Google Ads has apologized for causing confusion with a recent account update.

Advertisers were caught off guard when the platform started automatically migrating configurations from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.

While these changes had been planned following the sunset of UA and notifications were issued, some were taken by surprise as the turndown of UA has taken considerably longer than many expected.

Why we care. Advertisers have been experiencing issues with their accounts following the automatic updates, which may impact their ability to create reports and monitor campaign performance. Those encountering problems have been advised to contact Support or the Google Ads Product Liaison officer on X (formerly known as Twitter).

What is happening? Google is automatically migrating configurations – such as “goals”, “audiences”, etc – from your UA property that have not been marked as complete to your GA4 property. This also includes conversion swapping and audience pairing in linked Google Ads accounts for opted-in properties.

Who is impacted? The update will impact anyone who has not opted out of automatically created GA4 properties.

What if you didn’t opt out in time? If you didn’t opt out in time and don’t want your automatically configured GA4 property, then simply follow these steps:

1. Click on ‘Admin’ in your account.
2. Select your Universal Analytics property.
3. In the “Property” column, click GA4 Setup Assistant.
4. Click on “Disconnect” next to your “Connected property”.
5. Go to your GA4 property and delete it.

You can check for any changes made to your GA4 property by going to the “Change History” section. Automatic migration changes will be marked as “System (Migration)” in the “Changed by” column.

Next steps. GA4 properties made automatically only have basic features. To make the most of your new property, you might need to add extra features that suit your business and measurement requirements.

You can also check and adjust key metrics in your UA property to match those in your new GA4 property as closely as possible.

If you’re an advertiser, you can compare data from UA and Google GA4 in Google Ads in a similar way.

What has Google said? Google Ads Product Liason Ginny Marvin said:

• “Some advertisers have noticed our system making changes to GA4 conv actions in their Google Ads accounts. This is the conversion swapping piece of the Setup Assistant migration process with the turndown of Universal Analytics.”
• “Ahead of the migration, advertisers that had UA properties linked with their Google Ads accounts were notified of this & the option to opt out of the Setup Assistant configuring certain corresponding conversions and/or audiences in GA4 & applying them in Ads accounts.”
• “With the turndown process taking some time, we understand that some advertisers may be caught off guard with these changes being made now and apologize for the confusion. The updates are aimed at mapping UA conv to GA4 conv settings for bidding & avoid duplicate measurement.”

Deep dive. Read Google’s ‘Automatically Created Google Analytics 4 Properties‘ update in full for more information.

Google Ads has launched a new feature to assist advertisers in optimizing their YouTube campaigns

Known as Creative Guidance, this innovative tool is now available through Recommendations and has been integrated into Video Analytics within Google Ads.

Creative Guidance leverages AI to evaluate your content and offer best-practice feedback. For example, if critical information is missing from your video ad, Creative Guidance will notify you, ensuring that your campaigns are as effective as possible.

Why we care. Creative Guidance offers rapid feedback and actionable steps for enhancing video ad performance, ensuring ideal setup and quick optimization to maximize your video ad’s performance.

Creative attributes. Creative guidance can detect if your video ad is missing the following key creative attributes:

• Brand logo: Shows a prominent brand logo in the first 5 seconds.
• Video duration: Follows the recommended video length based on your marketing objective.
• Voice-over: Uses a high-quality, human voice-over.
• Aspect ratio: Ad group includes all 3 video orientations, at least (1) horizontal 16:9, (1) vertical 9:16, and (1) square 1:1.

Depending on what’s missing in your video ads, you’ll get suggestions for high-impact improvements as well as links to handy tools that could boost the performance of your campaign.

Google has confirmed that it will be introducing more attributes in the not-too-distant future.

How it works. To access Creative guidance in Google Ads, follow these instructions:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Assets drop down in the section menu.
3. Click “Videos”.
4. Click the “Analytics” tab next to “Videos”.
5. Select your video ad in the drop down menu.
6. In the “Ideas to try” section below the retention curves, you’ll find the creative attributes you’re missing with recommendations on how to take action.

The steps listed above are part of a new Google Ads user experience that is set to launch for all advertisers in 2024.

What has Google said? A spokesperson for Google Ads said in a statement:

• “We’ll let you know if your video is missing a best practice. If we have a recommendation or tool to implement a suggestion such as adding a voiceover, we’ll direct you to it.”
• “Voiceover has a big impact on YouTube. Thanks to the power of AI, quality voiceovers in 15 languages are accessible directly in Google Ads (both in the asset library and built into the video creation tool) and coming soon to Ads Creative Studio.
• “Similarly, if your campaign would benefit from videos in different durations, we’ll guide you to Trim video. Or, if you’re missing a horizontal, square or vertical video, you can easily create one using a variety of high-quality templates.”
• “These features empower marketers to take charge of their creative. AI can help turbocharge performance by tuning creative elements across all the different viewing experiences and content that YouTube viewers love.”

Deep dive: Read Google’s Creative guidance in Google Ads update in full for more information.

Peak seasonality is here. It’s the time of year when demand – and paid search – accelerates for goods or services that brands provide.

When this happens, queries, traffic, sales and (fingers crossed) your conversions increase noticeably compared to the rest of the year.

This almost definitely will lead to more optimizations, reporting, forecasting, analyzing and the dreaded influx of meetings (many of which could honestly be emails). 

Actual peak season for brands varies by vertical. Some of the big ones:

• Apparel/School Supplies for Back to School: August-September
• Ecommerce/Retail/Gifts: Q4 November-December
• Health Insurance/Medicare: Mid-October to early December
• Hospital Networks/Doctors/Pharmaceutical: Mid-December to mid-February
• Retail Banking (Credit Card/Savings Accounts/Checking Accounts): January until mid-February

Peak seasonality shouldn’t be a surprise. It literally comes every year.

If seasonality catches you by surprise, and it isn’t due to macro-based factors, then you probably aren’t doing your job correctly.

Anything that is predictable can be properly prepared for.

Identifying your peak season

This part is fairly straightforward: determine when your peak seasonality is.

You can take many different routes to get there. Which one is right for you depends on the maturity of the brand in the space (i.e. startup vs. long-lasting name in the space).

Startups and their newly-hired staff may need to research their peak seasons. You need to understand when demand for relevant queries spikes (e.g., by reading digital marketing studies and reports or using search forecasting tools like SimilarWeb, Semrush or SpyFu).

