Since its launch in 2021, Performance Max (PMax) has transformed how ecommerce businesses approach Google Ads.
Google’s machine learning and AI, when applied across its entire advertising ecosystem, promises to maximize conversions and value and simplify campaign management.
However, with automation playing such a crucial role, the question arises: Can advertisers find the right balance between letting the algorithm work and exercising their strategic control?
Understanding Performance Max For Ecommerce
Your ads might get placed anywhere in Google’s network, including Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.
For ecommerce businesses, this broad reach represents both an opportunity and a challenge.
While the system promises to optimize your campaigns in real-time, this automation comes with significant transparency challenges.
Mike Rhodes explains a fundamental issue facing advertisers:
“Performance Max campaigns have introduced a significant challenge for advertisers: a lack of transparency in budget allocation. This opacity makes it difficult for managers to understand where their budgets are truly going, hindering their ability to optimize campaigns effectively and maximize ROI.
Without clear insights into which placements, audiences, or assets drive performance, advertisers are essentially flying blind.
My Performance Max scripts solve this critical issue by pulling data from various sources to provide the clearest possible picture of budget allocation.”
This lack of transparency means advertisers must be more strategic in their campaign management and measurement approach.
Understanding the key components and how they work together becomes crucial for success.
Key Features For Ecommerce Success
Feed-Based Optimization
Your product feed – a digital catalogue containing all your product information – serves as the foundation of your Performance Max campaigns.
This is your store’s digital inventory that Google uses to create and display your ads across its networks.
The quality and optimization of your feed data directly impact your campaign’s performance. A well-optimized product feed should include:
Descriptive product titles that include key search terms.
Accurate pricing and availability information.
High-quality images that meet Google’s specifications.
Detailed product descriptions and specifications.
Proper categorization and product types.
Additional attributes like color, size, and brand.
For maximum effectiveness, regularly update your feed with:
Competitive pricing information.
Current inventory levels.
Seasonal product information.
New product launches.
Updated promotional messaging.
Asset-Based Approach
Your creative assets are fundamental to Performance Max’s success, serving as the foundation for ads across all of Google’s networks.
Unlike traditional campaigns where you create specific ads for each platform, Performance Max uses your provided assets – images, videos, text, and logos – to automatically generate optimized ad combinations for each placement and audience.
Sarah Steman provides valuable insight into asset optimization:
“A powerful PMax strategy is to leverage themed asset groups, especially during holidays or promotions.
By conducting a dedicated photoshoot and comparing its performance against evergreen assets, I can gain valuable insights for campaign optimization.”
Successful asset management requires:
Regular performance analysis.
Seasonal content updates.
A/B testing of different creative approaches.
Audience-specific variations.
Consistent brand messaging.
Smart Bidding Integration
Performance Max uses automated bidding strategies powered by machine learning to optimize for your chosen goals.
The system continuously learns from performance data to adjust bids in real-time across all channels.
Strategic Campaign Structure
Effective campaign segmentation is crucial for success. Susan Yen emphasizes the importance of audience targeting:
“Segmenting campaigns with custom audience signals ensures your ads target users with genuine intent, leading to stronger performance and higher-quality leads.”
Implementation considerations include:
Product categories and types.
Profit margins and pricing strategies.
Seasonal variations.
Geographic targeting.
Customer segments.
Performance goals.
Advanced Optimization Strategies
Performance Max works best as part of a holistic marketing strategy. Chris Chambers shares an innovative approach to device targeting:
“You can’t set device bid adjustments for PMax, but PMax does follow value rules that you set. So you can still set up a value rule multiplier for device types or geos, which gives you some control over how the PMax serves.”
“Some days it kills it, and others it is terrible. This is because if you have a lot of other top-of-funnel (TOF) traffic, like YouTube or Meta or Influencers, whenever those other channels push, PMax goes in and scoops up the conversions.”
Performance Monitoring and Optimization
Key optimization areas include:
1. Channel Management: Monitor how your budget is being distributed across channels:
Track performance metrics by placement.
Analyze channel interaction patterns.
Assess the impact on existing campaigns.
Identify and address channel cannibalization.
Review placement performance data.
2. Asset Optimization: Regular testing and refinement of creative elements:
Monitor asset performance ratings.
A/B test different creative approaches.
Update seasonal content proactively.
Create audience-specific variations.
Remove underperforming assets.
3. Bidding Strategy: Fine-tune your automated bidding:
Review and adjust ROAS targets based on performance.
Monitor conversion patterns.
Analyze competitor activity.
Adjust targets for seasonal changes.
Consider device and location performance.
Measuring Success And ROI
Primary Metrics:
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Conversion Value.
Conversion Rate.
Average Order Value.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
New vs. Returning Customer Ratio.
Secondary Metrics:
Impression Share.
Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Asset Performance.
Channel Distribution.
Geographic Performance.
Device Performance.
Implementation of best practices:
Set up proper conversion tracking.
Use value-based bidding when possible.
Monitor cross-channel attribution.
Regular performance audits.
Analyze customer lifetime value.
Overcoming Common Challenges
1. Performance Volatility
Implement consistent monitoring schedules.
Maintain a balanced channel mix.
Use complementary campaign types.
Set realistic performance expectations.
Regular strategy adjustments.
2. Creative Performance
Regular creative refreshes.
Performance-based asset management.
Seasonal content planning.
Brand consistency across channels.
Regular creative testing.
3. Budget Management
Strategic budget allocation.
Performance-based adjustments.
Seasonal planning.
Competitive analysis.
ROI optimization.
Future Developments And Preparation
As Google continues investing in AI capabilities, prepare for:
1. Enhanced Transparency
Improved reporting features.
Better performance insights.
More detailed placement data.
Enhanced budget allocation visibility.
2. AI Integration
Advanced asset creation.
Dynamic optimization.
Sophisticated audience targeting.
Improved testing capabilities.
3. Data Integration
Enhanced first-party data usage.
Better cross-channel attribution.
Improved audience insights.
Advanced bidding algorithms.
Conclusion
Returning to our initial question about balancing automation with control, success with Performance Max requires a strategic approach that combines:
Well-structured campaigns.
High-quality product feeds.
Strategic asset groups.
Proper tracking implementation.
Regular monitoring and optimization.
The future of Performance Max in ecommerce lies in finding the right balance between automation and strategic oversight.
Those who master this balance while maintaining adaptability to new features will be best positioned to succeed in the evolving landscape of ecommerce advertising.
Each component of your Performance Max strategy should work together to create a cohesive approach that leverages automation while maintaining strategic control.
This balance, combined with regular optimization and adaptation to new features, will help ensure long-term success in your ecommerce advertising efforts.
More resources:
Featured Image: PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock
If you’re not using AI to maximize your ad budget, chances are your competitors are, which could leave you behind.
But don’t worry — there are plenty of AI tools to help you get more from your campaigns, boost productivity, and drive revenue growth without spending more on ads. One of the most impactful marketing tools is Google Ads Smart Bidding.
In this post, we’ll break down five essential Smart Bidding strategies that can help you drive more revenue.
Google Ads Smart Bidding offers multiple options tailored to different campaign objectives. Choosing the right strategy depends on your specific goals and budget. Here are a few:
Maximize Conversions: This Smart Bidding strategy sets bids to maximize the number of actions taken by users, such as sign-ups, purchases, or form submissions. It is ideal if you want to drive more actions like form fills, sign-ups, or purchases.
Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): With the target cost per acquisition (CPA) strategy, you specify the amount you’re willing to spend to acquire a customer. Google Ads then automatically sets bids to achieve that desired CPA. This strategy is best for maintaining cost efficiency by acquiring customers at a specific price.
