Optimizing your Performance Max campaigns with Google Ads, GA4 data

Efficiency Max adverts have been touted as an efficient way to handle Google Adverts throughout a number of Google-owned channels, making marketing campaign administration easier for PPC advertisers.

It combines all of Google Adverts’ channel choices collectively in a single marketing campaign and makes use of Google’s AI (Gemini) to optimize budgets and advert serving throughout all channels primarily based on efficiency. 

On the floor, I’ve seen nice outcomes from our shoppers’ Efficiency Max campaigns, nevertheless it’s definitely left me questioning which channels carried out finest.

Think about the learnings you possibly can glean from the speedy testing and information assortment of AI utilized to your Google Adverts!

It may simply enable you to tweak and enhance channel-specific campaigns and even make the most of learnings from Google Adverts throughout different advert platforms.

Exploring Efficiency Max information

Delving down into Efficiency Max information is less complicated stated than completed. Google is cautious in offering solely sure insights into the campaigns.

For instance, inside Google Adverts (and when pulling the information from Google Adverts through the API), advertisers can’t parse out efficiency information, resembling conversions or price per conversion, by channel. And why not?

I consider Google is utilizing Efficiency Max for 2 fundamental targets. 

First, Google will doubtless understand that sure advert channels, resembling Google Uncover, act extra as a branding interplay than a bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) interplay.

With entrepreneurs principally being measured by efficiency, resembling clicks and conversions, I think advertisers weren’t biting on these advert codecs.

Efficiency Max permits Google a conduit to drive advertisers to make use of channels they could not have initially chosen below the guise of total optimized efficiency.

Nonetheless, entrepreneurs profit from AI-optimized ad-serving, however at a value. We are able to’t take away the channels from Efficiency Max, which is affecting total conversion efficiency.

So if Google Uncover is negatively affecting efficiency, will Google cease displaying your Efficiency Max adverts there, or will they proceed to point out the advert on Google Uncover to spice up that advert channel’s utilization on the expense of optimum click on and conversion efficiency to your marketing campaign? 

Sadly, advertisers aren’t in a position to alter Efficiency Max channels and have comparatively no visibility into advert channel efficiency.

And therein lies the conundrum with Efficiency Max. Like it for the price range optimization or hate it for the shortage of efficiency management. 

Should you, too, have a love/hate relationship with Efficiency Max, let me share some methods you possibly can bend Efficiency Max to your advertising and marketing will via information from each Google Adverts and GA4, even regardless of its information limitations.

As Menachem Ani shares in his 2022 article, focus your effort on guiding the AI machine.

Create broader campaigns and be taught from them

After we first began testing Efficiency Max for a positive wine retailer we work with, on the advice of other Performance Max experts, we created very particular wine selection campaigns, resembling champagne, merlot, white zinfandel, and so forth. Nonetheless, we didn’t discover this essentially profitable. 

Whereas some wine varieties carried out nicely, much less well-liked varieties struggled. Even after garnering excessive CTR, they typically didn’t end in conversion and income.

We shifted methods and determined to go a bit broader. With this technique, we decided which varieties carried out strongly via income information. People who carried out nicely earned their very own breakout Efficiency Max marketing campaign.

When testing Efficiency Max, think about beginning with a broader class after which studying out of your information to slim it down.

You’ll be able to glean this info from GA4 utilizing an Explorations report (or pull the information through the GA4 API) and evaluate merchandise gross sales by marketing campaign.

This can let you know the particular classes performing nicely via Efficiency Max and will doubtless help their particular Efficiency Max marketing campaign.

Dig deeper: How to combine GA4 and Google Ads for powerful paid search results

---

Create a number of asset teams per marketing campaign with a selected focus

Consider asset teams such as you would advert teams in search campaigns. In search advert teams, it’s a finest observe to group widespread key phrases collectively in an advert group. Do the identical with asset teams and the asset focus.

We just lately ran two asset teams in a check in a Efficiency Max marketing campaign for a similar retailer. The asset teams had the identical advert copy and extensions however totally different photos and movies by group. 

• Group A contained photos and movies that includes lovely surroundings of vineyards, luscious glasses of wine pouring or a bunch of pals celebrating with wine. 
• Group B featured photos of particular wine bottles from our stock, utilizing quite a lot of manufacturers primarily based on our hottest wines in that class. 

Whereas Google doesn’t make it intuitive, you possibly can examine the outcomes of two asset teams. Asset teams in Efficiency Max campaigns are considerably akin to advert teams in search campaigns, however there’s restricted reporting in Google Adverts round asset teams. 

To see how one asset group performs in opposition to one other in a Efficiency Max marketing campaign, navigate to the marketing campaign in Google Adverts, and as a substitute of the default asset group Abstract view, change to the Desk view:

The desk view gives higher element of efficiency by asset group, and you’ll customise the columns as nicely, permitting you to see conversion information by asset group:

Use totally different vacation spot URLs for every asset group

Nonetheless, seeing asset group efficiency in GA4 is a little more troublesome. In contrast to advert teams, GA4 doesn’t cross asset group info via to GA4. So, if you wish to pull this information collectively in GA4, how will you do it? 

The best method is so as to add a monitoring parameter to the asset group vacation spot URL. For instance, you possibly can create a separate vacation spot URL for every asset group utilizing a parameter, resembling utm_creative_format, then seize that parameter in a customized dimension in GA4. 

This could mean you can break down precise conversion and gross sales information by asset group in GA4 along with marketing campaign. 

Advert power isn’t at all times indicative of potential success

In Efficiency Max asset teams, extra asset gadgets (resembling photos, movies, and so forth.) sometimes increase your ad strength. Nonetheless, Google’s definition of advert power isn’t at all times indicative of doubtless success. 

Within the instance beneath, each asset teams have an identical property besides for the visible creatives. The one variations between the 2 teams are:

• The main focus of the inventive asset: The “Good” asset group focuses on scenes of the product, whereas the “Common” asset group focuses on precise product photos.
• The varieties of inventive property: The “Good” asset group accommodates the utmost variety of photos and 5 movies, whereas the “Common” asset group accommodates the utmost variety of photos and no movies.

We examined this identical asset group throughout all campaigns for over 30 days, utilizing a scenic asset group versus a product picture asset group. 

In each case, the product picture asset group that includes product bottles outperformed the scenic asset group each time, although Google’s outlined Advert Energy methodology implies that the scenic asset group will carry out higher. 

The scenic asset group typically garnered extra clicks and a better CTR, nevertheless it by no means generated income over that check interval – solely the product picture asset group did. 

Whereas advert power as a metric could seem like useful, use your precise conversion information from 

Set your ROAS excessive, then go greater

Should you set your ROAS objective at 200%, then you definitely’ll get round 200%. However what for those who set it greater? 

Considered one of Efficiency Max’s best strengths is its means to maximise price range to attain your required ROAS. Push it to the utmost and use Efficiency Max for what it’s good at.

Test your outcomes in GA4 and Google Adverts to see how the change impacts efficiency.

Watch out for the cross-network default channel grouping

Efficiency Max campaigns seem as “cross-network” in GA4’s default channel groupings. Rolling all campaigns collectively below this combination grouping to judge efficiency may be tempting. 

Nonetheless, as a result of Efficiency Max is AI-assisted, combining new campaigns with present ones gained’t present the true readability that particular person campaign-level reporting will. Keep away from the temptation to judge Efficiency Max on an combination degree in GA4.