Established brands have two advantages over a startup:

• You already have been through peak seasons and know when they happen, based on experience,
• You have historical data that you can look back on to recognize future patterns. (One important caveat this year: you had GA4 properly set up a year ago.)

Understanding peak seasonality impact

Knowing when your peak season is only half of the important information.

The other half? Knowing how peak season will impact your business. This is also trickier.

Please don’t just go with your gut feeling. Your gut is not trustworthy.

If you’re a startup and/or new in the space, and you know the season dates, the best thing to do is use data from your tools to learn the average estimated traffic growth between high season and the rest of the year. Then repeat it for YoY growth during the peak season, for as many years as possible. This will allow you to set anticipated expectations early.

If you’re operating a “mature” brand in the space, then once again, this will be much easier for you. Merely pull in your historical data from years past, to see the impact on traffic and CPC’s.

If you notice that during your peak period, traffic increases 25% and CPC increases 50%, and you plan on keeping the same strategy, then expect to pay at least 75% more during that time period. But more realistically, it’ll be more like 80-83%, as you are forced to calculate in annual growth of CPC’s (because one thing that never happens is search traffic getting cheaper).

One important note: If your business or vertical was positively or negatively impacted by COVID, and it is now back to “normal,” you may want to throw out 2020 and 2021 data (or take it with a huge grain of salt), because it could skew data.

For example, one of my clients (a DTC seller of smoked meat and bacon) saw a 65% jump in traffic in 2020 vs. 2019, where 2019 vs. 2018 saw just an 8% uptick in traffic. The traffic went back down in 2022 to levels more on part with 8% growth.

Peak seasonality planning

Planning comes down to three components: financial, management and delivery.

Whether your brand is a startup or mature – and the number or length of your peak seasons – will impact your plans.

Financial component:

• What I like to do is lay out by budget evenly through the year to start, and back into estimated clicks based on anticipated CPC (don’t forget to factor in the typical annual growth in CPC’s when doing this step first).
• Then identify your peak season (say it is 6 weeks of the year for sake of argument), and note the anticipated growth in traffic and CPC during that time, versus the rest of the year (so going back to earlier notes, let’s say traffic increases 25% and CPC 50% during those 6 weeks). So I would increase investment by 75% during those 6 weeks (remember, this is after you already accounted for the annual CPC increase).
• Alternatively, if you don’t have a growing budget like that (not a lot of operations do), then I lay out the budget evenly during the year, and then I reduce investment at the lowest time of the year, and reallocate to peak periods, to find a happy medium.

Management component:

• More money means more problems (actually/hopefully it means just more work). Plan out your day parting, bid strategy, and creative assets for peak season.
• If you know those 6 weeks are your bread and butter, and you have the ability to, have a custom ad for the peak period, use enticing creative, and make sure you’re driving to the optimal landing page during then. Moreso, plan on watching this like a hawk.

Delivery component:

• This is primarily relevant if you have hard goods, or you’re using personnel to provide a service. If your operation cannot keep up with demand (very common for retailers in Q4), then you’ll have to make decisions. These include:
  • Offer discounts for delayed delivery of good or service.
  • Let orders back up until you can get to them (this can often lead to a bad user experience).
  • Maybe just pull back on investment until you’re no longer drowning.

Beware of outlier scenarios

There’s always an unexpected or inconsistent outliers. Typically, search is impacted less than say Facebook or YouTube by things like mass catastrophes, domestic violence and national elections.

If you run in or adjacent to a hot-button category, you could trigger an unexpected outlier of peak season. Think: dehumidifiers during hurricane season, pharmaceuticals and Medicare during elections, or interest rate hikes at what seems like any given moment.

If possible, have some an emergency slush fund and response strategy for these.

Takeaway

Although peak seasonality can (and probably will) be exhausting and taxing, planning for it will definitely take the edge off.

But predicting and planning for the impending impact of peak seasonality allows you a greater runway of time to prepare. Thus making your paid search performance as optimal as it can get.

Amazon is rolling out enhanced AI capabilities to help advertisers create better product listings.

The new technology simplifies how sellers create product descriptions, titles, and listing details by automatically generating content based on brief product descriptions.

Previously, sellers were required to enter many pieces of information to create product listings, however, the process has now been streamlined into just one step.

Why we care. Creating product titles, bullet points and descriptions has historically been a time-consuming task for sellers that demanded substantial effort. AI adoption could help alleviate this workload, simplifying and speeding up the process of listing new products, while also potentially improving product listing content.

How it works. To get started, you need to provide a brief description of your product in a few words or sentences. Amazon will then create content for you – which you can then review.

If you wish, you can make further adjustments to the generated content, or you can submit it directly to the Amazon catalog as it is.

Reviews. Early feedback collected over the last few months shows that most sellers are using the content generated by the AI model for their listings without editing it at all.

What has Amazon said? Robert Tekiela, vice president of Amazon Selection and Catalog Systems, said in a statement:

• “With our new generative AI models, we can infer, improve, and enrich product knowledge at an unprecedented scale and with dramatic improvement in quality, performance, and efficiency.”
• “Our models learn to infer product information through the diverse sources of information, latent knowledge, and logical reasoning that they learn. For example, they can infer a table is round if specifications list a diameter or infer the collar style of a shirt from its image.”

Deep dive. Read Amazon’s announcement in full for more information.

With the increase in smart bidding, broad match and Performance Max we can see Google Ads moving toward audience signals and first-party data audiences.

First-party data is essential to improve audience targeting and provide Google with audience signals.

What is first-party data?

First-party data is information you collect through your website, or digital marketing and social strategies. This could be anything from email subscriptions to historical customers.

There are ways CRM data can be fed into Google Analytics before feeding this data back into Google Ads, or it can be directly sent to Google Ads.

The first is setting up enhanced conversions on existing conversion actions.

What are enhanced conversions in Google Ads?

Enhanced conversions add more data to your conversion actions and improve bidding. It works by sending hashed first-party conversion data from your website to Google.

To help demonstrate the process of enhanced conversions, let’s use an example:

A visitor is researching roofing companies using their work laptop and clicks on an ad but doesn’t purchase.