Target ROAS: The target ROAS strategy allows you to set a specific ROAS goal, and Google Ads adjusts bids based on expected conversion values. If maximizing revenue while maintaining a specific ROAS is your priority, this is your go-to strategy.
Enhanced Conversions: You can use Enhanced Conversions to optimize for specific actions or events that hold significant value for your business. This strategy leverages machine learning to predict and adjust bids based on the likelihood of driving valuable conversions, improving the overall return on ad spend, and enhancing the efficiency of your marketing campaigns. According to Google, marketers who use this strategy see a 5% average conversion rate improvement on Search.
Google offers new AI tools to take your Smart Bidding strategy to the next level, helping you expand your reach. You can pair these tools with your desired bidding strategy.
Here’s what they are and how they work:
Broad Match: Use this tool to capture a wider audience by covering related searches and synonyms. Craft a comprehensive keyword list, incorporating broad-match keywords to increase visibility and attract potential customers who may use different search terms. According to Google, marketers who use Broad Match in Target CPA campaigns see 35% more conversions, on average.
Performance Max: This AI-powered tool optimizes your campaigns across all Google networks (YouTube, Google Maps, etc.) and ad formats to maximize results. With Performance Max, the AI technology automatically adjusts bids to achieve the best possible results, making it ideal for driving conversions and optimizing ad spend across Google’s expansive network. According to Google, marketers who use Performance Max achieve 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action. By pairing Broad Match with your chosen Smart Bidding model, you can maximize your query coverage on Google search.
By combining Broad Match with Performance Max, you’ll significantly increase your reach and boost conversions.
3. Use Revenue Execution Platforms To Supercharge Smart Bidding
AI is only as good as the data it’s fed, and many marketers miss a crucial piece of the puzzle: phone call conversions.
This can be a significant problem, as our research shows that 20-50% of conversions come in over the phone in many high-stakes purchase industries like healthcare, home services, automotive, and telecommunications.
If you’re not tracking all of those phone call conversions, your Google Smart Bidding instance is likely underperforming. That’s because automated bidding tools track the number of conversions each ad variation drives and then optimize bids based on what’s performing best. If you’re not tracking the phone call conversions your ads drive, you’re not giving the tool a complete picture of your performance.
Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
A revenue execution platform like Invoca allows you to track these call conversions and feed them directly into Google Ads. This enables Google’s Smart Bidding AI to optimize more effectively, ensuring your ad dollars are spent on what truly drives revenue.
Check out this video series, to learn more about revenue execution platforms.
Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
4. Optimize Retargeting With Rich Data Insights
Retargeting is an incredibly cost-effective way to drive more conversions, especially when you’re targeting people who have already interacted with your brand. To enhance your retargeting efforts, first-party data is key — and phone conversations are a treasure trove of insights that can be unlocked with revenue execution platforms like Invoca.
Phone conversations contain more insights than an online form fill ever could — when your customers call you, they tell you about their needs, preferences, and how to make them happy. Invoca’s AI analyzes these conversations at scale and mines them for insights. The beauty of it is that you can easily train the AI to capture whichever data points are most relevant to your business — for example, you can track products callers expressed interest in, if they were price-sensitive, and if they made a purchase.
Check out the graphic below to see more of the data points you can collect with Invoca:
Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
With these deep conversation insights, you can build more complete customer profiles and retarget leads with more relevant ads. Below are a few common examples of retargeting and suppression strategies marketers use with Invoca’s first-party data:
Retarget callers who didn’t make a purchase with ads for the products they mentioned over the phone.
Retarget callers who bought over the phone with ads for relevant companion purchases.
Retarget callers who expressed price sensitivity with ads touting a special discount code.
Suppress callers who bought over the phone from seeing future ads for that product or service.
5. Detect & Solve Call Experience Issues
Many marketers lose potential revenue because they aren’t aware of call experience issues—missed calls, long hold times, or unoptimized call scripts that don’t convert leads. You could be flushing good leads down the drain without even knowing it. Using a revenue execution platform, you get detailed reports on call handling and identify areas where improvements are needed.
Invoca shows you the total number of calls your Google Ads campaigns send to each location or contact center, the number of calls answered, the name of the agent who handled the call, the number of leads, and the number of calls successfully converted to revenue.
If you notice specific locations or contact centers have high unanswered call rates, you can collaborate with them to improve call routing procedures and staffing. If you learn that some agents have low phone call conversion rates, you can review their call recordings and transcripts to learn the cause and notify their managers to help them improve.
You’ll increase conversion rates and revenue from your Google Ads campaigns when you work with your contact centers and locations to correct these issues.
Below is a sample Invoca report showing call handling by location:
Illustration, Invoca, October 2024
Addressing these issues, from ensuring calls are answered promptly to refining sales scripts, can lead to better conversion rates and higher revenue from your ad campaigns.
By following these five tips and integrating a revenue execution platform, B2C marketers can fully take advantage of Google’s AI capabilities, driving conversions and revenue from every marketing dollar spent.
Ready to learn more about how Invoca’s AI-powered revenue execution platform can help you level up your marketing? Check out this video series to see how it’s done.
The latest question for Ask A PPC is based on Ad Strength and Creative. It comes from Isha in Delhi, who asks:
“Should extended text ads be paused or kept running as we can’t edit?”
The short answer is the age-old, “It depends.”
However, recent data indicates there may be more value in moving away from expanded text ads.
In this post, we’ll go over:
The state of expanded text ads (ETAs).
Reasons to keep them.
Reasons to pause.
This is a Google-specific perspective. However, the same logic could be applied to Microsoft.
The State Of ETAs
Expanded Text Ads (ETAs) allow users to include three 30-character headlines and two 90-character descriptions.
These ads serve creative in the order specified in the original ad, but they might be truncated based on the search engine result pages (SERP) they served on.
As a general rule, mobile SERPs would only show headlines one and two (with some truncation possible in headline two).
They also were “deprecated” in June of 2022. The quotes exist because – while advertisers can no longer create or edit ETAs – ETAs were allowed to continue running.
This is similar to standard ads (which received the same treatment in September 2017).
While I can’t share a concrete number of how many ETAs are still running, a recent Ad Strength study from Optmyzr found around 20% of advertisers still have some ETAs running in their accounts (~5,000 accounts).
There is no clear answer on ETAs. It truly depends on the state of your business and performance.
Reasons To Keep ETAs
The biggest reason to keep ETAs is they are performing well.
Most agree that 200% ROAS is the baseline for passable performance (i.e., put $1 in and get $2 back). Based on the data, ETAs seem to struggle to meet this:
Length Bucket
No. Of Ads
CPC
CPA
CTR
Conversion Rate
ROAS
0-20
69296
1.49
34.80
5.98%
4.27%
159.38%
21-30
165899
1.78
30.52
6.61%
5.83%
148.83%
31+
8964
0.91
4.93
9.00%
18.42%
161.40%
(Data from the Optmyzr Study)
However, if you’re not using conversion values, you might need to use conversion rate and CPA to determine success.
To contrast ETA data, here’s the Optmyzr data for RSAs:
Heading Length Bucket
No. Of Ads
CPC
CPA
CTR
Conversion Rate
ROAS
0-20
92744
1.26
17.36
8.85%
7.26%
208.78%
21-30
716888
2.20
30.61
7.95%
7.19%
181.35%
31+
31631
1.86
40.01
7.75%
4.65%
224.73%
While longer ads are close to ETA performance (which makes sense because longer ads are a tactic from the ETA era), it’s clear shorter ads outperform their predecessor.
