Google’s Performance Max Updates — What You Need to Know

Performance Max (Google’s AI-powered campaign type designed to automate optimization across all your advertising channels) has become a game-changer for many advertisers. Recent updates are likely to make this digital advertising tactic even more potent.  

In this blog post, we break down the key updates, explore optimization opportunities, and look to the future of Performance Max campaigns.

Table of Contents

Here’s what this Performance Max update is about:

• Performance Max (PMax)
• Common Challenges with PMax
• PMax Updates for Greater Advertiser Control

Here’s what we’re doing with Google’s PMax updates:

• Campaign-Level Control Enhancements
• Enhanced Reporting Features

Here’s what we see for the future of Google’s PMax updates:

• Increased Advertiser Control
• Improved Transparency
• Enhanced Efficiency

Key Takeaways on Google’s Performance Max Updates

Here’s what this Performance Max update is about:

Performance Max (PMax)

PMax aims to optimize ad performance across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover. This AI-powered campaign type claims to simplify cross-channel advertising by automating tasks that once were manual.

And it does make things easier. With PMax, Google’s AI suggests ad copy, keywords, and imagery based on your landing page. However, with greater AI involvement has come less visibility into and control of key targeting settings. Cue the excitement for Google’s newest PMax updates.

Common Challenges with PMax

Thus far PMax has been plagued by these downsides:

Demographic exclusions and bidding: Advertisers often couldn’t exclude specific age groups or other demographics, leading to wasted ad spend.

Keyword traffic transparency: Lack of clarity on which keywords were driving traffic and leads left advertisers guessing.

Negative targeting limitations: It has not been possible to exclude irrelevant or low-performing terms like “free” or “cheap.”

Google’s recent updates to PMax address these pain points. The result should be more control and better reporting tools in the hands of advertisers.

PMax Updates for Greater Advertiser Control

Advertisers will find themselves with a new and improved toolkit with the updates to PMax:

• Negative Keywords
  You can now input negative keywords with PMax campaigns; this allows you to cut spend on irrelevant queries and those that just don’t convert. 
• Improved Reporting
  New reports on the performance of specific assets (such as individual headlines, descriptions, and images), as well as on search themes, provides improved transparency.
• Expanded Exclusions & Customization
  Brand exclusions and URL-based targeting rules have become available, offering more flexibility to divert competitor traffic and drive people to specific groups of pages on your website.

Here’s what we’re doing with Google’s PMax updates:

Campaign-Level Control Enhancements

As a Premier Google Partner, we were able to whitelist clients into some of these features when they were in beta.  Now we’re putting the newly rolled-out capabilities of PMax to the test for our clients more broadly. 

Negative Keywords
We’re negating keywords so that ads don’t show with irrelevant terms. Specifically, we are testing the effect of negating competitor terms for clients who do not see a benefit from running on such terms. We’re also negating a client’s brand altogether from other campaigns when a branded campaign is already in place. 

It’s also a quick win to negate searches that signal little intent to actually make a purchase, like “how to” and “cheap.” This will help with our bottom-of-funnel campaign goals.

New Customer Acquisition Goals with “High-value Mode”
We’re digging into the new “high-value mode” setting, a conversion goal option that has just become available with these PMax updates. This promises to prioritize reaching users with a higher likelihood of converting, maximizing that return on ad spend (ROAS).

Brand Exclusions for Search and Shopping Ads
The ability to exclude brand terms at the campaign level for specific ad formats is a welcome addition. 

We’re testing this feature with an exterior design client to be sure their ads appear for generic searches related to their services, but not necessarily their brand name. (There’s a dedicated campaign for capturing branded traffic. Plus their SEO brings in the vast majority of their branded traffic organically to the site.)  

URL-based Rules for Better Targeting
This change to PMax essentially allows us to run dynamic search campaigns within PMax.

This tactic allows advertisers to send people to the most relevant pages on their site, while also taking advantage of Google’s AI to present users with headlines and descriptions tailored to their query right in the moment of searching.  

Upcoming Beta Features
As mentioned above, Google regularly tests new features in Google Ads, some of which eventually make it to the broader advertising public. As a Premier Partner agency of Google, we get access to these beta opportunities first. That means our clients get early access to try out the latest ad tactics from Google before their competitors.

Demographic and device targeting may be coming down the pike as beta features in PMax.

Enhanced Reporting Features

Google’s PMax updates include new reporting features. We’re jumping on these to surface insights for further optimization of campaigns. 

Search Themes
Google is beginning to paint a picture of how any search themes added to a PMax campaign are impacting performance. Previously, search themes were a black box. (Like much about PMax.)

This reporting moves toward giving advertisers the kind of control in PMax campaigns that was previously only available in Search campaigns. Being able to adjust PMax search themes is a bit like being handed a scalpel when you were working with a sledgehammer before. 

Usefulness Indicator
A new feature popping up in PMax is a measure of how useful search themes have been in driving traffic themselves, beyond the influence of the text or URL associated with a PMax campaign.

The usefulness indicator is one more lever advertisers now have to pull in PMax. This greater control means better campaign refinement.  

Granular Asset Group Metrics
Metrics by device, time of day, and conversion action are starting to appear in PMax asset groups.

We’re using this data to craft campaigns that reach people how and when they are most engaged. The more precise the PMax reporting, the more efficient we can be with ad spend for our clients. 

Here’s what we see for the future of Google’s PMax updates:

Increased Advertiser Control

We expect to see a significant increase in advertiser control and flexibility. The new PMax tools and report will empower us to fine-tune campaigns with greater precision, ensuring ads reach an engaged audience and achieve business-relevant results.

Improved Transparency

The enhanced reporting features will make PMax campaigns less of a black box and more like the transparent Search campaigns that advertisers have employed to great advantage for years. A clearer understanding of what’s driving results will empower data-driven decisions. 

Enhanced Efficiency

PMax updates that meld AI insights with human input should allow for faster, more effective account optimization. This will likely free up account managers to focus on higher-level strategy planning, rather than being continually pulled into the weeds of campaign maintenance. 

Key Takeaways on Google’s Performance Max Updates

• Google’s updates introduce negative keywords, enhanced reporting, and expanded exclusions into PMax campaigns.
• The new “high-value mode” setting prioritizes high-converting users, thereby boosting ROAS.
• Updates to URL-based targeting and search theme reporting bring the kind of customization and visibility to PMax that were once only available in Search campaigns. 
• Granular asset group metrics — including device and time-of-day insights — provider advertisers with new ways to refine campaigns for maximum engagement and efficiency.
• Further evolutions of Performance Max campaigns are likely as Google responds to advertiser demand for greater control and transparency.