• The visitor then leaves work and uses their phone, which is connected to a personal email address; they then revisit the website and book a roofing estimate. The visitor puts information (e.g., their name, address, phone number) into the form. The personal data collected is first-party data and shared with Google.
• The visitor was on their business email while researching roofers, however, they also use their cell phone to authenticate their email. The authenticator on their phone helps Google match the phone number associated with the purchase with the email they use at work!
• Enhanced conversions then files a single user for this visitor using this first-party data.

Without this enhanced conversion setup through Google this data would not have been available or matched up, and Google would not know to target visitors who are similar to this person.

There are many benefits to enhanced conversions. If you have ever struggled with inaccurate revenue amounts or mismatched data between analytics and Google Ads, then you know the importance of this data’s accuracy. With the rise of user privacy, enhanced conversions are setting advertisers up for success in the future.

How to set up enhanced conversions

In your Google Ads account, go to Tools & Settings > Conversions.

Locate your primary conversion action and click on it.

At the bottom, you will see Enhanced Conversions. Click on it and check Turn on Enhanced Conversions. Click on Global Site Tag or Google Tag Manager.

Set up with code

If you choose to not use Google Tag Manager, no code is required as long as there’s first-party customer data on the conversion page! Your thank you page must have this information for Google to crawl. 

You can find full instructions for implementing enhanced conversions using CSS selectors can be found here.

Setup offline conversion tracking

Another way to increase first party data and accurate information being sent to Google Ads is by linking your CRM.

Google Ads provides you with a unique ID, called Google Click ID (GCLID), for every click that comes to your website from an ad. To track offline conversions from clicks, you’ll save that ID in your CRM along with the conversion and revenue information for that customer.

You can set up this data to be automatically uploaded from your CRM or you can manually upload them. You can use Google Ads automated bid strategies to optimize for offline conversions. If you do, it’s a good idea to import offline conversion data frequently, daily if possible.

Set target ROAS and target bids

Once you have this data flowing into your account, you will want to move to a smart bidding strategy to help Google’s algorithm learn who is your primary target audience. 

Google offers Smart Bidding strategies like:

• Max Conversions Target CPA
• Max Conversion Value Target ROAS

You will want to use the data that you collect from your CRM to set target ROAS on your campaigns with revenue. For those without, you can set static values to your conversions if you want to use Target ROAS bid strategies.

If you are able to use Offline Conversions, Google will have much more information to work with, and your adjustments to your Target ROAS will be more effective.

Feed the Google machine

If you can set up Offline Conversion Tracking, you should see a huge improvement in campaign performance.

If this is not an option, using enhanced conversions will still provide you with much more data for Google to use in machine learning.

As Google continues to move more into machine learning, providing your account with sufficient data will be necessary to remain competitive!

Are you looking to engage your audience with a personalized experience throughout their meandering journey – from awareness to conversion and Organic Search through Paid Social?

Then Facebook Dynamic Ads could be your marketing funnel’s secret weapon. 

Regardless of whether you’re B2C or B2B, Facebook’s Dynamic Ads are a smart, cost-effective way to expand your reach.

Here are four reasons why you should consider trying Facebook Dynamic Ads.

1. AI does the hard work

AI may be the big buzzword these days, but seasoned marketers know that paid advertising platforms like Meta have been using AI algorithms for all sorts of things, including Facebook’s Dynamic Ads.

Originally released in 2015, Facebook’s Dynamic Ads were touted as a format to help advertisers “capture the intent signals that customers show on websites and apps to ensure the right products are connected to the right people.”

Put simply, Meta uses AI to analyze user behavior and show users applicable content. 

Where Dynamic Ads shine is the AI’s ability to decipher user behavior and preferences with precision.

Dynamic Ads tap into Meta’s treasure trove of user data, allowing the ads to adapt seamlessly to each user and their unique surroundings. 

Unlike traditional ad campaigns that require painstaking A/B testing, Dynamic Ads ads eliminate the need for lengthy guesswork. AI does the heavy lifting by continuously analyzing user engagement data and fine-tuning the ad content in real time.

No more creating separate tests. No more manual adjustments. It’s all taken care of behind the scenes.

2. Efficiency

Personalization and performance are intertwined – personalized ads can increase user engagement and significantly enhance ad performance.

So if you aren’t leveraging Dynamic Ads in your Facebook strategy, you’re missing out on that increased user engagement, ad performance and an overall cost-saving tool. 

Finding the winning combination in traditional ad campaigns often requires hefty budgets for A/B testing and manual adjustments after lengthy learning periods.

Dynamic Ads, however, continuously optimize ad content based on user behavior, eliminating the need for costly trial and error. This translates into better engagement, higher conversion rate, and reduced cost per lead, making every advertising dollar work more efficiently.

3. Low maintenance

In the beginning, crafting Dynamic Ads can be more time-consuming.

You’re selecting individual pieces for the groundwork for your personalized ad journeys. And these pieces all need to play nicely together because they’ll be tossed into a blender and presented in all manner of combinations.

However, the beauty of the approach lies in what follows: once the setup is in place, you get to sit back and watch Facebook take the reins.

Instead of constantly fiddling with ad parameters (which Facebook discourages you from doing anyway), you can entrust the heavy lifting to Meta’s algorithms. Meta uses user behavior, engagement data, and countless other factors to automatically fine-tune your campaigns.

This means your ads become more effective over time without you needing to lift a finger (and to really extend their expiration date without increasing their frequency, use videos!).

In essence, Dynamic Ads allow you to manage your time better, by being high-maintenance upfront with minimal ongoing effort.

It’s the best of both worlds – a personalized, powerful ad experience for users without constant tinkering for marketers.

4. Assets are everything

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then an ad asset is easily worth $1,000.

Dynamic ads rely so heavily on visual appeal to capture your audience’s attention, that failing to have high-quality creative that resonates with users can make or break your campaign performance.

To ensure your assets have the best shot at performing well, consider three things:

No maximum resolution

Facebook recommends a resolution of at least 1080×1080 pixels.

However, Facebook also notes that there is no maximum resolution.

That means go as high as you can.

Aspect ratios are key

While you can get away with using single images in various sizes for some campaigns, there are many instances where having the correct image ratios is absolutely key to performance.

Your ad could look downright out of place:

To ensure maximum coverage across these platforms and the best bang for your buck, you need the trifecta: assets in the right ratios for stories, feed and Instagram Reels. 