However, big data doesn’t always translate to your individual performance.
That’s why, it’s critical to establish your own thresholds for performance. If you’re seeing your ad underperform (likely due to not being as eligible for enough SERPs), you may want to make the switch.
It’s important to remember that you can’t “undo” this choice.
Another reason to keep these ads is just so you can have them. Once they’re paused, you’re not getting them back.
Reasons To Pause
The main reason to move away from ETAs is you want the most access to all placements for your search terms.
Google has many different SERPs which can force truncation. Leaning into RSAs and PMax ensures you have the most opportunity to succeed.
Final Takeaway
There is no right or wrong answer on whether to move away from ETAs. However, it is important that you honestly audit your ETAs and confirm they’re still working for you.
Have a question about PPC? Submit via this form or tweet me @navahf with the #AskPPC hashtag. See you next month!
Brooke Osmundson, Director of Growth Marketing, Smith Micro Software, Inc.
Kirk Williams, Founder & Owner, ZATO PPC Marketing.
Ben Wood, Performance Director, Hallam.
Here’s a bit about what they said.
Platforms Are All-In On AI
The loss of fine controls that many PPC experts predicted to come with generative AI integration seems to have gone ahead, with many platforms pushing advertisers to use new AI products.
Based on how much the major platforms are spending on AI technology, these algorithm-based campaigns and generative AI-based creative features are likely to continue the march forward.
This is good news in some ways and not so much in others. There will be plenty of opportunities for PPC marketers to remove repetitive and time-consuming tasks from workflows. However, it may become more difficult to assert human control and maintain human insights about your audience through the messaging.
AI can power stronger personalization, but you also must be careful where it might mix with privacy concerns.
Privacy And Third-Party Cookies Are Messy
Privacy has been one of the most frustrating and confusing developments over the last year. Google’s approach to deprecating third-party cookies feels like it’s sitting in a field plucking the petals off a daisy – “I love third-party cookies, I love them not.”
For now, Google Chrome is keeping third-party cookies, but that doesn’t mean all is well. Privacy regulations and expended user controls will likely erode the viability of third-party data as time goes on.
Many PPC marketers are looking for ways to build closer relationships with audiences, gain vital opt-in first-party data, and leave third-party tracking behind. Just because it isn’t going away yet doesn’t mean it’s here to stay.
The good news is that many of the experts agree in their approach to these core issues.
In the ebook, you can discover which potential uses of AI they lean into and which they view with skepticism. You can also find out how they view data sources and audience cultivation.
There are many more insights, as well, about new networks and omni-channel strategies, tracking behavior, and other topics.
For those of us working within strict industries, managing paid media campaigns involves added layers of work that may not be included in less regulated companies.
Healthcare, finance, and political organizations are potential examples here, although many industries have their own quirks both in internal policies and ad platform restrictions.
According to EMARKETER, in 2023, the financial services industry made up 11.4% of U.S. digital ad spend, while healthcare & pharma entailed 7.3%.
With these highly regulated industries entailing close to 20% of spend together (not counting other categories), that means many paid search marketers have touched or will touch campaigns in these areas at some point in their career.
In order to manage campaigns successfully in these niches, you need to think about both how to efficiently work through processes in your own organization to ensure assets are approved and ready in a timely manner, as well as know what to expect after setting your campaigns live in the platforms.
In this article, I’ll share a few tips to help, applicable both to those in-house at highly regulated organizations and to agency partners managing ads.
Plan Ahead
Work the expected timeline for approvals and edits into your planning for a campaign, and be realistic about how long it could take.
When ad graphics need to be designed and also go through compliance and legal review, you can’t promise to have a campaign active in a week.
Think through all the pieces you need to build out a set of campaigns:
Documentation of targeting criteria, if that needs to be approved.
Then, you can work through a conservative schedule for the creation of each of these items, as well as planning to submit for approval and allowing additional time for edits and final approval.
Additionally, think through other items that may be outside of your immediate control as a paid search manager, such as landing page development and additional approvals needed for that.
Document Ad Formats & Use Consistent Templates
Often, the individuals within your organization reviewing your paid media assets are not at an “in the weeds” level understanding of how ads will display.
You can make the process smoother both for them and for yourself by clearly documenting individual ad formats and explaining nuances such as character limits and responsive ad functionality.
Provide screenshots of possible ways that ads can display and provide links to platform previews where relevant.
Building out an ad without activating it can provide an option to view it in multiple potential formats, especially for ad types like responsive display ads and Google Demand Gen that can appear in many different layouts.
Meta’s Creative Hub is also a useful tool to build out sample ads and grab screenshots.
Set up templates that you can use in the future, including guidelines directly in the documents, as well as formulas to flag issues such as going over character count.
These can be created in Excel documents, shared Google Docs, or proprietary tools within your organization.
Approve Multiple Variants At Once
In organizations where the wheels of internal approvals move slowly, getting multiple text and image variants approved at once can help ease the process of updating ads in the future.
This process may require some extra work upfront but will allow for more efficiency over time.
For instance, you may launch a Meta campaign using one text variant and four image variants.
When you’ve reached significance and are ready to move on to the next test, you can choose the best image and test it with multiple text variants.
Having those text variants approved ahead of time will allow flexibility in being able to roll out this next initiative immediately when the prior test has wrapped up instead of having to wait for additional approval.
Use Pinned Headlines And Descriptions
Often, regulated industries require you to include a precisely worded disclaimer in ad copy. Pinned assets in responsive search ads are your friend here, as you can ensure that they will always show.
Use the first or second headline position or the first description position, as beyond that, assets may be cut off.
To pin an asset in a Google Ads search campaign, click the thumbtack symbol that appears when you mouse over a headline or description field.
You can then select the number position to pin it to (1, 2, etc.). Note that if you pin multiple assets to the same position, Google may pick any of those assets to show.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Unfortunately, campaign types such as Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Display don’t allow you to pin headlines, so you’ll need to be more careful in providing copy that contains your desired disclaimers for those formats, or you may decide they are not workable with your requirements.
You can also discuss allowing for a “one-click rule” that doesn’t require a disclaimer in ad copy as long as it appears on the landing page when users click through.
Review Automatic Optimizations & Recommendations
When every word of your ad copy needs to be approved by your organization to run, you need to be particularly careful about features such as Google’s automatically created assets, which can insert text you didn’t want in your ads.
Be sure to turn these off for each campaign, before your boss or client contacts see them applied in the wild.
To do so in bulk, go to the Campaigns section and navigate to Settings. Select all campaigns.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Click the Edit dropdown and scroll until you find “Change automatically created assets settings.” You’ll then see the form below, where you can select “Off” and optionally provide a reason to give Google feedback.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Additionally, watch for settings that modify images in unexpected ways, such as Meta’s image optimization features, which can result in unapproved graphic variants being out in the wild or even the addition of animation and music.
Look for the Advantage+ Creative section in ad set settings, and you’ll see an option to edit and turn off unwanted variations.
Screenshot from author, September 2024
In general, be mindful that platforms are constantly testing new ways to automatically optimize and add assets. Watch for updated settings and checkboxes that you may not have seen before.
Familiarize Yourself With Industry-Specific Guidelines
Ad platforms often have their own stricter guidelines for sensitive industries, and you’ll need to be aware of what ad content and targeting settings can trigger disapprovals.
For instance, Google does not allow certain demographic targeting for finance or healthcare. Remarketing is also banned for some industries.
