How does the Performance Max campaign work?
There has always been a need in the advertising market to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. From outdoor and print ads to television and radio to Internet advertising, there has always been a need to better showcase your offerings, reach new customers and achieve this without burning through advertising budgets. The times when we used to paste a banner ad on a page in billing for the number of impressions are slowly starting to become a thing of the past. Rising prices for services and limited advertising funds are forcing us to optimize advertising campaigns. One of the main trends related to the development of the Internet advertising market is the increase in automation. One of the solutions that Google is introducing in this topic is Performance Max campaigns.
What goals can a Performance Max campaign achieve?
The Performance Max campaign was created to improve the effectiveness of ongoing activities. It was designed to achieve such advertising goals as:
- online sales,
- Getting potential customers,
- Getting traffic to the site,
- Increase visits to the stationary store.
Meeting these campaign objectives requires proper conversion configuration on the website and in the Google Ads panel. This is essential if you want to achieve the best possible campaign results.
Where is the Performance Max ad displayed?
Ads aired through Performance Max campaigns use all Google ad impression channels. After recognizing the audience, we can reach them with our advertising message in such channels as:
- Google search results (text and product advertising),
- Google’s advertising network,
- YouTube,
- Gmail,
- Google maps,
- Discovery cards.
Thanks to the number of channels available in Performance Max campaigns, it is possible to significantly increase the effectiveness of ongoing activities.
Who does the Performance Max ad target?
Performance Max advertising can reach all Internet users. As with other Google ads, impressions are possible on
- desktop computers,
- mobile devices,
- tablets.
Recipients are determined by Google based on search queries and online behavior. Emission is done through the previously mentioned Google advertising channels.
What does it take to launch a Performance Max campaign in Google Ads?
Ads emitted in Performance Max campaigns are generated automatically based on prepared materials. Since campaigns of this type are emitted in various channels it is useful to prepare such materials as:
- Headline texts and ad descriptions,
- graphics for flexible banners,
- logotype
Additional materials that can improve the effectiveness of the campaign are:
- Google Merchant Center product feed,
- videos.
Having such a set of resources, Google can prepare a wide range of creatives displayed to viewers.
Pros and cons of Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads
Performance Max campaigns work well when it comes to campaigns focused on sales or contact acquisition. In most of the campaigns of this type that I’ve run, I’ve managed to significantly improve efficiency and reduce the cost of conversion (even several times). This is an undoubted advantage of Performance Max campaigns. However, it comes with a few limitations that can be problematic when running campaigns. Extensive campaign automation limits the flexibility of the operation. We can set general rules for impressions, but the final impressions and appearance of ad creatives are already decided by Google’s algorithms. An additional problem that can arise is the misconfiguration of conversions misleading Google’s algorithms and thus spoiling the results of the campaign. In addition, it should be remembered that Google’s algorithms need time to learn how to work by which the results may be worse at the beginning of the issue. You should also limit frequent changes in campaign costs. This can disrupt the performance of a Performance Max campaign Performance Max campaign requires us to prepare properly and trust Google’s algorithms, but in the end it can significantly improve the results of your advertising activities. Do not be afraid of it, but when launching it, it is better not to give up too quickly on other types of campaigns.