Different mediums demand different assets

“Great message, wrong medium,” is a tale as old as time.

If your asset doesn’t take into account the difference between Instagram and Facebook, your campaign will not be as effective as it could be.

Take Instagram Reels, for example. The vertical format demands a way to showcase your product or service in a way that feels native to the platform.

Here’s an Instagram Reel ad that used live-action, high-quality video:

Feed images, on the other hand, need to pop out amidst a sea of content.

The same advertiser also opted to use a colorful graphic, to help it stand out from the photos users share on Facebook:

Personalization and performance are inextricably linked

If you’re looking to increase your Facebook reach you should consider testing Dynamic Ads. You can leverage user data to produce personalized ads that perform – without huge investments of time or money.

In an era dominated by digital interactions and virtual marketplaces, we cannot overstate the significance of brand protection in search marketing. As businesses strive to establish and maintain a distinctive identity in the vast online realm, they face the ever-present challenge of safeguarding their brand from trademark infringements, ad hijackers and other potential brand threats. The convergence of search marketing and brand protection has emerged as a strategic imperative, ensuring not only the integrity of a brand but also its sustained growth and reputation.

The nexus of brand and search marketing

Search marketing, encompassing search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, serves as a digital storefront for businesses, enabling them to connect with their target audience directly at the point of interest. However, this potent tool is also susceptible to misuse by malicious actors seeking to exploit established brands for personal gain. This is where the concept of brand protection becomes paramount.

1. Preserving authenticity: Counteracting impersonation

In the digital landscape, impersonation poses a substantial threat to brands. Unauthorized third parties, including competitors and affiliates, may create websites or ads that closely mimic the appearance and messaging of genuine brands, leading unsuspecting consumers astray – and reaping commissions they aren’t entitled to.

By implementing vigilant monitoring and taking swift action against such impersonators, businesses can prevent reputational damage and ensure their customers are not misled.

Search marketing offers opportunities for proactive brand protection by allowing businesses to bid on their own branded keywords. This ensures that when users search for the brand’s name, they are directed to the official website, thereby mitigating the chances of falling victim to counterfeit websites or unauthorized resellers.

2. Defending against ad-hijacking

Counterfeit products erode a brand’s market share and compromise its reputation for quality and authenticity. In search marketing, counterfeiters may bid on keywords related to genuine products, diverting potential customers towards fake alternatives. 

Deploying robust brand protection measures involves consistent monitoring of search results and active collaboration with brand protection platforms such as Adthena Ad-Hijacking. By indexing and reporting the hundreds of affiliate networks, advertisers can detect thousands of instances of affiliate ad hijacks. They will provide evidence of the fraud, including the ad screenshot and affiliate ID.

Adthena recently helped one global hotel brand identify 50 reservations during the last two months. They suspended the publisher for seven days and bookings generated during the period have been canceled for commissioning. 

The possible budget wastage is substantial. As a benchmark, if 10 publishers are spotted, fraudulent activities can cost close to $10K.

3. Kick out the trademark infringers

Trademark infringement in search refers to the unauthorized use of a registered trademark or brand name in online search advertising, particularly in paid search campaigns. It occurs when a third party uses a registered trademark as a keyword to trigger the display of their own advertisements in search engine results or uses the trademark in the ad copy itself without the permission of the trademark owner. 

This practice can lead to confusion among consumers and may divert traffic or customers away from the legitimate trademark owner.

There are two main types of trademark infringement in search:

Keyword trademark infringement: This occurs when a competitor or third party bids on a registered trademark or brand name as a keyword in their paid search campaigns. When users search for that trademark, the infringing ad may appear alongside or above the legitimate search results, potentially leading users to click on an ad not associated with the actual trademark owner.

Ad copy trademark infringement: In this case, a competitor or third party uses the registered trademark in the text of their paid search ad, creating the impression that their products or services are affiliated with or endorsed by the legitimate trademark owner, even when they are not.

It is important for trademark owners to actively monitor their brand’s use in online advertising and report any instances of infringement.

When global software provider Sage added new partners and affiliates, they soon realized they needed to keep close tabs on their partner network and competition.

Brand bidding was a real problem, not just by competitors. Affiliates and partners also used  Sage’s branded terms and trademarks in their ad copy, inflating CPCs and stealing impressions that belonged to Sage. Even with agreements to prevent brand bidding by partners and independent software vendors (ISVs), violators were a problem.

Adthena’s Infringement Tracker was put to work, identifying 89K infringements by a single partner alone over 12 months. Five days after enforcing agreements based on Adthena’s monitoring, Sage saw a 75% decrease in CPCs for brand terms and a 33% decrease in partner impression share.

4. Get granular

If there is a market shift, you need to know so that you can take action and protect your position. Whether competitors are changing tactics, entering or leaving your market, or attacking or piggybacking on your brand, adapting your strategy quickly keeps you one step ahead of your competitors.

On a path to growth, Australian retailer Koala Mattresses operated in competitive blindness, unable to understand how competitors’ strategies compromised their search performance and impacted their campaigns. 

Adthena’s Smart Monitor helped them counter performance threats, especially during critical sales periods and new product launches, by immediately defending its position when competitors close in on its market share or target its customers. Koala has been able to reduce overall CPA by almost 45% and improve share of impressions on core product terms by 10%.

Forging success: The cornerstone alliance of brand protection and online visibility

In the ever-evolving digital commerce landscape, brand protection in search marketing is an indomitable force that safeguards a brand’s essence and growth potential. 

By nurturing authenticity, countering impersonation, combatting counterfeits, and leveraging legal and technological tools, businesses can cultivate an environment where their brand thrives, free from the shackles of misrepresentation and exploitation. 

As search marketing continues to shape the digital narrative, the alliance between brand protection and online visibility becomes a cornerstone of success in the modern business landscape.

It’s time to put an end to unprotected paid search

As we explored, when your brand is unprotected in paid search, it’s left wide open to competitors stealing valuable clicks or affiliates hijacking your ads and compromising brand integrity.
Take a three-minute tour of Adthena’s Brand Protection solution and see how you could safeguard your brand. Or for further reading, our Brand Crashers guide reveals five steps to optimize your brand in search.