On the Meta Ads front, housing, credit, and employment ads are particularly restricted, with limitations on available targeting criteria. Political ads also require a verification process before being approved to run.
You can keep up with these updates in a variety of ways:
Visit ad platform support pages, where they will provide updates on upcoming policy changes. Here are a few links to current policy resources, each of which outlines technicalities for restricted content:
If you have platform reps, they can share additional guidance, often with more detailed documentation not publicly available on the web, and can reach out to internal contacts to clarify specific questions you may have.
While it’s not the ideal path to go, you’ll inevitably learn do’s and don’ts for your industry through trial and error as ads and campaigns are flagged in your accounts. Be sure to make note of disapprovals you’ve encountered and how they were resolved.
Often, ad platforms will provide a notice in the platform showing the specific policy violation or restriction that’s triggered for your ads.
However, particularly in sensitive niches, there are cases where ads may not run or be limited from running without clear notice.
In these cases, it’s helpful both to be as familiar with policies as possible when negotiating with support, as well as working directly with a platform rep if possible.
Use The Ad Platform Appeal Process
If you’ve complied with ad platform policy for your industry but are still facing disapproval issues, you can generally appeal for support.
The Google Ads Policy Center (Tools > Troubleshooting > Policy Manager) offers a hub where you can track the status of appeals, and other major platforms also offer options to monitor the status of appeals.
This is also an area where reps can sometimes be helpful in pushing through ad reviews or providing feedback that’s not showing in the ad platform interface.
Start Adapting Your Approach
If you’re managing PPC campaigns for a highly regulated industry, think through these tips to see where they can help improve your processes.
Do you have the internal steps for campaign planning, approval, and execution documented?
Are you fully familiar with how the ad platforms approach your industry?
Take the steps to meet with your team or client and determine how you can apply these tips.
We’ll explore four key themes that can drive more successful international PPC results:
Keyword localization.
Geo-specific bid adjustments.
Market-specific creative adaptation.
Leveraging automation tools for international scaling.
1. Keyword Localization: Translating Intent, Not Just Language
Keyword localization is a cornerstone of international PPC success, but it’s often misunderstood as a simple translation exercise.
When translating keywords from one language to another, it’s not a “2+2=4” equation most of the time.
In reality, it’s much more complex.
Keyword localization involves understanding the intent behind searches and adapting keywords to match the local language, cultural context, and user behavior.
Steps To Effective Keyword Localization
Market Research: Before diving into translation, research how consumers in the target country search for products or services. This involves understanding search intent, popular terms, slang, and regional dialects.
Translation with a twist: Work with native speakers or linguists familiar with the market. Tools like Google Translate can give you a starting point, but they won’t capture cultural subtleties. Manual keyword research in local search engines is vital.
Use local search engines: Google may dominate globally, but other regions may favor different search engines. Baidu in China, Yandex in Russia, and Naver in South Korea have distinct algorithms and keyword trends. Tailor your keywords to the dominant platform in each market.
Test and optimize: International markets are fluid. What works in one month might need refinement in the next. Regularly review performance and optimize based on search trends, conversion data, and shifting customer behaviors.
For example, in Spain, the keyword “coches baratos” (cheap cars) may seem like a direct translation of its English counterpart.
However, further research might reveal that “ofertas coches” (car deals) or “vehículos económicos” (affordable vehicles) performs better depending on user intent.
2. Geo-Specific Bid Adjustments: Tailor Bids For Performance By Region
International campaigns are prone to fluctuations in performance, driven by differences in local competition, purchasing power, and user behavior.
Geo-specific bid adjustments allow you to tailor your bidding strategy to the realities of each market, maximizing return on ad spend (ROAS).
Below are some best practices for geo-specific bidding:
Analyze Regional Performance: Use data to assess performance on a country or even city level. Look for patterns like higher conversion rates in certain regions and adjust bids accordingly. This is especially important in diverse markets where sub-regions may perform differently, like the UK or Canada.
Adjust Bids Based on Currency Value and Buying Power: Regions with lower purchasing power or fluctuating currency values may require different bid strategies. In some markets, a lower cost-per-click (CPC) approach could help maintain profitability.
Consider Time Zone Differences: Adjust bids based on peak performance hours in each time zone. A broad international campaign can benefit from time-based adjustments that ensure ads show during peak periods in each country.
For instance, if your campaign targets both New York and Berlin, you may find that your peak performance hours vary drastically, necessitating different bid adjustments to maximize efficiency.
In this instance, it’s likely worth segmenting your campaigns by region to account for maximum return on investment or ROI in each region.
In larger enterprise accounts, most regions have different audience sizes, which require different budgets.
If your brand falls into that category, it may be worth creating a separate Google Ads account per region, which can roll up into one MCC account for easier management.
3. Market-Specific Creative Adaptation: Speak The Local Language Through Ad Copy
One of the most common mistakes in international PPC campaigns is failing to adapt ad creatives to local contexts.
Just as keyword localization requires cultural adaptation, ad creatives must be tuned to resonate with local audiences.
A few approaches to localized creative to think about include:
Ad Copy and Messaging: Localize ad copy to reflect cultural preferences, holidays, humor, and common phrases. Avoid literal translations that may miss the mark. Collaborate with local copywriters who understand the nuances of language and sentiment.
Visual Adaptations: Imagery that works in one region may not resonate in another. If your ad visuals feature people, clothing, or settings, make sure they align with local norms and expectations.
Calls to Action (CTAs): CTAs should be adapted based on local shopping behaviors. In some regions, urgency works well (“Buy Now”), while in others, a softer approach may perform better (“Learn More” or “Discover”).
For example, a successful ad campaign in the US using a humorous tone may need to be entirely rethought for a market like Japan, where subtlety and respect play a bigger role in advertising.
4. Leveraging Automation Tools For International Scaling
Managing international PPC campaigns across multiple markets can quickly become overwhelming.
Automation tools, both native to ad platforms and third-party solutions, can help streamline campaign management while still allowing for localized control.
Automation Tactics To Help Scale International PPC Campaigns
Smart Bidding: Utilize Google or Microsoft’s automated bidding strategies tailored to individual market performance. Smart bidding leverages machine learning to optimize bids for conversions or ROAS, adjusting bids based on real-time data.
Dynamic Search Ads (DSAs): Dynamic Search Ads can help expand your reach by automatically generating ad headlines based on your website’s content. For international campaigns, ensure that your website is properly localized to ensure the DSAs serve relevant, accurate ads.
Automated Rules and Scripts: Set up automated rules or scripts to adjust bids, pause underperforming keywords, or raise budgets during peak times. For example, you might set rules to increase bids during holidays specific to individual regions, like Singles’ Day in China or Diwali in India.
Automation tools should be used to complement your manual efforts, not replace them. While they can help manage large campaigns more efficiently, regular oversight and optimization are still essential.
A Holistic Approach To International PPC Success
Expanding into international PPC campaigns presents both challenges and opportunities.
Success depends on taking a holistic approach that incorporates keyword localization, tailored bidding strategies, localized creatives, and effective use of automation.
By adapting your strategies to each specific market, you’ll be able to tap into the unique search behaviors, cultural nuances, and competitive dynamics of global consumers.
Remember that the global PPC landscape is constantly evolving, and regular monitoring, testing, and optimization will be key to staying ahead of the competition.
Whether you’re managing campaigns in-house or as part of an agency, these best practices will help you optimize your international PPC efforts and drive better performance across borders.
Mastering effective ad copy is crucial for achieving success with Google Ads.
Yet, the PPC landscape can make it challenging to discern which optimization techniques truly yield results.
