The Performance Max campaigns from Google are generating a lot of discussion in the advertising industry. This is one of the quickest large-scale product launches that we have seen, with the product going from being generally available (in November 2021) to being forced migration (in September 2022) in less than a year. We have gathered some tips from talking to our customers and PPC experts.
1. Control is shifting to the periphery of the ads system
Performance Max campaigns are usually automated, which can be a problem for advertisers who want more control over their campaigns.
In his book, “Unlevel the Playing Field,” Fred Vallaeys describes how advertiser controls have shifted to be more about the big picture and less about granular details. Think things like:
- Set correct targets that are related to business goals.
- Feed more timely and more detailed conversion information into the Google AI.
- Optimize the structured data and feeds that Google uses to generate creatives and match ads to queries.
2. Automation needs space to learn
In the past, the best way to manage a PPC campaign was to use exact match keywords and keep the ad groups tightly themed. It’s hard to use the same strategy in Performance Max because there are no keywords or static ads. Instead of having a static ad, machine learning creates a new ad for each potential customer, based on what it determines could be relevant to them.
However, the knee-jerk reaction to Performance Max’s lack of control may be counterproductive. Instead of trying to make the automation conform to our expectations, we should try to adapt to its abilities.
Kasim Aslam said in a recent PPC town hall that it may not be a bad thing to give the machine more room to experiment. It’s like putting a flea in a small box. This means that a flea can jump up to eight inches high, which is 150 times their body height. If you put a flea in a box that is one inch tall, it will never learn to jump higher than that and will therefore not reach its full potential. Could it be the same with PPC automation?
The machine will always find a slice of traffic where it is able to produce the results you want, no matter how much you try to control it. If you want to change some of the boundaries in order to get more results, the machine may prioritize continuing to operate in the space it is already familiar with because it is more confident in its predictions in that area.
Giving the machine some leeway to experiment and discover users who will convert in surprising places results in the biggest possible increase.
An example of machine learning benefiting advertisers can be seen when it is not restricted. Giving the machine more breathing room led to more conversions.
The primary reason for this is that ad groups that utilized RSAs (Responsive Search Ads) received approximately twice as many impressions as those without because the machine was able to make the ads significantly more relevant to a greater number of searches. Although the conversion rate was lower than anticipated, the significant increase in impressions resulted in greater overall success.
3. Set expectations for how long it will take automation to learn
Besides the lack of ad control which it shares with RSAs, Performance Max exhibits a lot of other freedoms that can make it a nerve-racking proposition for advertisers to try:
- Works with ad assets rather than ads that are fully written out by advertisers.
- Operates with few keyword boundaries, much like Broad Match keywords would operate in a search campaign.
- Bids are automated and determined by advertiser goals rather than a restrictive max CPC.
It takes time for the machine to learn what works, and it is frustrating that it is relatively difficult to add human insight to the equation to help speed up the learning. You will get the most out of Performance Max if you dedicate two weeks to learning and experimenting.
PPC managers and agencies need to make sure their clients are prepared for this wait. In order to have successful PPC campaigns, clients need to be properly educated on the expectations and process. For a long time, the industry has been promoting the immediate results and instant optimization as a key benefit to PPC. Even though you can see clicks being reported in real time, making changes to the machine before it has had time to experiment and learn may not be the best idea.
It is important to ensure that your clients are aware of the duration of the machine-learning process before commencing optimization.
Advertisers must be patient and not interfere with a campaign while it is still learning. Optmyzr has some great tools to help advertisers understand and make decisions based on data from Google experiments.
4. Creative assets make or break your campaign
There are two key elements to running a successful PPC campaign: optimizing your targeting and bids. Sure, ads were important too. Even if you have the best advertisement, you will not get good results if you show it to the wrong audience or if you pay too much for it. A poor ad shown to the right audience at the right price could still do well.
Instead of advertisers choosing keywords and bids, Performance Max allows advertisers to choose simply keywords. The creative aspect has become a more important tool for optimization. Advertisers who are used to writing only text ads may feel intimidated by the fact that they are now also being asked to create video ads.
5. Filtering out fake & invalid traffic
The folks at Lunio, have collected data that shows that around 10-20% of money spent on ads is wasted on platforms like Google, due to bots and fake users. You should consider why your campaigns are not meeting your conversion targets.
Clicks and traffic that are not real can cause big differences in data.
” One way to find out how well your website is doing is to check the click and conversion data in Google Analytics. After logging in to your CRM, you will see metrics that are entirely different. Different click volumes. Different conversion volumes. Different values per lead. The fake and invalid traffic on your ad campaigns is causing your ads to be less effective.