The multibillion-dollar question right now is whether the Search Generative Experience (SGE) will blow up Google’s Search business model. Based on early testing, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is “confident” that won’t happen.

“It’s important to us to connect users with what’s out on the web, and we are working deeply to make sure that continues to work well,” Pichai told Steven Levy in a Q&A published on Wired.

Why we care. Google may be confident that the SGE experiment will continue to send people to websites, but we’re still finding it hard to trust Google at this point. They won’t reveal any real data to us about whether AI answers are driving clicks to websites, click-through rate data, or advertising performance data on what we are calling CHERPs, or Chat Engine Results Pages. And we have no way to track this in Google Search Console, Google Ads or Google Analytics.

Ads vs. organic. Levy pointed out to Pichai that the AI-generated answers are different from a list of links, which could further add confusion about whether an SGE answer is sponsored or organic.

• “Even in a generative experience we would give you a set of sites that support what we are saying. We want to make sure users are consuming those sites. So I don’t think the core part of the experience will change. We will have a space for ads in a way that makes sense for users and particularly on commercial queries,” Pichai said.

Helping people find information. Pichai pointed out that even though the way Google presents information has evolved greatly in 25 years – but ultimately people are searching for information.

• “We are still trying to help people find the best information that exists online. Inherently, people are also looking for commercial information, and ads are very valuable commercial information, because they connect merchants and businesses, small and big, to users. None of that changes just because we are applying AI deeply. When we evolve search with generative AI, we’ll apply the same principles,” Pichai said.

Like desktop to mobile? Pichai pointed out that people asked similar questions as Google shifted its focus from desktop to making everything mobile-first.

• “Our early testing shows that we’ll be able to get it right. It’s core to the company to evolve search while applying the underlying principles. I am confident we’ll be able to get that right through this transition,” Pichai said.

The search community was also extremely worried about Google’s featured snippets stealing traffic. When Bard launched in February, there were no links. And SGE only finally added links to websites Aug. 30 after months of pressure by search marketers and publishers.

Bing burn. Did the new Bing, powered by ChatGPT, make Google “dance.” Pichai essentially dissed their efforts, comparing it to Alexa and Siri. Pichai also claimed:

• “Around the end of last year, my thoughts were, how can we bring generative AI to search in a way that makes sense for our users? That’s what I’m thinking about, and that’s what will matter in the long run.”

Could that time in late 2022 coincide with OpenAI launching ChatGPT in late November? Generative AI exploded on the scene and supposedly triggered a code red within Google, leading to the return of Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Pichai was also asked about the antitrust trial, but had little to say beyond throwing around the word “innovation.”

You can read the full interview here: Sundar Pichai on Google’s AI, Microsoft’s AI, OpenAI, and … Did We Mention AI?

Even the most traditional PPC manager can’t deny it anymore: Performance Max can do amazing things. Of course, that requires you to approach it with a different mindset than Search and Shopping.

Let me give you an example.

Years ago, when working with retailers selling products from many different brands, you typically make a separate Shopping campaign for each brand. Try that with Performance Max, and you’ll force it into doing something it’s not built for. And performance certainly won’t be at max.

Consolidation is the name of the game with Performance Max. Performance will take off if you lean in on its machine learning and smart algorithms. But carry forward your habits from the more granular campaign types, and Performance Max’s algorithmic nature will punish you.

Here’s everything you need to know about Google’s Performance Max campaign so that you can keep those needles moving in the right direction.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max in Google Ads is the culmination of everything that makes the world’s largest search engine special. Years of collecting data on people’s browsing and purchasing behavior has allowed Google to create a campaign that’s tailored to individual searches.

Rather than placing ads in specific inventory types – like search results or product listings – Performance Max allows advertisers to upload all types of assets and access all of Google’s ad placements from one campaign. That includes:

• Text.
• Videos.
• Feeds.
• Images.

After being released to limited accounts during its alpha (2020) and beta (2021) stages, Performance Max rolled out to the wider Google Ads community in 2022 ahead of the peak shopping season.

Since then, Google has continued to support Performance Max by releasing new features, including brand exclusions and asset group-level reporting.

What makes Performance Max powerful?

Google intended Performance Max to be an all-in-one campaign type capable of serving the needs of most advertisers. Here are some of the defining features that make that possible.

Targeting capabilities

Keywords, audiences, and product feeds remain the backbone of campaign targeting. This is no different when it comes to Performance Max, but it’s how those three elements behave and work together that sets this campaign apart.

While it will quickly bypass any initial settings you give it in pursuit of the best conversions, Performance Max starts on better footing when you apply these from day one.

Audience signals

Use these to tell Performance Max what kind of users you want to show your ads to – but remember, it won’t be those exact people. 

For example, uploading your customer list as an audience signal doesn’t mean your ad will show to them (or even to others like them) but as a jumping-off point for its own targeting.

Keywords

Performance Max will quickly begin targeting broad queries not directly related to your initial targeting intent (based on custom intent audiences, product data feed, and website URL). 

While the absence of negative keywords can be frustrating, it’s likely you’ll still capture opportunities you didn’t consider. Performance Max can also analyze custom intent audiences you build from keywords.

Product feed

As always, a strong data feed is critical to success with Shopping campaigns. 

Without an optimized product feed, Google won’t know which queries to show your products for. 

Throw in a robust feed, and you will capture opportunities you didn’t even consider because of how Performance Max branches off from your initial path.

Bid management

Performance Max uses Smart Bidding to set cost-per-click (CPC) bids, which effectively means that advertisers have two options when it comes to bid strategies:

• Maximize Conversions with an optional CPA target.
• Maximize Conversion Value with an optional ROAS target.

For this to work optimally, your account needs a sizable amount of historical data that Google can use to determine what’s worked best in the past.

I typically recommend that newer accounts begin with Search or Standard Shopping to gather data, only switching over to Performance Max after maxing out impression share and building a steady stream of conversions.

Complex auctions and intent matching

Google has a massive store of data on how people behave online.

Smart Bidding analyzes over 70 million signals in near real-time (actually a tenth of a second), but we never get to see what those data points are. A certain amount of trust in the system is required for this to work, but do that, and you’ll get the results you want.

Consider 100 people searching for the same exact query. Not only will each person be in a different part of the buying journey, but their unique histories will influence factors like how quickly they might convert. The system will try to find those people most likely to convert during that search.

