Performance Max campaigns bring together the best Google AI innovations to help you drive results across all Google Ads channels and inventory. To put Google AI to work for your business and unlock the full potential of Performance Max, it's essential to provide the right inputs. That's why we're unveiling new features designed to give you more control and deeper insights into your performance.
Connect with the right customers and keep them engaged
New types of customer lifecycle goals will help you tailor your Performance Max campaigns to optimize towards acquiring and retaining your most valuable customers. We previously introduced the new customer acquisition goal to help you prioritize finding new customers in your campaigns. Now, you can focus on acquiring new customers that are high value. This is available in beta for advertisers using Performance Max for purchase conversion goals. For advertisers using Search Ads 360, new customer acquisition goals are also available now.
In addition to acquiring new customers, you can also strengthen your relationships with existing customers to build a more comprehensive customer lifecycle strategy. A new retention goal is now available in beta to help you win back customers who have lapsed. Reach out to your Google account team for next steps.
By combining your first-party data with Google AI, you can unlock greater value from both new and existing customers, and deliver the strongest return on investment at different stages of the customer lifecycle.
Filter out irrelevant traffic with IP exclusions
While campaign goals can help guide Performance Max towards your most relevant audience, account-level IP exclusions offer another layer of control to further refine your reach. You can now exclude specific IP addresses from seeing ads from your Performance Max campaigns to make sure they reach only the most relevant audiences. Exclude specific IP addresses (like your company's) at an account level to filter out traffic that can drive unwanted ad interactions and costs. This protects your budget and allows you to focus your spend where it will have the greatest impact.
Test and learn in real-time to find strategies that drive growth
Experimentation is the key to unlocking better results in your Google Ads campaigns. Now, you can quickly and easily test optimization strategies within a single Performance Max campaign to see if they drive better outcomes. The first feature you'll be able to test is Final URL expansion, currently in beta. Advertisers who use Final URL expansion with Performance Max campaigns see an average increase of over 9% in conversions/conversion value at a similar Cost Per Action (CPA)/Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).1 You can test this feature to understand whether replacing your final URL with a more relevant landing page from your website drives stronger results by better matching a user’s search intent.
Opting into the Final URL expansion experiment will split your traffic, dedicating a portion of your budget to testing this feature while tracking results alongside your original setup. You'll get clear, actionable data revealing how this change impacts your campaign's performance and easy options for applying proven strategies that are successful to your campaigns. If you’re interested in joining the beta for Final URL expansion experiments, reach out to Google support or your account team for more information. We’ll be launching experimentation for more Performance Max settings and features soon.
Gain granular insights into what's working and tailor your campaigns accordingly
Knowing your audience can unlock unexpected opportunities. Now, alongside existing interest and behavioral data, you'll gain an understanding of your audience’s age and gender. Detailed demographics are rolling out now in asset audience insights. Imagine you’re a travel tour company with a traditionally older audience base. You may uncover from demographic insights that you’re also driving strong interest from younger travelers, opening a whole new market segment, and potentially prompting an adjustment in your promotions. Detailed demographics in audience insights empower you to understand your untapped demographics so you can craft ads that resonate directly with specific age and gender groups.
Optimize your budget using budget pacing insights
Budget pacing insights are also rolling out to help you find more campaign optimization opportunities. This new insight will provide real-time spend tracking, allowing you to see current and projected spend alongside your forecasted conversion performance. At a glance, you can analyze your campaign pacing to identify potential areas for strategic budget shifts, such as moving budget from a campaign that’s underpacing to a campaign that is close to becoming budget limited.
Register and tune in to Google Marketing Live on May 21, 2024 at 9 AM PT to hear more exciting announcements. And wondering how else to get the most out of Performance Max? Take a look at the top Performance Max questions, answered.
Posted by Sagar Shah, Group Product Manager, Performance Max campaigns
1. Google Data, Global, Ads, February 2023 - April 2023.