Lunio is a click fraud solution that can help you reduce the number of data discrepancies and ensure that you only pay for clicks from real humans who have the potential to convert.
Lunio uses machine learning to keep track of legitimacy for each and every click on PPC ads. If Lunio detects that a click is coming from a bot or fake user, that user will be blocked from seeing any of your ads on all networks. If a click comes from a real customer, they will continue to see your ads on all platforms they use.
The details of both fake and legitimate clicks are logged in real-time, providing useful insights into the key differences between converting and non-converting traffic.
6. This opens campaign structure
Performance Max does not have the same restrictions as Smart Shopping when it comes to campaign asset groups. This allows you to have one campaign, but also create different groups of assets to target different aspects of your product catalog. But what’s the right approach?
There are four golden rules for campaign structures that will help to create successful websites. These rules are important for creating websites that will help to improve online performance.
- Keep it simple.
- More data is better – try to keep as much data as you can inside one campaign because the algorithm then does a better job of optimising for your goals.
- Only segment out, or create new campaigns when you have a really good reason to do so, as this fragments data and can hinder performance.
- Test, test, test. Don’t copy blindly what someone is telling you to do because it’s working for them. Run your own experiments to find what works for your business.
Data is the most important aspect of automation. . To make your strategy work, you need to ensure you’re collecting enough data within each individual campaign to allow the algorithm to meaningfully optimize your bid strategy.
7. Asset Optimisation
Not only can you group multiple assets together, but you can also improve the individual assets within each group. Google automatically evaluates all your text, images, and videos and gives each asset one of four values:
- Low: low performing against all other assets of the same type across properties.
- Good : assets perform well enough
- Best : one of the highest performers of all assets
- Pending: not enough data yet (you’ll need > 5000 impressions per asset)
____________________.
” There should always be a clear connection between the ad copy and the product/ image/video being used. Google will be combining your headlines and images and placing them anywhere they feel is appropriate, so it is important to tailor your content to your product or service. Make sure your product is always the main focus of any images you’re using to avoid display issues. Make sure to optimize your website for mobile devices as well, as that is often overlooked.
8. Bidding Strategies
Automated bidding strategies are very limited with Performance Max. You must select between “Maximise Conversions” or “Maximise Conversion Value”, with a target CPA or a target ROAS. It’s important to understand your numbers before you start.
Surprisingly, many brands do not know their numbers. What is your break even ROAS? What is the minimum amount of money you need to spend to acquire a new customer? Are you more likely to make more money from your first sale if you can upsell more products later? Is the value of your first sale typically lower than the value of subsequent sales?
” What kind of questions do you need answers to? If you’re well-versed in numbers, you can turn them into specific objectives within Google Ads.
Secondly, you need to know your risk appetite.
With manual bidding, you have to continuously adjust your bids based on how your ads are performing.” You will always have to learn how to use any smart bidding strategy. With manual bidding, you will have to keep changing your bids based on how your ads are doing. The amount of money you have influences how quickly you can learn and improve because it allows you to get more experience with conversion.
” Some companies are willing to spend a lot of money to learn as quickly as possible. Other brands have much less and their willingness to take risks is very low. This means that you need to take this into account when you are making your bids.
Some things to keep in mind when thinking about investment are your numbers, how much risk you’re willing to take on, and what your goals are.
The Future of Performance Max & Paid Media Automation
Videos and images are increasingly becoming more important to promote your message. In recent years, the trend among advertising platforms has been moving towards using more visuals, like videos and images. This means that if you want to get your message across, it’s increasingly important to use visuals. Search ads now use image and video assets. Facebook is urging advertisers to use video as much as possible, and even provides the option to add audio to any images that are uploaded.
“We’re seeing this with programmatic display as well. Dynamic ads typically outperform static ads, in which the elements remain the same even when hovered over. Advertisers have started using AI to create images, videos, and animations that will be targeted at the right consumers at the right time.
PPC specialists will need to improve their skillset due to increasing automation.
Automation levels the playing field for all advertisers. Imagine it is 2024 and everyone has moved to Performance Max campaigns. In that environment, how can you make sure you are noticed? To get an edge on your competition, you can: -Identify your unique selling proposition -Develop a strong branding strategy -Build a loyal customer base -Create a forward-thinking marketing strategy -Offer superior customer service -Stay up-to-date on industry trends -Constantly improve your product or service
The automation of targeting and bidding means that things like ad copy, image generation, and landing page optimisation are becoming even more important. I don’t think PPC specialists will lose their jobs anytime soon. The work that they will be doing in 2024 will be vastly different from what they are doing today.
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