For ecommerce, fill those data feeds out with the right information – keywords in titles and descriptions, product categorization, and so on. This will allow you to appear in as many searches as possible, irrespective of whether somebody is “window shopping” or ready to buy.

New customer acquisition and brand exclusions

Performance Max has long since allowed advertisers to target net new revenue by bidding higher for new acquisitions, and it recently began rolling out brand exclusions to better control when your ads show for branded queries.

These features may not be as important for smaller advertisers, but larger brands looking to scale can now tell the system to focus on more valuable opportunities. When used together, these features can significantly alter the speed and profitability of a scaling process.

Thanks to asset group-level reporting rolling out to many accounts, we can use these for segmentation more effectively. When we see that certain product segments – brand, category, individual products – are not getting traction or not performing as well, we exclude them and:

• Put them in a new Performance Max campaign to force it to spend.
• Or go back to Standard Shopping.

Think of it as pruning your campaigns for what’s not getting traffic or converting well.

Dig deeper: How to think about brand exclusions for Performance Max

Dynamic Search

Google recently announced the ability to upgrade Dynamic Search campaigns into Performance Max. Remember, the capability has always existed, but you now have a one-click option.

But with Dynamic Search likely to be next on the chopping block and deprecated in the near future – remember, Local and Smart Shopping campaigns already rolled into Performance Max – now is the right time to start testing it through Performance Max.

What sets Performance Max apart from other Google Ads campaigns?

Let’s look at a few characteristics that set Performance Max apart from its more placement-specific counterparts.

Inventory and ad spend

Bidding and budgeting can only be done at a campaign level, which is familiar enough.

Where it gets tricky is that Performance Max doesn’t show you exactly where it spent your money and this ties in closely with reporting capabilities.

But while you’re buying traffic on inventories that may not typically have the quality of Search and Shopping, Performance Max is still only targeting people likely to convert. Additionally, some industries have a very high cost per click, and Performance Max can really decrease overall costs by looking outside that bubble.

Another thing to remember is that Performance Max is front-loaded in terms of expenses. Be sure to factor in the cost of data gathering during the learning period of a new campaign.

If you have a new account, this will take longer than the usual three to six weeks. 

But as you build historical data and get better results, subsequent campaigns should exit the learning period faster and bring costs down, allowing you to free up your budget to bid more aggressively or capture more conversions.

Reporting

Reports in Performance Max can be seen at the campaign and asset group levels, and you can find those right in the Reporting tab inside Google Ads.

But I’ve spoken to several people who don’t ever navigate to where you can build custom reports based on landing page, placements, location, time of day, or products in your data feed. You can also analyze what proportion of your ad spend is data-feed-driven and what is creative-driven.

We’re also big fans of the Insights tab, which Google has revamped (update still rolling out). You used to only be able to look back to 7 and 28 days, but now you can choose any time frame – and download keywords. There’s a lot of good data in there, so don’t neglect it!

Transparency

You can use third-party scripts to determine where your ads are going. Personally, I tend to shy away from that.

The way I see it, either the campaign is performing or not. When it isn’t, there are levers you can pull to try something different.

With Performance Max, you can’t decide when or where your ad shows up – only nudge and guide the algorithm. You also lose the ability to see more granular keywords, instead getting access to keyword themes.

I think accepting this is fundamental to success with Performance Max.

But while you can’t see your ad placements, there is an account-level placement report with impression data. Unfortunately, this doesn’t give you a breakdown of cost and revenue.

Keep in mind that the goal of all of this is to move to a format similar to Advantage Plus in Facebook, which only surfaces data that you can act on.

Control

Many people think Performance Max is a “set it and forget it” campaign. Not really.

You have control, but it’s very different from what we’ve become accustomed to with other campaigns.

You program the system to do what you used to do yourself so you can focus on the decisions machines can’t make. What that comes down to in Performance Max is:

• Ad copy
• Creatives
• Audience signals
• Data feeds
• Bid strategies
• Budgets
• Campaign structure

Don’t think of it as taking one step back, but stepping back to see the big picture.

Involvement

How active do you need to be with Performance Max? Remember: Your goal is to guide the machine, nudge it in the right direction, and ensure it doesn’t veer off course.

Part of that is learning how to tame those compulsive feelings that making changes is the only way to feel involved. Maybe it’s because your clients keep asking why you only made two changes last month.

But with Performance Max, sometimes that’s all you have to do.

Instead, your involvement skews in favor of monitoring and big-picture changes. You set things up, step back and allow the campaign to run. Keep an eye on things while working behind the scenes.

Focus on making sure any first-party data is clean and accurate, that you’re integrated with a CRM (for lead generation), and improving landing page content – things that impact profitability and efficiency.

Performance Max in action: Sample campaign structures

Setting up a Performance Max campaign can be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Here are some examples of how I’ve built campaigns for different types of accounts.

Ecommerce

In ecommerce, there are generally two types of advertisers:

Sells own brand

These accounts typically lead with paid social, spending as much as 70-80% of their total advertising budget on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. Google might even be an afterthought. 

These are the brands where Performance Max with creative assets tends to work particularly well for the same reasons the brand works on paid social.

Sells multiple brands

For retailers selling hundreds of different brands or thousands of products – we have clients whose catalogs have hundreds of thousands of SKUs – it’s really about showing up at the very bottom of the funnel, so these accounts lead with Google Ads.

We typically shy away from creative assets and focus more on the “Smart Shopping” approach, which makes audience signals and ad copy less significant. Instead, we focus almost entirely on getting the data feed in near-perfect shape.

Lead generation

For lead generation accounts, we typically begin with Search to build up conversion data and volume – two critical components of making Performance Max work.

Once that’s achieved, we move to Performance Max, splitting asset groups by offering and location. This allows the system to target the right people in the right places so that a New Jersey plumber doesn’t get leads from Glasgow.

If your service is offered virtually or globally, you could omit the location split and just go by offering alone.

What’s absolutely vital is that you include some type of spam filter (like a reCAPTCHA) or low-quality leads will plague you. 

Ideally, you should also be feeding offline conversions and conversion values back into Google so that it can identify future leads based on data from your complete sales cycle.

Verdict: The pros and cons of Performance Max

I’m bullish on Performance Max, but it’s not a perfect campaign.

