How Performance Max will change the SEM landscape

In November 2021, Google Ads announced their new unrivalled campaign type, where Google’s machine learning and algorithms are set to fully automate all of the advertisers manual work – ad copy, bids and keywords.

‍

Performance Max is Google’s first all-in-one campaign type that allows performance advertisers to use all of the Google inventory in one single campaign. This is marking a big leap for businesses that want to make the most of the digital strategy on Google Ads for achieving lead-generating goals and KPIs.

‍

For advertisers, this campaign might be a scary notion where we will need to create new strategies that are giving us less control over how ads will be triggered in the Google inventory. However, Google has prepared us to push automation through their different ad products throughout the year:

February 2021 

Phrase Match keywords started to incorporate the behaviour of Broad Match Modifier keywords, in an effort to make it easier for Google’s machine learning to better discern the context of keywords in customer search queries.

August 2021

Google announced that the default ad type Expanded Text Ads will disappear in June 2022 and that Responsive Search Ads will be the only search ad type that can be edited and created.

Since 2018, RSAs have shown us that machine learning can improve campaign performance in terms of flexibility and conversions by adapting the ad copy to user search queries.

‍

The next big change that is coming to the Google Ads landscape is that Shopping campaigns and Local campaigns will disappear later this year and will be combined into the Performance Max campaign instead. The Performance Max campaign will deliver the same foundational features as Smart Shopping campaigns and Local campaigns, while adding new automation insights and accessing additional inventory and formats across Display, Discover, Search and YouTube.

‍

So, how do advertisers prepare for this change?

Starting in April, you will be able to upgrade your Smart Shopping campaigns by using Google’s new “one-click” tool. In June, the Local campaigns can be upgraded as well.

‍

This tool gives you control over when you want to fully automate your Google Ads campaigns to Performance Max before they will automatically be upgraded in July to September 2022. But why wait until then when we can create a Performance Max campaign today and benefit from the inventory and formats for Smart Shopping and Local campaigns? We should lean into the automations that Google is preparing us for when possible, to still maintain some level of control in our PPC strategies.

‍

At Nimble Digital, we continuously update our PPC strategies after the changes that are happening in the Google Ads landscape, where automation is key when it comes to setting up a strategy to help better optimise for high value leads.