Find our full series on Google Ads Performance Max here:
Performance Max is one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen from Google. How do we make it work this holiday shopping season?
Prepare everything in advance 📆
Black Friday is in 30 days! If you’re just starting now, you’re already behind. Here are some ways you can still get ahead!
Audience Signals 👥
Audience Signals are the most underrated part of Performance Max. Likely the most important.
Google gives you the ability to input signals on who the system should target. Upload your first-party data: customer and email lists, compile top keywords, use interests etc.
We’ve found success with the following Audience Signals:
Customer Match
- High-Value Customers
- 2021 Holiday Shoppers
- Email Subscribers
Custom Intent
- Competitor Names & URLs
- High-Intent (Bottom-Funnel) Keywords
🔥 Tip: Use the Klaviyo × Google Ads integration:
If you have at least 1,000 emails you should be connecting Klaviyo to Google Ads
Future proof your 1st party data pic.twitter.com/NRNNSdCSoA
— Collin Schmelebeck (@SchmelebeckPPC) October 9, 2022
Asset Groups 🌆
With PMAX, it’s important not to shock the system by making drastic changes. It’s better to make smaller and more incremental changes.
You can use these approaches:
- Create New Asset Group for Promotional Items
- Layer New Promo Creative & Extensions
If you’re creating a new Asset Group, do it within the same campaign so that the product-level historical performance will be utilized.
Be patient and give it some time to collect data and ramp up. It can take time!
Google is def making updates to PMax behind the scenes. Smaller accounts are seeing traction faster.
Though I still think smaller brands should run PMax for a minimum of 4+ weeks to collect proper data. Trying to move too fast can have you go too slow in the long run.
— Duane Brown 🇨🇦🏳️🌈 4x Vax’ed! (@duanebrown) October 12, 2022
Keep in mind: Creating new Performance Max campaigns for BFCM is not recommended because the learning period takes too long to ramp up.
You’re best off adding new Asset Groups to existing Performance Max campaigns or layering on promotional assets with the current Asset Groups.
Datafeed 📝
The datafeed is important all year round, but especially important now!
Google Shopping and Performance Max do not allow you to target based on keywords. The system uses your product information to understand what search queries should show your ads.
- Identifiers: Brand + MPN/SKU + UPC Code
- Keyword Rich Titles & Descriptions
- Google Taxonomy & Product Type Categorization
- Custom Labels for Segmentation & Reporting
Ad Extensions 🏷
Ad Extensions (Assets) are an easy way to launch promos without making campaign changes that can throw off the system. You can and should add Promo Extensions in TWO places:
- Google Merchant Center for Shopping
- Google Ads for Search, YouTube, etc
In Google Merchant Center, you’ll want to make sure you have Promotions enabled under: Growth → Manage Programs
Once you have the option to create promos, go to: Marketing → Promotions and click the big blue button to submit your promotion info.
Note: GMC promos are very finicky and subject to manual approval so make sure to set this up correctly. It’s especially important to get the product selection right.
Give yourself time and submit all promos in advance, just in case!
In Google Ads, Promotion Extensions (Assets) can be added on the account level or campaign level. Just click the Assets tab and add new.
Bids & Budget 💵
Give the system space to perform BUT don’t make super-drastic changes. We recommend increasing budgets and decreasing tROAS targets incrementally. Again, don’t shock the system.
Anytime you increase the budget, you force the system to find new audiences. It can take time for the algorithm to find a new audience that’ll perform well.
Also, keep in mind that as you increase your budget, you’ll likely see your ad costs increase as well.
Spending more makes your ads more expensive.
As you increase spend, ad platforms have to stray from your ideal segment. The larger the budget, the larger the required audience, therefore the further you move from high purchase intent audiences, which drives up costs (CPA, etc). pic.twitter.com/iJlxT35pX0
— Cory Dobbin 🙇 (@CoryDobbin) October 14, 2022
Smart Shopping Style 🛍
You can run Performance Max without any assets, only using your product datafeed. This forces the system to run in a similar manner to Smart Shopping with more placements available.
This is a great way to capture high-intent traffic at scale.
Paid Social Style 📲
Additionally, you can run Performance Max without a datafeed which will exclude the Shopping placements and run display ads only.
If you see success with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, this can work very well for you!
