayers of all marketers who struggle with keeping up with the specific and ever-changing requirements of each advertising platform.
PMax allows you to streamline the process by comprising all your ads across various platforms within the Google Ads network into one campaign. That includes Search, Shopping, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Discovery, and Display.
Using machine learning and AI, combined with your manual input regarding goals and budget, PMax automates time-consuming manual tasks of setting up campaigns across all these platforms. Google’s AI takes care of ad placement, targeting, and optimization of each PMax campaign.
Your role is to provide inputs, as said earlier, and then monitor and adjust the campaign according to your goals.
How Many Performance Max Campaigns Should I Have?
If you are wondering “How many performance max campaigns should I have?”, start by analyzing your business goals and structure.
Each PMax campaign has a stipulated ROAS goal and budget. However, if you want to explore two different goals - let’s say you want to drive sales for your top-selling items and generate leads for new customer acquisition - investing in multiple campaigns is the way to go.
Regarding business structure, you must evaluate whether your product or service fits a specific goal or budget. For instance, if you want to achieve profitability targets for product categories, it would make sense to create a PMax campaign per category.
The number of conversions you get is also relevant. Maintaining several campaigns, while having low conversion rates, will likely damage your ROAS, so keep it simple.
Performance Max Campaign Success Stories
Let’s delve into some Performance Max campaign examples of successful adoption.
MotorK
MotorK, a European powerhouse in automotive sales and marketing technology, sought to propel lead generation for its partner brands.
Their goals were two-fold: achieving rapid growth in new customer leads while maintaining a targeted cost per acquisition (CPA).
To achieve this, they embraced innovation and automation with Performance Max.
MotorK set its CPA target by analyzing average CPAs from existing Search and Display campaigns. Additionally, they minimized the number of asset groups they created.
This directed machine learning by consolidating conversion data, allowing it to perform at its best.
Furthermore, MotorK equipped its asset groups with high-performing audience segments.
The results spoke for themselves: by implementing PMax campaigns, MotorK achieved a significant 24% increase in qualified leads (measured by online form submissions requesting vehicle quotes).
SAIC-MG Motors
SAIC-MG Motors, determined to carve a niche in the fiercely competitive automotive industry, turned to PMax campaigns.
Their mission was to heighten brand awareness and generate a surge in qualified leads.
To propel their PMax campaign, SAIC-MG Motors leveraged the power of their existing remarketing data.
This valuable information provided insightful audience signals, guiding the AI toward the most receptive demographics. Additionally, they invested in creating high-quality creative assets.
This combination proved to be a winning formula.
SAIC-MG Motors experienced a phenomenal 39% increase in test drive leads, exceeding their initial goals, while slashing their cost-per-lead by a staggering 83% compared to their account average.
Deezer
Deezer, a leading music streaming service, adopted PMax campaigns to scale online subscriptions and attract new customers across various media channels.
Deezer took a meticulous approach, launching PMax campaigns in different web path markets to compare cost-per-acquisition (CPA). This strategic testing allowed them to pinpoint the most effective strategy.
The results were music to their ears: a significant 28% increase in web subscriptions while achieving a 15% reduction in cost-per-subscription.
How to Optimize Performance Max Campaigns?
Now let’s explore some actionable tips on how to optimize Performance Max campaigns to take the most advantage of the power of PMax.
Leverage Audience Signals
PMax is powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence, so providing audience signals like demographics and remarketing lists helps Google identify the ideal audience for your ads and enhance your campaign results.
Use Location Targeting
If you are running a local business or cater to specific locations, leverage geofencing or exclude irrelevant areas so your ads reach relevant audiences. Currently, PMax offers more advanced location-targeting tactics, which benefit location-focused businesses.
Bet on High-Quality Creative
Ad creatives are a powerful tool to drive performance. Be sure to provide unique content that peaks curiosity and meets the needs of your audience. And be careful with the image resolution: pixelated or blurry assets are rejected.
Prioritize Your Subject
Place the product you are promoting at the center of the piece. Whether it is a big or small product, let your audience know in the first second what the content is about. Ensure you do not show more than a single product as well.
Choose Bright and Clear Visuals
Dark images that are hard to understand and do not capture the user's attention. So create assets with a clear message, strong colors, and contrast.
Extra Tip: Different platforms may work better with differing characteristics. For instance, Google explains that ads across YouTube and Discover that feature people perform 30% better as opposed to images that do not. On the other hand, the product can stand on its own in ads across Display networks.
Choose the Best-Fitting Bidding Strategy
Performance Max relies on one core automated bidding strategy: maximize conversions. This means the attention is on acquiring the most conversions possible within your budget.
You can choose between the “Maximize Conversion Values” and “Maximize Conversions” strategies.
The first fits any advertiser who tracks values with their conversions. If that is not the case and you care about all conversions equally, “Maximize conversions” is probably the best option.
