While Search Ads 360 doesn’t support experiments natively, you can set them up in Google Ads so that your Floodlight data is used to power your Google Ads Performance Max campaign. This article will show you how to set up Google Ads Performance Max experiments using your Search Ads 360 conversion data.
Learn more About experiments in the Google Ads Help Center.
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How it works
When you set up a Google Ads Performance Max experiment, a control group and a trial group of viewers are created. During the experiment, Google Ads Performance Max displays ads only to viewers in the trial group.
Performance for existing campaigns won’t be negatively impacted by experiments. Putting them into control and trial simply tags which ones had Google Ads Performance Max traffic alongside them and which ones didn’t. For the existing campaign traffic in the trial arm, Google will measure what happens when it runs alongside Google Ads Performance Max.
As Google Ads Performance Max optimizes towards the goals you set and the experiment ramps up, you can view reports showing how Google Ads Performance Max compares to the campaign you are testing it against.
Before you begin
To set up a Google Ads Performance Max experiment that uses your Search Ads 360 conversion data, make sure Floodlight conversions are set up in your Search Ads 360 account.
Learn how to set up Floodlight conversion reporting in the new Search Ads 360.
Set up your experiment
Follow these steps to set up your experiment in Google Ads:
Step 1: Share all Search Ads 360 conversion data with Google Ads
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
- Navigate to a sub-manager account.
- From the page menu, under “Tools & settings”, click Conversions.
- Click Settings.
- Click Share conversions to expand the section.
- Click the check box next to the following setting:
- Share all Floodlight and other conversion data related to Google Ads with all Google Ads accounts linked to this Search Ads 360 sub-manager account.
- Click Save.
Step 2: Create a Google Ads Performance Max campaign in Search Ads 360
After sharing your Search Ads 360 conversion data with Google Ads, you’ll create a Google Ads Performance Max campaign in Search Ads 360. This is the campaign that will be used in your experiments.
Learn how to Create a Google Ads Performance Max campaign.
While creating you’re campaign for an experiment, select the following options:
- When choosing an objective, select Sales or Leads.
- When selecting your “Conversion Goals”, select Sub-manager account-level conversion goals, you may choose one of the radio options available. Below are the conversion goals which helps with bid optimization:
- Search Ads 360: After selecting Search Ads 360, the system will display the list of conversion goals (Use account default goal settings or Use campaign specific goal settings)
- Search Ads 360 and Google Ads: After selecting Search Ads 360 and Google Ads the system will display the list of conversions (Use account default goal settings or Use campaign specific goal settings)
- Note: Here you have the option to select conversion goals for Google ads separately.
- Google Ads: After selecting Google Ads the system will display the list of conversion (Use account default goal settings, Use campaign specific goal settings)
Learn how to Create a Floodlight conversion action.
Step 3: Set up Performance Max experiment in Google Ads
After you’ve created a Google Ads Performance Max campaign in Search Ads 360, you can set up experiments in Google Ads that will optimize towards your Floodlight conversion actions. There are 2 types of Google Ads Performance Max experiments. You can test either of these using your Search Ads 360 conversion data.
- Uplift experiments: Helps you measure the incremental benefit of running Google Ads Performance Max campaigns alongside your Search, Video, Discovery, and Display campaigns.
Learn how to Set up Uplift experiments for Performance Max. -
Shopping campaign vs Performance Max campaign: Helps you measure a control group of users who view your Shopping campaign against a trial group who are being served ads by a Performance Max campaign.
Learn how to Set up a Standard Shopping campaign vs. Performance Max campaign experiment.
Step 4: Evaluate results
After you’ve started running an experiment, it’s helpful to understand how to monitor its performance. By understanding how your experiment is performing in comparison to the original campaign, you can make an informed decision about Google Ads Performance Max.
View your experiment's performance in Search Ads 360
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
- Navigate to a Google Ads client account.
- From the page menu on the left, select Campaigns.
- Find the Google Ads Performance Max campaign you are testing and your control campaign.
- Compare the “Conversions,” “Conv. Rate,” and “Cost/Conv” columns.
View your experiment's performance in Google Ads
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- On the left panel, click Experiments.
- Click All experiments from the “Experiments” menu.
- Find and click the experiment that you want to view.
Best practices for evaluating your results
To effectively evaluate the results of your experiments, it is important to understand how Google Ads Performance Max works and what it is designed to do. Follow these best practices to accurately measure your experiments.
Run your experiments for at least 4 to 6 weeks
Remember what Google Ads Performance Max is designed to do
Google Ads Performance Max is designed to optimize towards Conversion Value or Conversions. When evaluating your performance, consider the following metrics:
- Optimizing towards conversion values, like ROAS, Conversion Value, or Cost
- Optimizing towards conversion volume, like CPA, Conversions, or Cost
Other metrics like clicks, CPC, or CvR, should be analyzed as secondary metrics. Google Ads Performance Max is not designed to optimize for them.
Remember the goal of your experiment
The goal of the experiment is to show you how many more conversions or how much higher of a conversion value the Performance Max campaign is driving for the account as a whole. So, your results will show you aggregated conversions, conversion value, CPA, ROAS, and spend for the groups.
Here are best practices for responding to experiment results:
| Experiment Results | Conclusions and recommendations |
|---|---|
| The trial arm drove more conversions or conversion value at the same or better CPA or ROAS compared to control arm. |
Running Google Ads Performance Max alongside comparable campaigns can bring you additional conversions at a comparable ROI. Recommendation: Launch the Google Ads Performance Max campaign and scale budgets to get more coverage and efficient conversions at that ROI. |
| The trial arm drove more conversions or conversion value at a CPA or ROAS worse than the control arm. | If the Google Ads Performance Max campaign had a target CPA or ROAS set, evaluate if they are comparable to targets for other performance campaigns.
|