Here’s what I admire about it and a few things I wish Google would improve.

Pro: It lets you scale beyond intent

Let’s say you’re targeting a market with limited search volume, but you really want to test opportunities beyond that limit. 

Performance Max can use its data signals to find people who might not be searching for your bottom-funnel keywords but will become a potential customer based on interest.

Performance Max is a full-funnel campaign, so it will find people it thinks are likely to convert based on all those millions of data signals – and it will then pull them down the customer journey.

This is probably Performance Max’s biggest advantage.

Not having the ability to set bids at the asset group level is a major drawback, and I understand why many PPC folks are frustrated with the obfuscation of search term data.

That said – and this could be a mentality issue – does all the other stuff matter? Shouldn’t we be figuring out how to get the most out of this toolbox instead of how to hack it? 

The whole idea of bidding with a ROAS target is that you don’t need to look at negative keywords. If it’s not hitting your target, it shouldn’t get that traffic.

I get that people want to be able to check the system quickly, especially when smaller budgets are at play, but patience goes a long way in seeing Performance Max’s true capabilities.

Con: It can be expensive at the start

Like a rocket ship, Performance Max can take you to places you never imagined – at the cost of a slow and expensive takeoff.

Getting somewhere meaningful can take three to six weeks, and that period can be pricey on the front end. 

Google monitors behavior rather than optimizing for conversions, so you’re spending considerably more for far fewer conversions than usual.

It takes clear communication and honest expectation-setting to convince clients and bosses that this is necessary to adapt to the modern avatar of Google Ads.

Pro: It’s a great way to try new campaign types.

For brands that are not ready to go all in on something untested like YouTube, Performance Max is a good way to test how that new media works.

Google claims that performance is better when routed through Performance Max, which it typically is. Their official figure is an average gain of 18%, but your mileage may vary.

Con: It’s not as easy as Google says it is

Performance Max is really not as simple as it seems. And while there will always be a place for PPC managers, it also means that we have to put in the effort to stay on top of things.

To get Performance Max right requires nuance, patience, and persistence. Many marketers will test it and give up after a few weeks because it’s not moving in the right direction.

This is shortsighted but understandable.

Pro: It refreshes your marketing priorities

Performance Max forces PPC managers to think more like marketers than strictly media buyers.

I love the ability to go beyond Search for people who are not equipped to manage Discovery, YouTube, Display, and those more niche networks. 

This makes it a great way to scale beyond your capabilities without needing a high level of expertise.

What happens is you’ll reach the audience that you have but who might not necessarily be on the network you’ve been advertising on. Google has made this process uncomplicated.

Con: Its recommendations are far from ideal

I’m always cautious of Google’s recommendations.

Too many people don’t realize what they’re signing up for. On the surface, they appear to be things that you wouldn’t think of. But they can have deeper effects, so use them with caution.

Insights is a good place to get ideas, especially as you don’t have to act on them right away and can instead weigh up the risk-to-reward ratio.

Like everything else in Performance Max, it is very much “eyes on, hands off”:

• Don’t make changes just to make changes.
• Have a goal in mind for each specific change.
• Know what you hope to accomplish so there’s something to measure.

Pro: It’s a reminder that we’re still needed

People are worried that Google wants to cut out agencies and experts, but Performance Max only reinforces the fact that PPC managers aren’t going anywhere.

Our role has changed, and it will change further, but the average business owner cannot optimally run Performance Max from day one. And if there’s anything more difficult than running a Performance Max campaign, it’s fixing one riddled with mistakes.

So whether you’re building from the ground up or fixing what’s broken, you’ll always be around and needed.

Should you run a Performance Max campaign?

Performance Max is a great option to have. But it’s just that: an option. 

You don’t have to use it. In some cases, you probably shouldn’t.

Which accounts benefit from Performance Max

• It’s typically harder for ecommerce to ignore Performance Max than it is for lead generation to make it work. That’s how good the lift in performance can be for retail conversions.
• Highly competitive mass retail products – think digital cameras and televisions – can work well on the feed side. Maybe skip the creative assets and use Performance Max a little differently than it was intended.
• If your account is rich with historical data – and in the case of lead-generation, strong first-party data inputs and outputs – you’ll have a much easier time with Performance Max.
• Bigger budgets and high monthly conversions are valuable enough that they give you a bit of a pass when it comes to the more common mistakes. High spenders with demand typically get the most out of Performance Max. 

Which accounts are better off with other campaign types

• Brand new accounts – in both new and existing businesses – will struggle with Performance Max right off the bat. You certainly can use it, but know it’s always more effective once you have historical data.
• Ecommerce accounts that neglect their product feed will find themselves spending more than they need to. Way more.
• Lead generation accounts that don’t have high-quality data inputs and outputs – lead qualification, CRM or IVR integrations, spam guards, offline conversions – should stick to Search campaigns.
• Smaller budgets and limited monthly conversions (typically under 30) will probably never gather enough data to make Performance Max worthwhile.
• Legal restrictions can throttle success. These teams don’t like not knowing which headline will show up with which description or point to which landing page. If you press ahead, theme your asset groups as tightly as possible, and you should be fine.

Special case: Regulated industries

Disclaimer: This is informed speculation. 

Accounts advertising things like pharmaceuticals and medical services (think detoxification and rehabilitation) aren’t allowed to retarget users. Performance Max offers a way around that because you aren’t targeting specific people, but the system probably will anyway.

As long as the proper teams can approve your ad copy and creatives, it really shouldn’t pose any problems.

Best practices: How to set up, optimize, monitor, and report on Performance Max

Ready to create and run your first Performance Max campaign? Have an active one, but not sure how to study or optimize performance? These resources might help.

Pre-launch checklist

My team has had access to Performance Max campaigns since Google Ads released it in beta, so we’ve had years to refine our go-live process.

Follow along with this detailed walkthrough to maximize your performance with Performance Max with everything you need to know to set up for success.

Read more: How to set up Performance Max campaigns the right way

Optimization stage

While there aren’t many levers to directly optimize Performance Max campaigns, that doesn’t mean you can’t shape them. 

Instead, your job is to guide the system governing your campaigns. Here’s a detailed walkthrough of what you can (and should) do to drive better performance.

Read more: How to improve your performance in Performance Max

Monitoring stage

Extracting data and insights from Performance Max can be frustrating, but it’s getting better thanks to features like asset group reporting. Use these tips and tricks to guide your reporting and monitoring process.

