{"id":5752,"date":"2022-08-26T16:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T16:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/"},"modified":"2022-08-26T16:00:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T16:00:08","slug":"performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Performance Max optimization: How to improve your performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/performance-max-campaigns-set-up-386684\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">set up<\/a> your Performance Max campaigns and <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/performance-max-maximize-insights-387302\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">maximized<\/a> the data and insights. Now what?<\/p>\n<p>Your primary goal with Performance Max is to enable the algorithm to do its job well. <\/p>\n<p>Like most things in life, you get what you give. <\/p>\n<p>The AI can perform better if you provide stronger data inputs (data feed + audience signals + creative assets) and outputs (tracking).<\/p>\n<p>Machine learning can only make smart choices when we teach it what is valuable to us. This is why it\u2019s super important to ensure your campaigns are tracking conversions properly. <\/p>\n<p>PMax requires patience: give it 2-4 weeks to gain momentum while making limited incremental changes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Bid_strategy\" >Bid strategy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Audience_signals\" >Audience signals<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Creative_assets\" >Creative assets<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Ads_Creative_Studio\" >Ads Creative Studio<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Video_Builder\" >Video Builder<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Data_feed_ecommerce\" >Data feed (ecommerce)<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Exclusions\" >Exclusions<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Location\" >Location<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Landing_pages\" >Landing pages<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Budget\" >Budget<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/26\/performance-max-optimization-how-to-improve-your-performance\/#Takeaways\" >Takeaways<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Bid_strategy\"><\/span>Bid strategy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Depending on your product\/goal. We typically recommend starting with Maximize Conversions so the system can gather data. <\/p>\n<p>Once you have solid historical data, you can layer on a target CPA or switch to Maximize Conversion Value with target ROAS.<\/p>\n<p>If you find that you\u2019re not spending your full budget, that means your bid is too aggressive. Try increasing your tCPA or decreasing your tROAS targets. <\/p>\n<p>If you are spending your full budget daily, you can likely decrease bids incrementally or spend more!<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Audience_signals\"><\/span>Audience signals<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If overall performance is poor <strong>and<\/strong> you are not seeing many conversions, try tightening your audience signals. Provide strong data so Google knows who your customer is. <\/p>\n<p>Interests are great, but the best data is your actual customer data.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I highly recommend adding these: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Customer Match:<\/strong> Import customer lists, email + SMS subscribers  <\/li>\n<li><strong>Custom Intent:<\/strong> Create audiences with top-performing keywords <\/li>\n<li><strong>Website Visitors:<\/strong> Page Viewers, Converters, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Customer Match <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f4e7.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udce7\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> <\/p>\n<p>Start by uploading any lists you have including email addresses and phone numbers. This could be previous customs, email subscribers, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Custom Intent <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f520.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udd20\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> <\/p>\n<p>Build a list of your top performing keywords from Search and Standard Shopping<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ud835\ude7c\ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude8a\ud835\ude8c\ud835\ude91\ud835\ude8e\ud835\ude96 \ud835\ude70\ud835\ude97\ud835\ude92 <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/24c2.png\" alt=\"\u24c2\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> Google Ads <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f4c8.png\" alt=\"\ud83d\udcc8\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> (@MenachemAni) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MenachemAni\/status\/1550157257735823362?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">July 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Creative_assets\"><\/span>Creative assets<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s a great thread from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duanebrown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">@duanebrown<\/a> on the importance of strong creative in Performance Max. Similar to paid social, PMax is reliant on creative assets to sell your products.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">PMax Creative.<\/p>\n<p>The lever paid search people didn&#8217;t know they needed. Sure you can run feed only PMax. We are seeing great results when adding assets. PMax has 3 levers:<\/p>\n<p>1\u20e3Feed<br \/>2\u20e3Creative<br \/>3\u20e3Signals<\/p>\n<p>How do we think about creative with PMax? <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f9f5.png\" alt=\"\ud83e\uddf5\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ppcchat?