Best Practices for Google’s Performance Max

Tools that allow you to capture the power of multiple advertising channels through a single campaign aren’t exactly super common, but that’s what we’ve got with Google’s Performance Max. P-Max has the potential to take your Google Ads to the next level, but only if you’re using it properly and that’s what we’re here for. Read on to find out how to get the most out of P-Max and how to optimise and improve your campaigns with our top tips.

1.  Commit to your campaigns

P-Max allows you to automate a wide range of aspects of your overall ad campaign on Google but becoming fully automated involves giving it a lot of data and allowing the technology to work its magic. You may need to budget around £50-100 a day for a month to get it warmed up. Google themselves recommend durations of 6 weeks to allow the machine learning algorithm to get going and have enough data to compare performance effectively. One last thing – ongoing data analysis and adjustment is super important, which means you can’t just “set and forget” your campaigns.

2.  Add + optimise as many assets as you can

The more assets you add, the better! It boosts your chances of having your ads shown across all sorts of inventory, giving you the best shot at hitting your targets. You’ll want your assets to be relevant, as this will also increase the likelihood of your ads being eligible to serve across all Google networks. That being said, here’s a pro tip from us: quality over quantity (but don’t neglect quantity, either)!Optimising creative assets is super important for the effectiveness of any P-Max campaign and to maximise their potential. Ad creatives need to be engaging and relevant, resonating with the audience signals within your asset group (i.e. you need to show the right people the right things or it’s NOT going to work). Taking time to test out different creative elements such as headlines, images and descriptions will help you better understand what works for your audience. P-Max helpfully provides performance rankings for each asset, helping you to choose which assets to change to improve the effectiveness of your ads.

3.  Keep to the image specs

Blurry, unclear or incorrectly sized images are a huge turn-off for customers, so make sure all imagery you use is properly formatted and correctly sized for P-Max. Add as many images as you can for your campaigns to get the best results and keep in mind the recommended resolutions:

Marketing images should be 1200×628 and in landscape orientation with an aspect ratio of 1.19:1. You can add up to 20 marketing images. You must include one square_marketing_image with a recommended resolution of 1200×1200, with an option of adding up to 20 to further diversify your ad campaign.

Your logo should have a resolution of 1200×1200, with a minimum of 128×128 available and it should have a 1:1 aspect ratio. You should add at least ONE logo, but the option for up to five is there for enhanced brand identity.You’ll be fine if you remember this tip: TEST, OPTIMISE, TEST, OPTIMISE, etc…

4.  Minimise branded keywords (but don’t ignore them completely)

Most advertising campaigns rely upon your keyword mix, but with P-Max we recommend avoiding your branded keywords as much as possible. This will help to improve data accuracy, as including branded terms could lead to Google overestimating the campaign’s performance. Excluding branded keywords gives a more authentic view of your campaign’s effectiveness as users seeking out your brand are naturally more likely to convert. However, that is not to say you should forget about branded keywords entirely – they can still be valuable for specific strategic goals like protecting brand presence and driving conversions from brand-aware users.

5.  Choose the most suitable bidding strategy

A considered bidding strategy is the heart of all ad campaigns, and this is not different with Google Ads Performance Max. There are two main strategies to choose from:

Maximising Conversions

This bidding strategy focuses on achieving the maximum number of conversions within your P-Max budget.

Maximising Conversion Value

This bidding strategy focuses on securing the highest value conversions. Often you will see fewer conversions, but the goal is that each conversion you do get has a higher value.

These two strategies basically come down to cost per action (CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS). However, with the huge data collection required when starting out with P-Max, it is worth focusing on this before pinning down your bidding strategy. Once you have enough data, you can use this information to determine which approach is best for your campaign. P-Max campaigns benefit from a nuanced approach that considers both short-term and long-term goals, so you need to continually monitor and adjust your strategies based on performance insights.

6.  Incorporate Google Assets

Google assets (formerly ad extensions) allow you to add value to each ad, increasing its relevance and making it more attractive to users (i.e. the people you want to actually reach). The range of extensions available is regularly updated but there are currently 14 in total, with the following being some of the most useful to include:

Sitelinks

Adding site links helps to direct users to additional relevant pages when searching. This form of ad extension can drastically improve your click-through rate, as Google found that using their recommended four site links, you could see a 20% increase in click-throughs.

Structured Snippets

Snippets always add value and allow you to highlight specific products, services or features in an attractive listicle. For example, a sportswear brand may include a Product Structured Snippet to highlight tracksuits, football shirts, football boots, trainers and training wear.

Callouts

Callouts are another kind of snippet to highlight key USPs or selling features. We recommend including 6-8 callouts, each a maximum of 25 characters.

7.  Put in place proper product segmentation

Optimising your P-Max campaigns through product segmentation can amplify their effectiveness. It helps to create more relevant ads, offers better control over your bidding strategy, allows for more efficient budget allocation, and enables tailored ad copy and creative assets to match each segment’s characteristics. This level of customisation leads to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Focus on understanding Google’s algorithm, ensuring correct product data, and maintaining control over your data feed. Key areas to optimise include:

Feed Management: Implement strategic management tactics.

8.  Optimise audience signals

Once you’ve got your P-Max campaigns up and running, you can see how successful they are. If you’re not seeing results within the 6 weeks recommended by Google then you need to investigate why, and one area to check closely is Audience Signals.

Optimising and tweaking your Audience Signals involves looking at your business data and integrating this rather than relying too much on Google’s interest-based audiences. 

The key places to look are your existing customer lists if you have enough data and permission to use them for advertising purposes. You can also consider your website visitor audiences if you don’t yet have a high enough volume of customers within your customer lists to work from. Google’s fancy new customer acquisition tools can also help you with this.

9.  Don’t forget your other campaign types

P-Max is a great addition to your arsenal but it shouldn’t be a complete replacement. If a customer uses a search query that perfectly matches a keyword you are actively bidding on, the ad from your search campaign will be displayed. In instances where the search query is not an exact match, the machine learning algorithm will decide between showing your search campaign ad or your P-Max campaign. The Ad Rank score will be how Google makes this decision and by using a mix of the two, you are maximising the chances of your ads being seen by the right people and that they are also relevant to the searches being done.

Google is always tweaking and optimising its ad campaign processes, with new tools giving us even more opportunities to create effective targeted ads. P-Max has the potential to give your business the competitive edge, but only if you’re using it properly. So, don’t dive into P-Max campaigns without a plan. Take the time to understand and apply our best practice tips—unless you enjoy burning money and time, of course. 

For more awesome pointers and super useful strategy tips, get in touch with our team!