Google Improves Performance Max Guidelines

Google has added significant updates to its Performance Max guidelines targeting retail marketers. “If your goal is to increase sales and reach new customers,” Google says, “these guidelines will help you get there.”

The new guidelines center around five core sections: setting up a Performance Max campaign, planning budgets, structuring the campaign, steering the AI powering Performance Max effectively, and monitoring.

The new guidelines highlight the value of using Performance Max over Standard Shopping campaigns. Google encourages users to “set up an A/B test that will automatically create a new Performance Max campaign from an existing Standard Shopping campaign” to demonstrate the value of upgrading to a Performance Max campaign.

Google’s best practices also highlight that Performance Planning can make suggestions to users on how to achieve the highest return on investment for the same marketing spend. There is also a focus on seasonality and how to optimize campaigns for holiday periods for specific events, such as Black Friday.

In the section focused on campaign structure, the guidelines generally suggest that users consolidate campaigns to improve overall performance and, in particular, AI performance. Google also provides details on which use cases would benefit from multiple strategies, such as campaigns that target multiple countries.

Because Performance Max is AI-driven, the guidelines provide more details on how to better steer campaigns to get the most value out of the AI tools. There is a strong focus on how to acquire new and high value customers.

Understanding performance is key to getting the most value out of a campaign. Google dedicates a significant portion of the guidelines explaining how to derive insights from the reports that are available, including new reports such as asset group metrics and performance change insights.

The new guidelines also include real-life case studies and proof points, bringing concrete data from users and credibility to the suggestions Google is making.

Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type that allows users to access all their Google Ads inventory within a single campaign. It works alongside keyword-based search campaigns and applies to all Google channels such as YouTube, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.