Performance Max campaigns were introduced back in 2021 with much anticipation from advertisers. These campaigns utilize AI learning to give advertisers a much broader reach across various Google networks, including YouTube, Discovery, Search, Display, and Gmail. Once they were launched and advertisers started to use them, Performance Max campaigns (like their Smart Shopping predecessor) were concerning for advertisers due to their need for more data insights.
Over the last two years, Google has addressed some of these concerns by adding features so that we have better insight into what is or isn’t working. This allows us to make adjustments to the campaigns to further improve performance. Here are three of the newest improvements to Performance Max campaigns that we are most excited to be able to utilize.
- Search Term Insights
The overview tab initially provided us with a view of the search categories that ads had shown on when searched. These categories included a small list of example keywords, the search volume associated with them, and how many conversions you received overall for the category. Now, Google has implemented detailed reports. These reports let you see which specific category, as well as which subcategory, resulted in conversions. This helps us add negative keywords as well as find new keywords for our supplemental search accounts. You can access detailed reports on the Insights tab under Consumer Spotlight.
- Asset Group Performance Views
Originally, all that we were able to see was the summary view for asset groups. This view allows you to see some of the images, headlines, and audience signals that a specific asset group utilizes. The new table view allows you to see performance data specific to each asset group. Instead of having to break out asset groups into their own campaigns to see performance, such as clicks, impressions, and conversions, we can now house them all in one campaign. This allows us to pause underperforming asset groups or decide to break out high-performance groups to their own campaigns for budgeting purposes. To see this, click Table in the upper right corner. The ability to add or remove columns will show up in roughly the same place as where you clicked Table.
- Video Creation Tool
For companies without video assets, the only way to create them previously was to use YouTube Video Builder, which was a beta and not available to everyone. This tool allowed you to choose a template, insert text and images, and select a music background. Once the video was posted, you were unable to make any changes and would need to start all over again.
The most exciting feature for me personally is that Video Builder has been added directly to the Google Ads interface. Under Asset Library, you can now directly upload videos from YouTube, or you can use the builder to create them. Google has added new features, such as adding voiceovers, as well as giving users the ability to copy and edit already created videos, and even trim existing videos.
Whether you are new to PPC advertising or a seasoned professional, Performance Max campaigns are a great campaign type to test and supplement your already existing Search campaigns. I have seen them work well for both my eCommerce and lead-generation clients (learn more about how to get quality leads on Performance Max campaigns in a recent post by Dain Ferrero). With all of the advancements that Google quickly continues to make when it comes to AI, I am excited to see how this campaign type and others will continue to evolve!
