Performance Max is a campaign to derive machine learning-based conversions across Google Search, GDN, YouTube, Discover, YouTube, and Gmail, while also generating keyword suggestions for Search campaigns.  The impact is to strengthen Google campaigns by having image, text, video, and catalog assets work in parallel to generate revenues.

Starting a new Performance Max campaign can be challenging and it gets very important to understand the levers we can push in this campaign type as a major share of it is automated by Google. Here we are looking at the key levers that drive and we can adjust to diagnose or set up a performance max campaign.

Levers in Performance Max campaign

  • Category Level Analysis: 

  1. Identify Hero Categories for your Brand.
  2. Go to Catalog ----> Categories ----> Orders view. Analyze the top selling categories on the website.
  3. Now Go to Performance view ----> Google tab and cross check whether we are focusing on right categories in performance max campaigns
  4. If we are not spending on the right categories, start pushing the categories in seperate Performance Max campaigns
  5. Pmax structure: 

              Hero categories - Individual category wise Pmax campaigns

              All other categories - as one campaign

    

  • Audience signal:

       Retargeting lists and customer data are the best audience signals that we can send in a Performance Max campaign. We can also set up custom intent audiences for brand and competitors' keywords. Since this is just a soft signal we are sending the idea is to try and keep it as relevant and niche as possible.

 

  • Listing groups:

         Try avoiding an overlap of products in different asset groups, at least 30 SKUs per asset group is recommended.

 

  • Product title optimization:

         Bulk update product titles for Google by stuffing keywords. Keep a check for search impression share, this exercise will help increasing the same.

 

  • Bid strategy and budget:

       Start the campaign at maximize conversions, once the campaign starts spending the allocated budget, can try different bid strategies and budget combinations.

 

  • Creative and Ad copies:

        Update creative and ad copies as per the category in the asset group. Mapping should be taken care of here. For creative requirements, please visit Creative Requirements for Performance Max Campaign