6 ways to maximise Performance Max campaigns across multiple platforms

Thinking of trying out Google Performance Max for your next ad campaign? Perhaps you’ve already given it a try, but aren’t yet sure how to get the most from this impressive AI-powered tool.

PMax works a little differently to other ad campaigns you may be used to, so it may take some time to work out how to get the best results from it.

Here, we’ll take a look at actionable strategies to maximise your Performance Max campaigns, helping to boost conversions, widen your reach and ultimately – achieve your goals.

First things first - understanding the core principles of Google Performance Max

To get the most from Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, it’s helpful to understand how this campaign type really works.

Essentially, it’s an automated type of Google Ads campaign, which utilises AI and machine learning to help you achieve your goals. And it’s all about your specific targets, whether that’s maximising conversions or boosting conversion value. You tell PMax what you want to achieve, upload assets and Google handles the rest.

It’s impressively powerful, as a single PMax campaign can be used to find and reach customers across all of Google’s advertising channels. Ads are automatically tailored and optimised for each channel, and its machine learning technology decides when and where to show them.

6 ways to optimise Google Performance Max campaigns

The beauty of Performance Max lies in its automation, powered by robust AI and machine learning systems that enable almost completely automated campaign creation and management. However, it’s worth noting that while this automation can be extremely powerful, it can also be volatile and dangerous if not set up correctly, targeting the right goals, and continuously controlled and monitored. Without proper oversight, things can go wrong quickly.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t also things you can do to maximize PMax campaign performance. Below, we’ll run through 7 actionable strategies to help you maximize reach and conversion across various platforms.

1: Get asset group structuring right

Instead of traditional ad groups, you’ll need to create asset groups when creating PMax campaigns. These groups need to be structured around particular themes, such as:

• Product or service
• Price or brand
• Seasonal, promotional or event-based groups (for example, Black Friday)
• Audience profile
• Market (for example, domestic or international)

The aim is to give the tool plenty of high quality assets to work with, so that it can deliver dynamic combinations which are likely to resonate best with your target audience.

2: Create high quality, versatile assets

All the assets you feed into Performance Max need to be rich, high quality and versatile – even though they may be grouped around themes. The algorithm works best using variation, as it is constantly testing different combinations to work out which deliver the best results. The more quality creatives you can give it, the more opportunities it has to deliver truly impactful combinations.

Campaign results should validate this, as you should see more engagement, increased conversions and a better ROI on ad spend overall.

3: Prioritise data quality – especially for audience signals

Alongside assets, the quality of data is absolutely crucial to PMax campaign success. It’s particularly important in relation to audience signals, where you’ll tell the tool about your target audience’s interests, location and other key demographics.

The main audience signals to include are:

• Remarketing audiences – including your warmest leads (which are the most likely to convert) such as past website visitors and previous converters
• Interest-based audiences – users who are actively searching for products or services in your niche, or whose interests align with your offer.
• Customer match lists – including email lists of previous customers, who can be targeted for retention, upselling or cross-selling
• Custom audiences – built using specific keywords or other data, to find new customers whose search behaviours align with your offer.

The more quality data you can provide, the faster and more effectively the algorithm can target the best leads.

4: Budgeting your Performance Max campaign for optimal results

When setting a budget for your PMax campaign, think of it as providing enough fuel for your car to reach its destination efficiently and at its full potential. Ad platforms suggest being generous with your spend, as a sufficient budget allows the campaign to achieve both better efficiency and a higher ceiling for reach and conversions across multiple platforms.

Scaling up budgets slowly can limit the initial learning period of the AI, hindering its ability to optimise effectively. Without enough budget, you’ll effectively be limiting the capabilities of the tool and hampering performance.

5: Choose the right bidding strategy

PMax offers a choice of automated bidding strategies, and you’ll need to choose the right one to help you achieve your specific targets. Firstly, make sure you have 100% reliable conversion tracking set up. This may sound like a small technical point, but it’s crucial. Without it, the tool may simply optimise to maximize clicks rather than meaningful conversions. For eCommerce, this is relatively straightforward. However, for lead-generation, it’s essential to set a goal at a Qualified Lead level rather than just an initial lead. The automated nature of PMax can bring in a mix of quality if not properly qualified or controlled. The system will see an initial lead as one conversion, but you’ll want it to recognise a qualified lead as the primary conversion. Alternatively, you could add a second goal for qualified leads, where an initial lead counts as one conversion, but a qualified lead is worth two.

You’ll have a choice of maximising conversions, targeting cost-per-acquisition (CPA), maximising conversion value, and targeting return on ad spend (ROAS). Think carefully about exactly what it is you want to achieve from the campaign before selecting one.

6: Use the right tools

PMax is a powerful tool on its own, but it also plays well with others. A great way to supercharge your campaigns is to make use of complementary tools. Just to balance this out, there is AI help from both the Google Ads and also Microsoft Ads platforms. For example, you can use Microsoft’s Copilot for AI assistance in developing and managing PMax campaigns – all through a pleasingly conversational interface. It can make asset creation, personalisation, and optimisation much easier and much quicker. It’s Gemini in Google Ads, and helps with ad copy creation and asset creation.

You’ll get deep cross-platform insights into everything from the effectiveness of assets to the behaviour of audiences. This means you can make data-backed decisions to improve PMax performance even further.