Although various perspectives exist on optimizing ads, few are substantiated by comprehensive data. A recent study from Optmyzr attempted to address this.
The goal isn’t to promote or dissuade any specific method but to provide a clearer understanding of how different creative decisions impact your campaigns.
Use the data to help you identify higher profit probability opportunities.
Methodology And Data Scope
The Optmyzr study analyzed data from over 22,000 Google Ads accounts that have been active for at least 90 days with a minimum monthly spend of $1,500.
Across more than a million ads, we assessed Responsive Search Ads (RSAs), Expanded Text Ads (ETAs), and Demand Gen campaigns. Due to API limitations, we could not retrieve asset-level data for Performance Max campaigns.
Additionally, all monetary figures were converted to USD to standardize comparisons.
Key Questions Explored
To provide actionable insights, we focused on addressing the following questions:
Is there a correlation between Ad Strength and performance?
How do pinning assets impact ad performance?
Do ads written in title case or sentence case perform better?
How does creative length affect ad performance?
Can ETA strategies effectively translate to RSAs and Demand Gen ads?
As we evaluated the results, it’s important to note that our data set represents advanced marketers.
This means there may be selection bias, and these insights might differ in a broader advertiser pool with varying levels of experience.
The Relationship Between Ad Strength And Performance
Despite this, marketers often hold mixed opinions about its usefulness, as its role in ad performance appears inconsistent.
Image from author, September 2024
Our data corroborates this skepticism. Ads labeled with an “average” Ad Strength score outperformed those with “good” or “excellent” scores in key metrics like CPA, conversion rate, and ROAS.
This disparity is particularly evident in RSAs, where the ROAS tends to decrease sharply when moving from “average” to “good,” with only a marginal increase when advancing to “excellent.”
Screenshot from author, September 2024
Interestingly, Demand Gen ads also showed a stronger performance with an “average” Ad Strength, except for ROAS.
The metrics for conversion rates in Demand Gen and RSAs were notably similar, which is surprising since Demand Gen ads are typically designed for awareness, while RSAs focus on driving transactions.
Key Takeaways:
Ad Strength doesn’t reliably correlate with performance, so it shouldn’t be a primary metric for assessing your ads.
Most ads with “poor” or “average” Ad Strength labels perform well by standard advertising KPIs.
“Good” or “excellent” Ad Strength labels do not guarantee better performance.
How Does Pinning Affect Ad Performance?
Pinning refers to locking specific assets like headlines or descriptions in fixed positions within the ad. This technique became common with RSAs, but there’s ongoing debate about its efficacy.
Some advertisers advocate for pinning all assets to replicate the control offered by ETAs, while others prefer to let Google optimize placements automatically.
Image from author, September 2024
Our data suggests that pinning some, but not all, assets offers the most balanced results in terms of CPA, ROAS, and CPC. However, ads where all assets are pinned achieve the highest relevance in terms of CTR.
Still, this marginally higher CTR doesn’t necessarily translate into better conversion metrics. Ads with unpinned or partially pinned assets generally perform better in terms of conversion rates and cost-based metrics.
Key Takeaways:
Selective pinning is optimal, offering a good balance between creative control and automation.
Fully pinned ads may increase CTR but tend to underperform in metrics like CPA and ROAS.
Advertisers should embrace RSAs, as they consistently outperform ETAs – even with fully pinned assets.
Title Case Vs. Sentence Case: Which Performs Better?
The choice between title case (“This Is a Title Case Sentence”) and sentence case (“This is a sentence case sentence”) is often a point of contention among advertisers.
Our analysis revealed a clear trend: Ads using sentence case generally outperformed those in title case, particularly in RSAs and Demand Gen campaigns.
Image from author, September 2024
(RSA Data)
Image from author, September 2024
(ETA Data)
Image from author, September 2024
(Demand Gen)
ROAS, in particular, showed a marked preference for sentence case across these ad types, suggesting that a more natural, conversational tone may resonate better with users.
Interestingly, many advertisers still use a mix of title and sentence case within the same account, which counters the traditional approach of maintaining consistency throughout the ad copy.
Key Takeaways:
Sentence case outperforms title case in RSAs and Demand Gen ads on most KPIs.
Including sentence case ads in your testing can improve performance, as it aligns more closely with organic results, which users perceive as higher quality.
Although ETAs perform slightly better with title case, sentence case is increasingly the preferred choice in modern ad formats.
The Impact Of Ad Length On Performance
Ad copy, particularly for Google Ads, requires brevity without sacrificing impact.
We analyzed the effects of character count on ad performance, grouping ads by the length of headlines and descriptions.
Image from author, September 2024
Image from author, September 2024
(RSA Data)
Image from author, September 2024
Image from author, September 2024
(ETA Data)
Image from author, September 2024
Image from author, September 2024
(Demand Gen Data)
Interestingly, shorter headlines tend to outperform longer ones in CTR and conversion rates, while descriptions benefit from moderate length.
Ads that tried to maximize character counts by using dynamic keyword insertion (DKI) or customizers often saw no significant performance improvement.
Moreover, applying ETA strategies to RSAs proved largely ineffective.
In almost all cases, advertisers who carried over ETA tactics to RSAs saw a decline in performance, likely because of how Google dynamically assembles ad components for display.
Key Takeaways:
Shorter headlines lead to better performance, especially in RSAs.
Focus on concise, impactful messaging instead of trying to fill every available character.
ETA tactics do not translate well to RSAs, and attempting to replicate them can hurt performance.
Final Thoughts On Ad Optimizations
In summary, several key insights emerge from this analysis.
First, Ad Strength should not be your primary focus when assessing performance. Instead, concentrate on creating relevant, engaging ad copy tailored to your target audience.
Additionally, pinning assets should be a strategic, creative decision rather than a hard rule, and advertisers should incorporate sentence case into their testing for RSAs and Demand Gen ads.
Finally, focus on quality over quantity in ad copy length, as longer ads do not always equate to better results.
By refining these elements of your ads, you can drive better ROI and adapt to the evolving landscape of Google Ads.
However, setting up your first campaign can feel overwhelming if you’re new to the game. Even if you’re a PPC pro, it can be hard to keep up with all the changes in the interfaces, making it easy to miss key settings that can make or break performance.
In this guide, you’ll find the essential steps to set up a successful paid search campaign, ensuring you’re equipped with the knowledge to make informed decisions that lead to positive results.
Step 1: Define Your Conversions & Goals
Establishing clear goals and understanding what constitutes a conversion is the foundation of a successful paid search campaign.
This clarity ensures that every aspect of your campaign is aligned with your business objectives.
Identify Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
In order to identify those KPIs, it’s crucial to understand the overarching business objectives. Begin by mapping out your broader business goals.
From there, you can define specific KPIs for each objective. Some examples include:
Sales: Number of transactions, revenue generated.
Leads: Number of form submissions, phone calls, appointments created.
Traffic: Click-through rate (CTR), number of sessions.
Brand Awareness: Impressions, reach.
Set Up Conversion Tracking
Knowing your goals is one thing, but being able to accurately measure them is a completely different ballgame.
Both Google and Microsoft Ads have dedicated conversion tags that can be added to your website for proper tracking.
Additionally, Google Analytics is a popular tool to track conversions.
Choose what conversion tags you need to add to your website and ensure they’re added to the proper pages.
In this example, we’ll use Google Ads.
To set up conversion tracking using a Google Ads tag, click the “+” button on the left-hand side of Google Ads, then choose Conversion action.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
You’ll choose from the following conversions to add:
Website.