Still, you can influence the bidding indirectly by inserting input about your campaign goals (you can program PMax to find users most likely to purchase if you choose to maximize sales), for example.
You can also specify a desired ROAS as a campaign goal, directing Google’s AI toward achieving your profit targets.
In most cases, it makes more sense to leverage Performance Max’s automated bidding with conversion maximization while providing input to guide the algorithm.
What Assets Do You Need for a Performance Max Campaign?
PMax campaigns need a variety of assets to optimize your ads across the entire Google network.
But what assets do you need for a Performance Max campaign to bring the best results? Let’s delve into that:
Text Assets
- Headlines: make sure they are compelling snippets that introduce your product or service, highlight your value proposition, and motivate users to click. Including headline variations allows Google’s AI to test different combinations and find the ones that better attract users.
- Descriptions: provide additional details about what you are promoting using clear language. Focusing on the needs of the target audience and sharing the benefits that resonate the most with them improves your CTR.
- Final URL: ensure your landing page aligns with the ad copy and offers a seamless user experience.
- Display URL: include relevant keywords and keep it concise.
- Business Name: ensure your business name is clear.
- Call to Action (CTA): create a short but strong CTA to tell users what they can do to learn more.
Image Assets
- Landscape Images: ideal for showcasing your products, services, or team.
Recommended size: 1200 x 628 px
- Square Images: can be used for product presentations, infographics, or customer testimonials.
Recommended size: 1200 x 1200 px
- Portrait Images: suitable for mobile placements and showcasing product features or use cases.
Recommended size: 600 x 900 px
- Logos (Square and Landscape): include both square and landscape versions of your logo to ensure proper display across different ad formats.
Recommended size: 1200 x 300 px
Video Assets
While optional, including short and engaging video ads can make a huge difference in your statistics and boost your campaign's reach and impact. Campaigns with at least one vídeo in their asset group had 12% more conversions compared to the ones that did not.
Google’s AI crops and rotates the videos according to the size requirements of each channel, so always try to provide the following three aspect ratios:
- Landscape: 16:9
- Vertical: 9:16
- Square: 1:1
In case you do not add a video to your PMax campaign, the machine will create one or more videos from the image assets you provide.
These automated ads only use static images and text, which does not impact users as much as a unique video. That being said, you should create your own video assets to showcase your product or service creatively and dynamically.
How Many Asset Groups Per PMax Campaign Can You Have?
There is no rule that determines how many asset groups per Performance Max campaign you should have.
There is a maximum of 100 asset groups per PMax campaign. However, using a more focused, and thus smaller, approach is usually the best way.
Generally speaking, a good number of asset groups of 2 to 5. This allows you to create ads focused on different audience segments or product categories without getting messy or complicated.
Nonetheless, there are factors to consider that can make these numbers fluctuate. For instance, if you run a complex campaign with several target audiences, you might need to add a few more asset groups.
“But do I need to organize my assets into groups?” you ask.
No, but it makes your life much easier. Here’s why:
- Grouping assets by audience segment or ad theme allows you to personalize your message and visuals, which improves CTR rates.
- With an organized number of asset groups, you can conduct A/B testing more efficiently and identify the best-performing elements for your audience.
- Having focused asset groups, Performance Max can collect more data on what performs best within each group.
- A smaller number of organized asset groups is easier to manage and track.
How Much to Spend on a Performance Max Campaign?
Before throwing numbers, you must ask what your business goals are. The answer will help determine how much to spend on a Performance Max campaign.
Let’s explore a few possible scenarios:
You want brand awareness: a smaller budget that allows you to reach a broader audience makes sense.
You want to increase lead generation: here you should consider spending more to attract qualified leads.
You want to drive sales: to target users in the buying journey, you need a larger budget.
Google advises to “try an average daily budget of at least 3 times your CPA” and then wait for “one or two complete conversion cycles” to assess whether the amount invested is adequate. So if your target CPA is, let’s say, $30, your budget should go up to at least $90.
Now speaking of clear numbers, some PMax users have shared that anywhere between $50 and $150 can help you achieve good results, with more emphasis on the $150.
But the best way to uncover the adequate amount for your campaigns is to start small and scale gradually. That is, start with a comfortable budget and monitor performance.
As you gain insights into the results, you can decide whether to increase or decrease your investment.
Benefits of Performance Max Campaigns
PMax campaigns have changed the way marketers and businesses work.
This streamlined approach provides a wealth of benefits for everyone who works in digital advertising.
Let’s take a look at some of the most prominent benefits of Performance Max campaigns.
Effortless Reach Across Multiple Platforms
Managing separate ads across multiple channels is a highly time-consuming task.
With PMax campaigns, you can showcase your ads across all Google Ads channels, ensuring the product or service you are promoting reaches your target audience on any platform.
In addition, Performance Max helps you expand your audience like no other platform. This approach leverages Google’s vast data collection and audience signals to identify potential customers.
