Should I Create Performance Max Campaigns?

In 2022, Performance Max (PMax) campaigns have gone a step further in Google Ads account management, due to the possibility of full automation.

‍

What is Performance Max?

‍

In Performance Max campaigns you just have to set an objective, provide a few assets and then ads are published automatically from the same campaign in the Search, Maps, Display, YouTube, Gmail and Discovery networks. Taking artificial intelligence to the next level at the service of advertisers.

‍

‍

Many SEM Managers wonder if they should replace all their campaigns and focus solely on Permformance Max. Relying completely on Google’s promises of achieving better results from automation.

‍

Time saving is undeniable but, will it outperform manually managed campaigns? To what extent does Google not abuse its dominant position? Should we trust blindly in Google’s AI and its automations?

‍

In this post we are going to focus on the benefits of Performance Max campaigns and whether it's worth replacing standard Search campaigns.

‍

‍

Google Ads reports do not provide much information regarding Performance Max campaigns. Many SEM manager complain about this lack of information in PMax...that's why we developed Performance Max tool, a tool to open the "black-box" and provide you with more info about the performance of your PMax campaigns.

‍

Performance Max is positioned as a strategy to save time and expand the reach by combining all networks in a single campaign. However, is it worth it on accounts that are limited to the Search Network?

‍

Many businesses have had active accounts targeting the Search network for quite a long time, maybe in combination with the Display network. Many of them with an excellent performance record. They have their paid traffic under control, they know their target audience as well as the copies that work best. Should they pause these profitable campaigns to join the PMax trend?

‍

The answer that may come to mind is “NO, do not bet on Performance Max and stick with the previous strategy”. Another option, for which we advocate the most, is to use Performance Max as a complement to the original campaign.

‍

Insights on the opportunity to take advantage of Performance Max:

‍

1. Putting all your faith on PMax and give up on manual campaigns. Especially when there are campaigns that needs to be created from scratch.
   This strategy is intended to save a large amount of time by relying on Google's artificial intelligence, although during the first months the investment is very expensive. It implies accepting a total loss of control of the account and not having access to full reporting of other types of campaigns such as search.
2. Giving up on PMAx, rejecting the switch, feeling threatened by artificial intelligence and fearing that clients will perceive that they no longer need your expensive expertise.
   Some distrust the reliability of Google, which wants to take over control of the campaigns from clients and manage accounts hardly offering any reporting.
3. Going for a mix of PMax and the rest of networks in order to get new insights and expanding reahc without losing control.

‍

To make a decision, you must understand that each business is different and its needs may vary. Therefore, the choice depends on the type and status of the account in order to get the most out of the tools offered by Google.

‍

Although at Dolnai we embrace technology and technological advances, we encourage SEM Managers not to completely delegate the management of their accounts to Google, because there is always information that is difficult to access that can allow you to obtain great benefits.

‍

We encourage you to try Dolnai PMax tool which will save you a lot of time managing and creating ads. But unlike PMax, you'll get more details about the performance of your accounts, your competitors and you will find out which copies have worked best to continue in line with the ad copies that convert better.