Performance Max

Performance Max is a goal-based ad format that allows advertisers to access all Google Ads campaign types from a single campaign. It is a highly automated advertising programme that uses machine learning to optimise your ads and bidding in real-time. This makes this campaign type quick and easy to set up and to run.

Performance Max is designed to complement keyword-based Search and shopping campaigns to help you find new customers across all of Google’s channels, e.g. YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

When to use Performance Max

Performance Max is a good option when:

• You have limited time to work on your ad campaigns
• You have specific goals, e.g., driving sales, lead generation
• You do not wish to limit your ads to specific channels
• You want a presence on all of Google’s advertising channels via a single campaign.
• You want to extend your reach beyond keyword-based Search campaigns or shopping campaigns

Benefits of Performance Max

Automatically find more converting customers

• You specify your business goals and Google works to maximise conversions or conversion value within your parameters
• Engage customers across Google’s channels.
• Google’s machine learning can unlock new customer segments.

Drive more value

• Data-driven attribution across channels optimises for the most incremental touch points that drive customers to conversion.
• Machine-learning is used to make more accurate predictions about which ads, audiences and creative assets perform for your business.

Receive rich insights

• Performance Max asset reporting will enable you to understand which creatives are performing and help you optimise campaign creatives asset to increase return on investment  (ROI).
• Insights, such as rising search trends, can help you understand performance changes

Highly automated with a simple setup

Performance Max campaigns are highly automated, requiring little in the way of targets. The advertiser sets:

• Creative assets, e.g. high-quality text, images, video, shopping feed
• Budget
• Goals, e.g. sales, leads
• Conversion target, e.g. ROAS %
• Audience signals, e.g. previous customer data

With this information, Performance Max will identify potential customers who fit your advertising goals. It will serve them what it judges to be the most relevant ad with an optimal bid to maximise performance.

Tips for creating successful Performance Max campaigns

As Performance Max campaigns are highly optimised, the advertiser has few levers to pull. Instead, focus on:

• Data quality. If you are submitting data to Google, e.g. a shopping feed, ensure this is fully optimised
• Offer. Ensure that your offer is competitive. If you are using a shopping feed, consider using a price matching system
• Assets. Submit high-quality assets, e.g. high-quality images and ad copy
• Audience signals. Apple iOS and others have limited the tracking available to Google. Consequently, submitting audience data to Google (e.g. customer emails) helps it to identify customers more quickly