Read more: How to maximize insights from Performance Max

Underrated tips and tricks

Ecommerce and lead-generation accounts must approach Performance Max very differently – but what does that mean exactly? 

These guides will show you how to avoid repeating some serious mistakes that advertisers have made with their Performance Max campaigns.

Read more: 

AI is helping PPC managers focus more on strategic initiatives, such as campaign inputs and back-end management, rather than manual operations.

Increased efficiency and effectiveness? This evolution is exciting!

AI will play an increasingly important role in daily operations as PPC evolves.

Here’s a closer look at how AI will impact the daily activities of PPC account managers.

Less manual operation and managing algorithms

Automation has been transforming the world of PPC for a while.

This trend will only continue. We expect significant changes in how PPC managers work over the next few years.

As automation and AI become more prevalent, PPC managers will spend less time on tasks like monitoring search queries and implementing negative keywords.

Worried? Don’t be. This positive development will free up time for managers to focus on other important tasks.

Despite what some people may say, automation will not eliminate jobs in PPC. Instead, it will lead to a shift in roles and responsibilities.

PPC managers will be responsible for managing algorithms rather than individual keywords. There will be plenty to do! 

In fact, with less manual work to do, PPC managers may find themselves busier than ever before – and more valuable to their companies as a result.

Data team collaboration 

As PPC campaigns become more first-party data-driven, the partnership between PPC managers and data teams is becoming increasingly important. This collaboration often involves joint efforts toward:

• Implementing tagging infrastructure.
• Website analytics.
• CRM access.
• Utilizing scaled automation and data reporting. 

The connection between the data/analytics and PPC teams may have been limited in the past. This was particularly true when PPC relied heavily on only a handful of tracking pixels. Once those were in place, there may have been a less pressing need for more extensive collaboration.

However, it’s essential to establish a robust and ongoing relationship with your data/analytics team to ensure PPC success. While some PPC managers may not have had this kind of partnership in the past, it’s crucial to work toward building one for optimal results.

Want to stay ahead of the game? Leverage first-party data to optimize your campaigns.

This means building strong relationships with your organization’s team in charge of these data projects. Doing so ensures you have the resources and support to stay competitive and drive results. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late – start building those bridges today!

Attribution measurement and incrementality testing 

Proving the value of paid search to an overall marketing program is familiar to PPC managers. Most PPC programs are measured on sales, revenue, ROAS, LTV and other value-based metrics. 

Incrementality analysis may already be part of your PPC program. Great! However, I know of PPC programs building these processes, and now is the time! 

Media Mix Modeling (MMM) and incrementality testing are essential to gain valuable insights into marketing campaigns’ effectiveness and efficiency:

• MMM provides a holistic view of how different channels interact and influence customer behavior, enabling managers to allocate budgets optimally. PPC managers need to be part of this conversation! 
• Incrementality testing is gaining importance due to the rise of data-driven decision-making. It helps PPC managers measure the true causal impact of a specific marketing tactic or channel and quantify the incremental value generated by your PPC campaigns. It also provides insights into optimal bidding strategies, helps validate the results of A/B tests, and enhances accountability by offering a straightforward way to measure and communicate the impact of marketing efforts to stakeholders.

In today’s complex and data-rich marketing landscape, PPC managers need to make informed decisions considering their campaigns’ broader impact. 

Hopefully, you are already involved in these projects within your company. If not, get started!

Audience building and management

Audience targeting has been a tried and true method for PPC managers for quite some time now.

While the advancements in AI and automation won’t necessarily change this approach, the rise of privacy regulations will require new tactics and strategies for audience creation, development, sculpting and management.

To effectively manage your PPC campaigns, you must make the most of your CRM data. If your PPC program has already integrated this, you’re ahead of the game! However, many PPC programs still need to build out their first-party audience processes.

Audience lists may not be as precise for automated campaigns like Performance Max and Demand Gen. Still, they help to shape impression delivery through look-a-like audiences and algorithmic signals.

PPC managers will need to play an active role in crafting audiences that will deliver results in their paid media campaigns. 

While some PPC managers may not be affected by this shift in operations due to their robust audience strategy, many others will need to consider new directions and factors.

Ad creative development and testing 

Over time, creative assets in PPC have come a long way. The text ad has been the go-to unit for PPC, and for good reason. However, things are changing and will continue to evolve. 

PPC is no longer just about search, as image ads have been in the game for a while with Google Display Ads and Microsoft Ad Network. PPC managers have also worked with video ad delivery through YouTube for years. With Performance Max, these ad units are only going to diversify further.

While PPC managers may have saved time in the past by managing search queries and manual bid changes, they will need to focus more on creative assets.

As many other optimization levers are automated, creative messaging will become even more critical. PPC managers must work closely with their creative teams to develop custom ad variations for images, videos, texts, and more. 

Also, while we’re talking about creative, PPC managers will hopefully have more time for strategic planning on their landing page/website experience. CRO has been a cornerstone of digital marketing for almost as long as this industry has existed. However, with more automated optimization and AI-driven tactics, advertisers need to find whys to make their company and products stand out. Ad creative and website experience is mission-critical. 

Building stronger relationships with creative teams will be crucial for PPC managers in the future.

SEO collaboration 

As more time is saved with automation, PPC managers will dive deeper into their collaboration with their SEO team.

Teams should not operate in silos. There should be a shared vision for a holistic SERP optimization strategy.

With the changing SERPs and the emergence of SGE and AI-driven content, paid and organic teams need to work together to optimize the SERP effectively. 

Moreover, it is essential to clearly understand the different roles and responsibilities of the PPC and SEO teams. PPC managers should be aware of the latest trends and techniques in paid advertising, while SEO experts should focus on technical optimization and content creation. 

By working together, the teams can complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, resulting in a more comprehensive and effective optimization strategy. Regular communication and collaboration are essential to ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.

Dig deeper. SEO vs. PPC: Differences, pros, cons & an integrated approach

Conclusion

Experienced PPC managers are likely familiar with all these tactics.

However, prioritizing algorithm management and user experience optimization will be essential as the landscape shifts and your day-to-day responsibilities evolve.

This pivot may be challenging – but it’s critical for staying ahead in the game.