App.
Phone calls.
Import (from Google Analytics, third party, etc.).
After choosing, Google Ads can scan your website to recommend conversions to add, or you have the option to create a conversion manually:
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
During this step, it’s essential to assign value(s) to conversions being created, as well as the proper attribution model that best represents your customer journey.
Most PPC campaigns are now using the data-driven model attribution, as opposed to a more traditional “last click” attribution model. Data-driven attribution is especially helpful for more top-of-funnel campaigns like YouTube or Demand Gen campaign types.
After the conversion has been created, Google provides the necessary code and instructions to add to the website.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Enable Auto-Tagging
Setting up auto-tagging from the get-go eliminates the need to append UTM parameters to each individual ad, saving you time during setup.
It also allows for seamless data import into Google Analytics, enabling detailed performance analysis within that platform.
To enable auto-tagging at the account level, navigate to Admin > Account settings.
Find the box for auto-tagging and check the box to tag ad URLs, then click Save.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Step 2: Link Any Relevant Accounts
Linking various accounts and tools enhances your campaign’s effectiveness by providing deeper insights and seamless data flow.
Now, this step may come sooner if you plan to import conversions from Google Analytics into Google Ads, as the accounts will have to be linked prior to importing conversions.
To link accounts, navigate to Tools > Data manager.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
You can link accounts such as:
Google Analytics.
YouTube channel(s).
Third-party analytics.
Search Console.
CRM tools (Salesforce, Zapier, etc.).
Ecommerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.).
Tag Manager.
And more.
Step 3: Conduct Keyword Research & Structure Your Campaign
Now that you’ve got the foundations of goals and conversions covered, it’s time to complete some keyword research.
A robust keyword strategy ensures your ads reach the right audience, driving qualified traffic to your site.
Start With A Seed List
Not sure where to start? Don’t sweat it!
Start by listing out fundamental terms related to your products or services. Consider what your customers would type into a search engine to find you.
Doing keyword research into search engines in real-time can help discover additional popular ways that potential customers are already searching, which can uncover more possibilities.
Additionally, use common language and phrases that customers use to ensure relevance.
Use Keyword Research Tools
The Google Ads platform has a free tool built right into it, so be sure to utilize it when planning your keyword strategy.
All these insights help not only determine what keywords to bid on but also help form the ideal budget needed to go after those coveted keywords.
When researching keywords, try to identify long-tail keywords (typically, these are phrases with more than three words). Long-tail keywords may have lower search volume but have higher intent and purchase considerations.
Lastly, there are many paid third-party tools that can offer additional keyword insights like:
These tools are particularly helpful in identifying what competitors are bidding on, as well as finding gaps or opportunities that they are missing or underserving.
Group Keywords Into Thematic Ad Groups
Once you have your core keywords identified, it’s time to group them together into tightly-knit ad groups.
The reason for organizing them tightly is to increase the ad relevance as much as possible. Each ad group should focus on a single theme or product category.
As a good rule of thumb, I typically use anywhere from five to 20 keywords per ad group.
Another item to keep in mind is which match types to use for keyword bidding. See the example below from Google on the three keyword match types available:
Broad.
Phrase.
Exact.
Image credit: support.google.com, September 2024
Create A Hierarchical Campaign Structure
Once your ad groups have been segmented, it’s time to build the campaign structure(s).
You’ll want to divide your account into campaigns based on broader categories, such as:
Product lines.
Geographic regions.
Marketing goals.
Search volume.
For example, you can create one campaign for “Running Shoes.” Within that campaign, you create three ad groups:
Men’s running shoes.
Women’s running shoes.
Trail running shoes.
Now, there may be times when you have a keyword with an abnormally higher search volume than other keywords within a particular category.
Depending on your budget, it may be worth segmenting those high-volume search term(s) into its own campaign solely for better budget optimization.
If a high-volume keyword is grouped into ad groups with low-volume keywords, it’s likely that most of the ads served will be for the high-volume keyword.
This then inhibits the other low-volume keywords from showing, and can wreak havoc on campaign performance.
Utilize Negative Keywords
Just as the keywords you bid on are crucial to success, so are the negative keywords you put into place.
Negative keywords can and should be added and maintained as ongoing optimization of any paid search campaign strategy.
The main benefit of negative keywords is the ability to exclude irrelevant traffic. They prevent your ads from showing on irrelevant searches, saving budget and improving CTR over time.
Negative keywords can be added at the ad group, campaign, or account level.
Step 4: Configure Campaign Settings
Now that you’ve got the campaign structure ready to go, it’s time to start building and configuring the campaign settings.
Campaign settings are crucial to get right in order to optimize performance towards your goals.
There’s something to be said with the phrase, “The success is in the settings.” And that certainly applies here!
Choose The Right Bidding Strategy
You’ll have the option to choose a manual cost-per-click (CPC) or an automated bid strategy. Below is a quick rundown of the different types of bid strategies.
Manual CPC: Allows you to set bids for individual keywords, giving you maximum control. Suitable for those who prefer more hands-on management.
Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Optimizes bids to maximize revenue based on a target ROAS you set at the campaign level.
Target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Optimizes bids to achieve conversions at the target CPA you set at the campaign level.
Maximize Conversions: Sets bids to help get the most conversions for your budget.
Set Your Daily Budget Accordingly
Review your monthly paid search budget and calculate how much you can spend per day throughout the month.
Keep in mind that some months should be different to account for seasonality, market fluctuations, etc.
Additionally, be sure to allocate campaign budgets based on goals and priorities to maximize your return on investment.
You’ll also want to keep in mind the bid strategy selected.
For example, say you set a campaign bid strategy with a Target CPA of $30. You then go on to set your campaign daily budget of $50.
That $50 daily budget would likely not be enough to support the Target CPA of $30, because that would mean you’d get a maximum of two conversions per day, if that.
For bid strategies that require a higher CPA or higher ROAS, be sure to supplement those bid strategies with higher daily budgets to learn and optimize from the beginning.
Double-Check Location Settings
When choosing locations to target, be sure to look at the advanced settings to understand how you’re reaching those users.
For example, if you choose to target the United States, it’s not enough to enter “United States” and save it.
There are two options for location targeting that many fail to find:
Presence or interest: People in, regularly in, or who’ve shown interest in your included locations.
Presence: People in or regularly in your included locations.
Screenshot from Google Ads, September 2024
Google Ads defaults to the “presence or interest” setting, which I’ve seen time and time again where ads end up showing outside of the United States, in this example.
Again, the success is in the settings.
There are more settings to keep in mind when setting up your first paid search campaign, including:
Ad scheduling.
Audience targeting.
Device targeting.
And more.
Step 5: Write Compelling Ad Copy
Your ad copy is the gateway to attracting qualified customers.
Crafting the perfect mix of persuasion and relevancy into your ad copy can significantly impact your campaign’s success.
Create Attention-Grabbing Headlines
The headline is the most prominent part of the ad copy design on the search engine results page. Since each headline has a maximum character limit of 35 characters, it is important to make them count.
With Responsive Search Ads, you can create up to 15 different headlines, and Google will test different variations of them depending on the user, their search query, and multiple other factors to get that mix right.
Below are some tips for captivating a user’s attention:
Use Primary Keywords: Include your main keywords in the headline to improve relevance and Quality Score.
Highlight Unique Selling Points (USPs): Showcase what sets your product or service apart, such as free shipping, 24/7 support, or a unique feature.
Incorporate Numbers and Statistics: Use numbers to catch attention, like “50% Off” or “Join 10,000+ Satisfied Customers.”
