What is Performance Max?
Performance Max is an AI-based form of advertising that was launched by Google almost 3 years ago. The main message is that one Google Ads campaign can be advertised across all Google channels. We have been testing the format for a long time and here share our preliminary insights and experiences with you.
What can Performance Max do?
Performance Max runs ads across all Google channels. This means you just create one campaign, which then automatically creates all your display, shopping, video and search ads at once.
And yes, you can also use it even if you don’t run a webshop.
Never blindly trust AI-based systems
Although the setup has become easier with Performance Max, it still requires strategic thinking and a knowledgeable marketing specialist behind the wheel.
As with most other AI tools, the “robot” must be guided in the right direction – otherwise things can easily go wrong.
To get good results, a Google Ads account with existing conversion data and creative elements such as ad texts and messages, images and videos is also required.
But you can be happy that you no longer have to write countless ad texts, adjust bids or optimize in the same way as you have had to do so far.
This is how it works in practice
In a new Performance Max campaign, you must start by creating an asset group. Images, texts and possibly videos are added here. An asset group is the basis for all your ads. However, you can advantageously create several groups so that you have a better overview. What makes the most sense depends on your business. But if you are a webshop, then it would be natural to divide it into, for example, types of products, and the brands of the products could then be in another group.
The next step is audience signals, which, in short, is where Performance Max ensures that it is the right target group that is affected by your ads. You can feed the system with keywords, information about remarketing groups, etc.
The last step is listing groups, which are primarily relevant for webshops, where you can group your products into e.g. categories and brands. Here you can also read the results of your Performance Max results. And here it requires (as with almost all other marketing) that you know which parameters are worth keeping an eye on.
Our opinion on Performance Max
At Generaxion, we are generally happy with Performance Max, and in most cases, it produces very good results across different types of customers and industries – if the right conditions are present, including, for example, conversion data and good advertising material.
It is relatively complicated to extract good insights from Performance Max. For example, it can be difficult to see which channels are driving conversions. And results can be misleading, as brand and non-brand searches are often in the same pool. It is therefore important to know which KPIs are important to pay attention to when working with Performance Max.
We will certainly continue to use Performance Max, as it is already a super powerful tool, which however has further development potential. But it will never be able to stand alone without human control.