Maximise Campaign Success: Google’s New Performance Max Updates Explained

Google announced at the DMEXCO conference last week that it is implementing new features and updates to Performance Max with aims of creating “deeper insights and better results”.

The new updates are:

Asset Reporting

Google is improving its asset reporting through the introduction of conversion metrics for each asset. New asset coverage reporting will help marketers identify areas of weakness and receive specific recommendations to help counter them. For example, “add 2 long headlines”.

Improved Visibility

Another improvement is improved visibility to campaign performance: Google says it is implementing an overhaul of performance insights. Insights, explanations and recommendations will be combined into a single view.

Target Pacing

Target pacing insights mean it will be easier to track progress against CPA and ROAS goals and understand if a campaign will meet the bid target. Google states that the “seamless integration with explanations” will reveal the causes (if a campaign is not delivering as hoped).

Impression Share

Performance Max will also see impression share reporting for the first time.

Impression Share is the percentage of impression that ads receive compared to the total number of impressions the ads could get:

Impression Share = impressions / total eligible impressions

Eligible impressions are estimated using a range of factors: target settings, approval status and quality.

Alongside these features, Google is expanding the AI tools available:

AI-powered creative tools will be available in more languages – conversational experience for Search campaigns will be rolled out in German, French and Spanish over the next few months.

Conversational AI experience helps marketers through creating search campaigns with personalised recommendations. This has proved popular with small businesses, although until now, it was only available in English.

Asset generation for text and image assets used in Pmax, App and Display campaigns is available now in German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian.

What do these updates mean for marketers? 

There's no doubt that Performance Max (Pmax) is the superior campaign type on Google for driving results. However, its lack of transparency, often referred to as a 'black box' approach, has been a significant drawback. This alone has deterred many advertisers from putting their media budgets to the campaign type.

Fortunately, Google has taken feedback on board and is now providing more detailed insights, allowing us to further optimize our clients' performance. The improvements in creative asset reporting will enable more effective creative testing across formats, helping us scale the non-shopping elements of Pmax campaigns. Through loopholes and workarounds, we've already managed to improve Pmax performance by up to 15% through creative development alone. With this additional information now available in the platform, we’ll be better equipped to make informed decisions.

Additionally, the introduction of impression share reporting for Pmax should finally help answer the 'How big is the pie?' question. For a long time, Pmax has seemed like a bottomless pit, making it difficult to gauge how much more growth is possible. Now, with access to these insights, we'll have a clearer understanding of the potential within each campaign. 

How is 26PMX responding to these updates? 

With these exciting updates to Performance Max, 26PMX is uniquely positioned to help clients take full advantage of the enhanced transparency and insights that Google is offering.

As these updates roll out, our team is ready to deliver deeper insights and smarter strategies, helping clients stay ahead in the competitive digital landscape.

For more information on how 26PMX can help transform your paid media strategy, visit: https://26pmx.com/services/paid-media/