Include a Strong Call-to-Action (CTA): Encourage immediate action with phrases like “Buy Now,” “Get a Free Quote,” or “Sign Up Today.”
Write Persuasive Descriptions
Description lines should complement the headline statements to create one cohesive ad.
Typically, two description lines are shown within any given ad. Each description line has a 90-character limit.
When creating a Responsive Search Ad, you can create four different descriptions, and then the algorithm will show variations of copy tailored to each individual user.
Expand on Headlines: Provide additional details that complement your headline and reinforce your message.
Address Pain Points: Highlight how your product or service solves specific problems your audience faces.
Use Emotional Triggers: Appeal to emotions by emphasizing benefits like peace of mind, convenience, or excitement.
Incorporate Keywords Naturally: Ensure the description flows naturally while including relevant keywords to maintain relevance.
Make Use Of Ad Assets (Formerly Extensions)
Because of the limited character count in ads, be sure to take advantage of the myriad of ad assets available as complements to headlines and descriptions.
Ad assets help provide the user with additional information about the brand, such as phone numbers to call, highlighting additional benefits, special offers, and more.
Some of the main ad assets used include:
Sitelinks.
Callouts.
Structured Snippets.
Calls.
And more.
You can find a full list of available ad assets in Google Ads here.
Step 6: Ensure An Effective Landing Page Design
You’ve spent all this time crafting your paid search campaign strategy, down to the keyword and ad copy level.
Don’t stop there!
There’s one final step to think about before launching your first paid search campaign: The landing page.
Your landing page is where users land after clicking your ad. An optimized landing page is critical for converting traffic into valuable conversions and revenue.
Ensure Relevancy And Consistency
The content and message of your landing page should directly correspond to your ad copy. If your ad promotes a specific product or offer, the landing page should focus on that same product or offer.
Use similar language, fonts, and imagery on your landing page as in your ads to create a cohesive user experience.
Optimize For User Experience (UX)
If a user lands on a page and the promise of the ad is not delivered on that page, they will likely leave.
Having misalignment between ad copy and the landing page is one of the quickest ways to waste those precious advertising dollars.
When looking to create a user-friendly landing page, consider the following:
Mobile-Friendly Design: Ensure your landing page is responsive and looks great on all devices, particularly mobile, as a significant portion of traffic comes from mobile users.
Fast Loading Speed:Optimize images, leverage browser caching, and minimize code to ensure your landing page loads quickly. Slow pages can lead to high bounce rates.
Clear and Compelling Headline: Just like your ad, your landing page should have a strong headline that immediately communicates the value proposition.
Concise and Persuasive Content: Provide clear, concise information that guides users toward the desired action without overwhelming them with unnecessary details.
Prominent Call-to-Action (CTA): Place your CTA above the fold and make it stand out with contrasting colors and actionable language. Ensure it’s easy to find and click.
Step 7: Launch Your Campaign
Once you’ve thoroughly completed these six steps, it’s time to launch your campaign!
But remember: Paid search campaigns are not a “set and forget” strategy. They must be continuously monitored and optimized to maximize performance and identify any shifts in strategy.
Create a regular optimization schedule to stay on top of any changes. This could look like:
Weekly Reviews: Conduct weekly performance reviews to identify trends, spot issues, and make incremental improvements.
Monthly Strategy Sessions: Hold monthly strategy sessions to assess overall campaign performance, adjust goals, and implement larger optimizations.
Quarterly Assessments: Perform comprehensive quarterly assessments to evaluate long-term trends, budget allocations, and strategic shifts.
When it comes to optimizing your paid search campaign, make sure you’re optimizing based on data. This can include looking at:
Pause Underperforming Keywords: Identify and pause keywords that are not driving conversions or are too costly.
Increase Bids on High-Performing Keywords: Allocate more budget to keywords that are generating conversions at a favorable cost.
Refine Ad Copy: Continuously test and refine ad copy based on performance data to enhance relevance and engagement.
Enhance Landing Pages: Use insights from user behavior on landing pages to make data-driven improvements that boost conversion rates.
Final Thoughts
Setting up your first paid search campaign involves multiple detailed steps, each contributing to the overall effectiveness and success of your advertising efforts.
By carefully defining your goals, linking relevant accounts, conducting thorough keyword research, configuring precise campaign settings, crafting compelling ad copy, and optimizing your landing pages, you lay a strong foundation for your campaign.
Remember, the key to a successful paid search campaign is not just the initial setup but also ongoing monitoring, testing, and optimization.
Embrace a mindset of continuous improvement, leverage data-driven insights, and stay adaptable to maximize your campaign’s potential.
This is it, the final chapter in our journey to mastering value-based bidding!
We have covered a lot of ground, from determining whether value-based bidding is a fit for your business, to understanding what data you’ll need, to assigning the right values, and choosing the right bid strategy.
After you have executed your value-based bidding strategy in your campaigns, it’s important to understand how and when to measure performance and how to optimize for your goals.
Check out the last two-minute video in our series on value-based bidding, and then we’ll go deeper into the details of optimizing value-based bidding.
When To Start Analyzing
To get a clear picture of how your campaigns are performing, you need enough data to work with.
Aim for at least 50 conversions or a full month of data, whichever comes first.
Remember to exclude the initial ramp-up period when your campaigns are still learning and gathering data. This ensures you’re analyzing stable and representative performance.
Evaluating Performance: Focus On The Value Metrics
In value-based bidding, we’re primarily concerned with two key metrics:
Conversion Value: This represents the total value generated from conversions driven by your ads. It’s the monetary worth of the actions users take after clicking on your ad, whether it’s a purchase, a sign-up, or a subscription.
Average Target Return On Ad Spend (ROAS): This is the traffic-weighted average ROAS that your bid strategy optimized for over a given time period. If you don’t see this metric in your performance table, be sure to add it from the column icon at the top of your Campaigns table. It’s available for both standard and portfolio bid strategies.
Optimization: Balancing Efficiency And Growth
If you think of your value-based bidding campaign as a car, your target ROAS and budget are your controls to adjust its speed and efficiency. To take this analogy further:
Target ROAS: This is like setting your cruise control. Adjusting your target ROAS influences how aggressively your bids compete in auctions.
A higher target ROAS means your bids will be more conservative, and you’ll likely compete in fewer auctions. Set a higher target ROAS if you want to prioritize efficiency.
Setting a lower target ROAS allows for more aggressive bidding. You’ll likely compete in more auctions and reach more customers. Set a lower target If you want to prioritize growth.
Budget: This is your gas tank. The amount of gas you put in depends in part on the bidding strategy you’ve chosen.
If you’ve set a target ROAS, ensure your budget aligns with your target ROAS and allows the system enough room to optimize effectively. You want to always have plenty of gas in the tank.
With a Maximize Conversion Value bidding strategy (without a target ROAS), the system aims to use all the gas you give it each day. It prioritizes driving the highest possible value within a specific allocated budget.
Understanding The Relationship Between Your Controls
Just like in a car, how you use the controls affects your overall performance.
Bid Limits – Don’t Limit Your Speed
You might be tempted to set limits on how much you pay per click (like setting a maximum speed limit) by setting bid limits. However, they can actually constrain the system and hinder performance.
It’s like trying to win a race while keeping your car below a certain speed. In value-based bidding, it’s best to let the system automatically adjust your bids based on the potential value of each click.
You may opt to set bid limits when you’re getting started or are in a highly competitive sector, but keep these tradeoffs in mind as you evaluate performance.
Note that bid limits are only used in Search Network auctions and only available for portfolio bid strategies.
