Performance Max best practices for lead generation

Power your AI with strong measurement

Set the stage for success by providing Performance Max with the time and data it needs to understand your goals.

Fuel your AI: Google AI requires a solid measurement and data foundation to fuel your campaigns for optimum performance. Follow the steps outlined in the 'Build a strong measurement foundation' section of our general Lead Generation best practices guide.

Once these building blocks are in place, allow at least six weeks for your campaign to run before making major changes, giving Google AI the opportunity to learn and gather enough data to make meaningful optimisations.

WHY IT MATTERS

Your inputs control the output of AI-powered campaigns, especially for channels and surfaces that don’t use search queries as their intent signal. As a result, it is critical to feed it the right conversion data, whether it is a lead score based on form attributes or predicted lifetime value from your analytics team. Think of this as a virtuous circle: share data inputs as a signal and Performance Max will optimise across channels using this critical information to identify what factors are most predictive of high-quality leads.

Set clear goals and signals: Use lead generation specific goals, like 'Contact', 'Submit Lead Form', 'Book Appointment', 'Sign-up', 'Request Quote', 'Qualified Lead' or 'Converted Lead', in order to drive the highest quality leads for your Performance Max campaigns and access enhanced protections against invalid lead activity. Optimise to deeper funnel conversion actions where possible.

Steer your campaigns

Steer Performance Max with precision towards the right audiences and maximise its impact.

Choose the right bidding strategy:

If your primary objective is lead value, use value-based Smart Bidding strategies like Maximise conversion value or Maximise conversion value with a target ROAS.

If your primary objective is lead volume, use a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategy like Maximise conversions to focus on generating the highest volume of leads.

Setting targets: When maximising conversions, select the most valuable conversion goal, ideally one further down the funnel that’s as close to the final sale as possible, and set your target CPA close to your maximum acceptable cost per lead.

Captivate with creative

Craft engaging content and optimise the user experience to attract and convert high-quality leads.

Maximise your asset variety: Provide a wide range of high-quality text, image and video assets to meet the diverse needs and mindsets of different customers. More assets means more potential ad formats that can be created for different channels and users. Building new creative is easier than ever with generative AI tools. Watch how you can get the most out of generative AI. Track your 'Ad Strength' metric in the asset groups section of your campaign for a quick snapshot of your creative's effectiveness. Aim for an 'Excellent' rating to maximise your campaign's potential.

We found that advertisers who improve their Performance Max ad strength to 'Excellent' see 6% more conversions on average.¹

Optimise your lead forms: Simplify the lead capture process with lead form assets to maximise conversions. To improve lead quality, consider adding qualifying questions and authentication elements like reCAPTCHA .

Iterate with insights

Understand your campaign performance and uncover new growth opportunities.

Monitor and analyse: Utilise reports unique to Performance Max like Search terms insights and demand forecasts to gain valuable insights into campaign performance.

Make data-driven decisions: Use asset-level reporting to identify top-performing creative assets and bid strategy reports to understand inputs and nuances of your bid strategy, including the top signals being used to optimise your bids.

Ensure brand safety: Use 'Placement Reports' to review and exclude any placements that are not a good fit for your brand.