The Google Ads Performance Max Transition Guide
Today you’re going to learn exactly:
- Why PMax campaigns shouldn’t be used
- The optimal campaign structure to implement instead
- The transition timeline and requirements for each stage
In fact:
In the past 6 months, we’ve transitioned 17 accounts away from PMax.
They’ve all seen significant:
- Growth
- Increased reach
- More profitable revenue
Making them A LOT more competitive.
So, if you want to:
- Make more money
- Accelerate your growth
- Get an edge on your competition
You’re going to love this.
The alternative?
Risk getting left behind.
Here’s a breakdown of what’s to come:
Why The PMax Campaign Shouldn’t Be Used
It increases wasted spend across:
- Low converting keywords
- Underperforming products
- Low converting placements
And restricts account performance.
Why?
Because:
- It has a broad targeting range
- Starts to cannibalise other campaigns
- Can neglect parts of your product range
- It targets all Google Ads campaigns in one
- It starts scaling into unprofitable placements
- It’s a black box with limited reporting and performance visibility
- There’s minimal segmentation between branded vs non-branded traffic
Leaving you with:
- Limited performance visibility
- Campaigns that overlap, increasing costs
- Neglected products with untapped potential
- Uncertainty to where you should increase spend
- An inability to prevent unprofitable placement targeting
- No understanding to truly know what’s moving the needle
- Restricted ability to segment budget between branded and non-branded users
In summary, you have minimal visibility and control.
And in the world of Google Ads optimisation:
Increased control and visibility = Increased performance.
The Performance Max Mosh Pit
We refer to this as the PMax mosh pit…
Which targets everything.
- And when performance starts to increase or decrease, no one knows why
- And when you want to optimise your campaigns, no one knows exactly how to
Sounds familiar?
eCommerce brands if your account is running…
Majority PMax campaigns you’re:
- Giving your competitors room to eat your lunch
- Restricting your product visibility
- Limiting your growth
It’s time to make the move.
Your ROAS/POAS will thank you.
Your alternative?
Get left behind and let your competitors take your sales.
Here’s one of the worst accounts I’ve seen.
It’s so bad, we’ve called it:
Performance Max campaign overload.
Here it is:
That’s right, 9 PMax campaigns and $2,035/day in spend across them.
A complete disaster.
The good news is, we doubt your account is as bad as this one was.
And we successfully turned it around.
Which takes us onto the second part of this guide…
The Optimal Campaign Structure To Implement Instead
With the PMax performance issues clearly identified…
We need a campaign structure that’ll not only address them:
But one which will also elevate your entire account’s performance.
This means, you’ll get:
- Increased campaign control
- Increased performance visibility
- New vs returning customer targeting
- Better budget allocation across campaigns
- Greater control on product/category targeting
Sounds like a dream right?
With that being said, here it is:
The Performance Max Segmentation Strategy
We essentially want to segment all Google Ads campaign types:
Whilst also considering your product/category performance.
The first step is campaign segmentation.
It’s critical, as it gives you the ability to target:
- Shopping
- Search
- Display
- Video
Individually.
Here’s a visual of how this looks:
Why is this approach ideal?
Because it appreciates the entire funnel.
This allows you to:
- Nurture potential customers
- Keeps them highly engaged
- Maximising conversions
In other words:
Activating both demand generation and capture…
Across Google’s best placements…
At the right time…
Boosts sales.
This is where the “elevation” within the strategy kicks in.
Here’s an overview of how these campaign should be used to target the entire funnel:
Campaign Selection and Building
Before you transition away from PMax, you’ll need to build your campaigns first.
Your campaign mix should includ:
- Non-branded standard Shopping campaigns
- Branded standard Shopping campaigns
- Non-branded Search campaigns
- Branded Search campaigns
- Dynamic Search Ads
- Remarketing
- Video
If you want a complete breakdown of these campaigns and an overview on the best way to build them, check out our guide:
The Transition Timeline & Requirements For Each Stage
When making the switch, here’s the performance considerations.
Performance:
- Decreases (weeks 1-2)
- Stabilises (weeks 2-3)
- Increases (weeks 3-4)
Here’s a visual of how this looks within an account across 3 weeks:
The best way to achieve this sequence is through performance based campaigns (detailed above).
Here’s the requirements of each step within the sequence:
- Step 1: Build Shopping campaigns and exclude PMax listing groups
- Step 2: Build Display/Remarketing campaigns and remove all but 2 PMax image assets
- Step 3: Build Search campaigns and pause all PMax campaigns
This gradual building, activation of new campaigns and pausing flow allows for a smooth transition into your new campaign architecture.
In terms of timeline, it should occur over a 3-4 week period.
- Step 1: Weeks 1-2
- Step 2: Weeks 2-3
- Step 3: Weeks 3-4
Our Recommendation
DTC brands, don’t sleep on this.
Make these changes now and get ahead of your competition who are still using PMax campaigns.
Transition Away From PMax Today
To get this right takes time and expertise.
If you want to:
- Prevent your competition from outpacing you
- Not leave money on the table
- Take immediate action
Reach out we’d be happy to help.