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#ppcchat<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Duane Brown <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f1e8-1f1e6.png\" alt=\"\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/13.1.0\/72x72\/1f3f3-fe0f-200d-1f308.png\" alt=\"\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\" class=\"wp-smiley\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"> 3x Vax&#8217;ed! (@duanebrown) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/duanebrown\/status\/1560271478930583553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 18, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Ads_Creative_Studio\"><\/span>Ads Creative Studio<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Google recently released some tools to make it easier to create and manage your <a href=\"http:\/\/adscreativestudio.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">assets<\/a>. Ads Creative Studio is an amazing tool to create templates graphics and videos.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"626\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Screen-Shot-2022-08-26-at-8.52.32-AM-626x600.png\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387563\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Video_Builder\"><\/span>Video Builder<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Video Builder is located in Google Ads and lets you easily create videos from a template.<\/p>\n<p><em>Google Ads &gt; Tools &amp; Settings &gt; Shared Library &gt; Asset Library &gt; Create Video<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Looking to connect with or share updates with your customers on YouTube? With YouTube Video Builder, you can build a short video in a matter of minutes. Here\u2019s how to get started: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/v4d2mbxmVp\">https:\/\/t.co\/v4d2mbxmVp<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/168mX95CnO\">pic.twitter.com\/168mX95CnO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Google Ads (@GoogleAds) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GoogleAds\/status\/1250107589225902081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">April 14, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Data_feed_ecommerce\"><\/span>Data feed (ecommerce)<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When submitting products to Google Merchant Center, make sure you are submitting as much info as possible. Specific attention should be made to product identifiers.<\/p>\n<p>Google looks at the following three columns to understand what specific product you\u2019re selling: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Brand Name <\/li>\n<li>Manufacturer Part Number (MPN\/SKU) <\/li>\n<li>UPC Code (GTIN)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Additionally, but just as important to have: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Descriptive Titles (include keywords in your title, this is how Google knows which search terms should trigger your ad!) <\/li>\n<li>Google Taxonomy\/Categorization <\/li>\n<li>Product Type<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Exclusions\"><\/span>Exclusions<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Something not working? Exclude it and force the system to focus elsewhere. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Listing Groups:<\/strong> You can exclude by Product ID, Category, Brand, Custom Labels, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Negative Keywords:<\/strong> A Google rep can block irrelevant or non-performing KWs. I don\u2019t love this approach as the whole idea of PMax is to allow the algorithm to see real-time revenue and stop non-converting traffic automatically.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Customer Exclusions:<\/strong> Not getting enough new customer acquisition? Block your existing customers from being targeted. <\/li>\n<li><strong>URLs<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Location\"><\/span>Location<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re seeing irrelevant traffic from countries\/locations you\u2019re not targeting. Make sure to switch the location settings to <em>Presence<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>This can be found in the campaign <em>Settings &gt; Locations &gt; Advanced Options<\/em><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/FbBMKhvWAAAhge0-800x375.jpeg\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387564\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Landing_pages\"><\/span>Landing pages<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you find that PMax is cannibalizing search and sending traffic to pages that are not converting well, you can: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exclude Specific URLs <\/li>\n<li>Turn Off <em>URL Expansion Settings &gt; Additional Settings &gt; Final URL Expansion<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"235\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/FbBMK9RWAAApRir-800x235.jpeg\" alt=\"| Craig Hordlow\" class=\"wp-image-387565\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Budget\"><\/span>Budget<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Is your campaign performing well? Increase the budget in 10-20% increments on a weekly basis. <\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t increase too much in one shot, it\u2019ll shock the system and force it to find new traffic sources.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Takeaways\"><\/span>Takeaways<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Take the time to configure the right data inputs.<\/li>\n<li>Let the algorithm do the work.<\/li>\n<li>Be patient.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/optimization-improving-performance-in-performance-max-387562\" target=\"_blank\">Performance Max optimization: How to improve your performance<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve set up your Performance Max campaigns and maximized the data and insights. Now what? Your primary goal with Performance Max is to enable the algorithm to do its job well. Like most things in life, you get what you give. The AI can perform better if you provide stronger data inputs (data feed + audience signals + creative assets) and outputs (tracking). Machine learning can only make smart choices when we teach it what is valuable to us. This is why it\u2019s super important to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}