Because it transcends the limitations of keyword-based targeting, PMax is able to reach users who are not actively searching with specific keywords.
Automated Bidding and Effortless Optimization
PMax frees you from manual bid adjustments. Using advanced algorithms to manage bidding in real-time, this innovative type of advertising maximizes your ROAS by:
- Analyzing user behavior and auction dynamics to make informed decisions.
- Displaying your ads at the optimal bid for each auction.
Besides, Google’s AI uses the user behavior data collected to work on conversions aligned with your goals and budget. That means it optimizes ad placements and creatives to meet your ad strategy requirements.
How to Analyze Performance Max Campaigns?
It is time to revisit your initial campaign goals and analyze in detail how your ads are performing.
Let’s look at the metrics, KPIs, and features you should check out to understand how to analyze your Performance Max campaigns.
Start with the “Campaigns” tab on Google Ads and analyze the metrics that give you a general overview of the status of your selected campaign:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Conversions
- CPA
After getting a good grasp of the campaign’s health, investigate further through more specific metrics:
- Conversion Rate
- ROAS
- Engagement
Then focus on KPIs that help you understand whether your campaign meets your goals. Check the conversion rate if you are focused on driving sales or the CPL if you are seeking to increase lead generation, for example.
Take time to look through Google Ads’s built-in “insights'' tool. In it, you can find automated recommendations based on your campaign data. It helps you improve through informed optimization suggestions.
Another step that can make a difference is to analyze performance by asset group. See which combinations of text, images, and videos make a better impression on your audience and result in more conversions.
How Long Does Performance Max Take to Optimize?
Google’s answer to “how long does Performance Max take to optimize?” is pretty straightforward: let PMax campaigns run for at least six weeks.
This gives machine learning algorithms enough time to gather data and understand what works best for your campaign.
With this knowledge, AI can effectively compare performance and refine its strategies to deliver the best results.
However, you can reduce the duration of this learning curve by adding relevant and clean data to the campaigns.
Challenges with PMax Campaigns and Ad Fraud
Despite the numerous advantages of working with Performance Max, we need to address the elephant in the room: ad fraud.
Let’s now analyze the main challenges with PMax campaigns and ad fraud and explore the best ways to prevent it.
Firstly, because PMax campaigns prioritize driving conversions, there is a high risk of click fraud and invalid traffic. Fraudsters might generate fake clicks using bots or automated scripts to exhaust your budget leaving you without genuine leads.
PMax’s limited transparency is also a problem when it comes to detecting and preventing fraudulent activity. The lack of granular control and data visibility makes it more difficult to identify fake clicks within campaign data.
Take this Spider AF’s client story as an example. Savas Tutumlu is a seasoned performance marketer facing persistent challenges with lead quality in PMax campaigns.
After conducting a deep analysis, we concluded that one of his main issues was ad placements.
PMax campaigns were publishing ads on irrelevant websites and spoofed domains impersonating famous ad networks.
This led to significant ad budget waste, fraudulent conversions, and frustration.
Now the question that remains is: how can you safeguard your PMax campaigns?
Spider AF Solutions for PMax Campaigns
Spider AF offers two advanced solutions to ensure click fraud protection across your PMax campaigns: Fraudulent IP Blocking and Fraudulent Placement Blocking.
Fraudulent IP Blocking
We have extended our protection to block fraudulent IP addresses from your Google Performance Max campaigns.
Once fraudulent clicks are identified, these IP addresses are blocked from accessing the ads.
This prevents fake clicks and impressions from these IPs, ensuring the ad budget is spent on genuine potential customers.
By implementing extended fraud protection, you get significant benefits that make a difference in the success of your ads:
- Improved performance without fraudulent traffic
- Improved reach and engagement
- Enhanced performance data accuracy
Fraudulent Placement Blocking
With Spider AF, you can prevent ads from being displayed on website placements known as fraudulent activities, as happened with Savas Tutumlu.
Ensuring that ads only appear on high-quality, legitimate placements where genuine user engagement is more likely is a game-changer.
Firstly, you optimize your ad spend by ensuring your ads are placed where they are more likely to be seen and engaged with by genuine users.
Then, you create a positive user perception by having your ads appear alongside legitimate content.
Finally, you protect your brand image as you prevent your campaigns from appearing on dubious websites with inappropriate or harmful content.
Over to You
Google Performance Max campaigns have revolutionized the world of online advertising.
Advertisers have now the opportunity to launch one single campaign across Google’s entire inventory while having the support of machine learning algorithms and Google’s AI to determine crucial factors, such as ad placements.
Companies like MotorK and Deezer have seen significant improvements in lead quality and customer acquisition after working with PMax.
However, Performance Max campaigns are still very much vulnerable to ad fraud, namely fake clicks and harmful ad placement, as we can see by analyzing the story of Savas Tutumlu.
If you want top-notch PPC fraud protection that can protect you from wasting your budget and time, learn more about advanced solutions like Spider AF!