Budget Constraints – Ensure Enough Fuel
If you’re using a target ROAS, make sure your budget isn’t constrained. Otherwise, it’s like trying to drive a long distance with very little gas. You won’t get very far.
A restrictive budget can limit the system’s ability to participate in valuable auctions and achieve your desired return. The system needs a sufficient budget to effectively optimize for your target ROAS.
More Optimization Tools
Use these additional tools to help you optimize your value-based bidding campaigns:
Bid Simulators
These simulators allow you to experiment with different ROAS targets and see the estimated impact on key metrics like conversions and cost when adjusting your targets.
Bid Strategy Report
This report provides insights into your campaign performance over time. It helps you understand how your bids are performing, diagnose any unusual fluctuations, and identify areas for improvement.
The conversion value delay shows how long it takes for customers to convert. This amount of time is the recent period to exclude when evaluating performance, as some conversions may still be reported later.
This also is where you’ll find the “Actual ROAS” metric, which represents the actual ROAS that this strategy was able to achieve. Keep in mind that small fluctuations in performance are normal.
Performance Planner
Forecast target and budget scenarios across your campaigns.
Performance Planner simulates relevant ad auctions over the last seven to 10 days, including variables like seasonality, competitor activity, and landing page.
It also includes conversion delay estimates for Search and Performance Max impact estimates.
Portfolio Bidding & Shared Budgets
These features enable you to allocate spend across a group of campaigns. They can be especially useful when using a target ROAS since a shared budget will automatically reallocate any underused budget to budget-capped campaigns.
Only apply shared budgets to campaigns that share the same goal (e.g., don’t have campaigns with different targets or bidding strategies sharing a budget).
Also, note that shared budgets can’t be applied to campaigns that are part of an experiment.
Embracing The Journey
Optimization is an ongoing process.
As your business evolves and your understanding of your customers deepens, revisit your conversion values to ensure they still accurately reflect the worth of each lead.
Adding “value” to your advertising strategies will allow you to go beyond customer (or lead) acquisition costs, focusing on driving return in your campaigns.
You’re now equipped with the knowledge and tools to bid to value.
By focusing your budget on finding the leads that align with your goals, you can drive meaningful results for your business.
For some years now (ever since Google Merchant Center was introduced in 2010), ecommerce advertisers have been working with product feeds.
It’s historically been a complex and often fragile process, but thanks to the introduction of Google Merchant Center Next, we have some new tools at our fingertips.
Here’s a look at how things are changing with Next.
The History Of Google Merchant Center
Back in the very beginning, we remember having to download CSV files from the website with all product information, and embarking on a long process of cleaning up and formatting the data so that it could be manually uploaded into Google Merchant Center (GMC).
In the early days, before policies became more strict, you could even use Merchant Center to advertise anything from repair services to round-the-world gap year vacations!
But in time, GMC became far more sophisticated (and also more restricted). Along with increased restrictions came the ease of use. Uploading data became much easier and more stable.
Eventually, plugins and connectors began doing most of the job for you, then platforms like Shopify got native integrations, and now with the advent of Google Merchant Center Next, you almost don’t need feeds at all!
Common Complaints About GMC
For most of the past 14 years of Merchant Center history, you’ve likely heard a few bits of common wisdom repeated ad nauseam:
Optimize your shopping feeds inside of GMC! Keep your Google categories accurately assigned inside of GMC! Add your metadata inside of GMC! Fill out all the boxes in GMC!
The world is slowly changing, and now, with GMC Next, you don’t have to make these changes within the GMC interface.
The changes need to happen on the website. While feeds won’t totally go away overnight (and neither will the need to optimize products), Google Merchant Center Next is ushering in a new feed-less era.
Announced at Google Marketing Live 2023, Merchant Center Next actually hasn’t taken hold as rapidly as expected. Even over a year after its announcement, most but not all of our client accounts have shifted over.
The core differentiator with Merchant Center Next is the simplification of website verification and the automatic population of product feeds from your website. This means that Google will scrape product information, pricing, imagery, and more directly from your site.
Additionally, it has integrated a new feature called Product Studio that allows you to use AI to update or change your product images and offers more comprehensive performance insights.
Screenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024
Many marketers had a negative gut reaction to the announcement of Next, but our entire team at Discosloth was actually pretty excited about this development.
Feed management (and especially the involvement of any third-party integrations, connectors, and tools) has always been a bit clunky, so the removal of any friction is a welcome feature.
While you can still use Shopify to upload your product data, many people have found it to be more difficult with some products not being uploaded properly. As it turns out, feeds have technically gone away, but in a way, they have actually just been renamed to Data Sources.
Screenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024
It appears that product feeds, as we know them, might be going away.
This doesn’t mean that product data management will become obsolete; rather, it indicates a shift in how this data is handled within the Merchant Center Next ecosystem.
The Mindset Change
I ultimately think that removing feeds is a fantastic approach because it shifts the mindset of marketers. Rather than focusing on incremental metadata optimization on hidden feeds, it will instead encourage advertisers to update & improve the actual listings on the actual site.
Rather than just making sure endless attributes are filled out in the backend, it means that the actual website and associated metadata will need to be correctly optimized. This eliminates double work and conflicting data.
When the website itself is the primary focus, it has positive effects on performance for all channels, like organic or social – not just paid.
While many paid marketers have been focused only on optimizing products and images within the Merchant Center, without paying any attention to the website listings, now may be the time to change that approach.
Thanks to this, the website owners may start seeing a better overall conversion rate for the entire website, across all channels.
This is a great step in the right direction. Contrary to what many naysayers think about the onset of AI and generative automation, I’m a fan of taking away the grunt work from marketing and handing it all to the robots.
A more automated approach to feed management will undoubtedly grant us a lot more bandwidth to make actual strategy and content decisions on the products themselves.
While we’ve been seeing more comprehensive data on product performance appearing in Google Merchant Center over the last few years, now may be the time to dig a little bit deeper.
While GA4 has widely become useless for advanced data analysis, the new GMC Next allows us to see website traffic for both paid and organic traffic from product listings, review competition and visibility, and get better data on the best-selling products and new trends.
Perhaps the feature I like the most: comparing the prices of your stock-keeping units (SKUs) vs. competitors. This is the kind of data that has been classically underused.
Instead of a misguided focus on inserting our favorite keywords into descriptions, we can finally focus on the quality and competitiveness of your products.
Screenshot from Google Merchant Center Next, August 2024
Taking Merchant Center Beyond Optimization
Performance Max and Demand Gen campaign types have given us some new tools and strategies to use in ecommerce advertising, but it’s become harder to see granular data on where your ads are appearing, detailed performance metrics, and perhaps most notably, which keyword terms & specific audiences these campaigns are appearing for.
Many advertisers are afraid that Google Merchant Center Next may be on a similar path of removing even more granular data and making it even harder for advertisers to be specific in our ad targeting.
But so far, most of the early complaints people had when Next was introduced have already been fixed. We got access back to supplemental feeds, we can now make bulk changes (even though it’s not as easy as it used to be) and we can once again appeal any incorrectly disapproved products.
Of course SKUs and product feeds need to be optimized, but this shouldn’t be anything out of the ordinary.
Optimizing this should be an assumed baseline for any ecommerce storefront.
Merchant Center Next, as we’ve found, is most effectively used for tactics far beyond what the old Merchant Center offered. Some of the most important tactics we now use include things like getting insights on specific SKUs to make sure you always hold in inventory, and diving deep into competitive visibility and pricing in order to massively increase sales.
