Managing Performance Max campaigns
Google Performance Max campaigns are paid advertising that can help you to promote your products and increase traffic to your online store.
Performance Max campaigns help you to maximize your ad performance across all Google channels, including YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, and Google Maps. You can learn more about Performance Max from Google Ads Help. You can create new Performance Max campaigns in Google Merchant Center, which can be accessed from the Google & YouTube channel in your Shopify admin.
On this page
Getting help with Google Ads
Contact Google Ads Help to get help with the following topics:
- billing and invoicing for Google Ads
- policies, ad reviews, and campaign optimization
- setting up ad types that the Google & YouTube channel doesn't support, such as video campaigns
- Google Merchant Center
- Google Analytics
You can contact Shopify Support to get help setting up or using the Google & YouTube channel.
Campaign tracking
Google Performance Max helps you review the impact of your marketing campaigns by letting you track specific actions that your customers take. When you create a campaign, some conversion actions are automatically added to your Google advertising account.
All events are accessible for review in your Google Ads account.
Maximize the impact of your Performance Max campaign
Google Performance Max campaigns use smart technology to optimize your ads and show them to people searching for your products in Shopping, YouTube, the Display Network, and Gmail.
It takes 14 days for Google's smart technology to learn how to best show your ads, so let your campaign run for at least 14 days before you change or evaluate its performance. After 14 days, make one change to your campaign and wait another 14 days to determine whether your change was an improvement.
Review the following changes that you can make to help your campaign maximize its success.
Set a budget
Choosing a budget for your campaign can be complex, but setting the right budget can help you maximize your campaign success. Learn more about setting budgets for Performance Max campaigns.
Adjust your daily budget
Different product categories tend to need different average daily budgets. For example, products that are higher in price, like jewellery or bicycles have a higher cost per conversion.
Google Ads uses an average daily budget, and not the exact budget daily. For example, if you decide to set your budget at $10, then Google might spend $5 one day, and $15 the following day. Consider spending a minimum of $5 for your average daily budget.
Measure your return on ad spend
To understand how your campaign is performing with your current set budget, you can calculate your return on ad spend (ROAS). You can do this by dividing your total sales by your total ad spend.
If your ROAS is greater than 1, then you are seeing positive results from your current campaign budget.
If your ROAS is 1, then your ad spend is being covered by your sales.
After you determine your ROAS and understand how your ad campaign is performing, make a decision about how you'd like to adjust your budget.
If your ROAS is positive, then consider increasing your budget.
If your ROAS isn't positive, then consider optimizing your campaign for a different result.
For example, Kade sells bracelets at a 25 USD profit. Kade ran a small 20 USD marketing campaign and made one sale. The ROAS for that campaign is 25/20 = 1.25. Because the ROAS is positive, Kade decides to run a monthly campaign with an average daily budget of 20 USD, which gives a monthly budget of 600 USD.
Build your product feed
Your product feed is the list of products that you want to advertise. The Google & YouTube channel automatically updates your product feed when you add, edit, or delete products from your Shopify admin.
To maximize your ad campaign, you can manually adjust the product attributes in your product feed. Product attributes are information about your products, such as product title, description, and price. Make sure to write your product attributes in a way that resonates with your audience.
Product title
Your product title is an important part of your ad or free listing. Specific and accurate product titles help Google show your products to the right customers. There are a few things you can do while developing a good product title:
- Create a list of phrases that someone would use when searching for your product.
- Research how competitors describe their products.
- Use Google Trends to test your potential product titles.
For more information on writing product titles, refer to Google Merchant Center Help.
Pricing
Make sure that your pricing is competitive in your market. Customers see alternative products to yours, so having a comparably priced product is important.
Product type
Google uses product types to understand what you're selling and to match your ads to relevant searches. When you categorize your product, it's important to follow these rules:
- Use
>to separate levels in your product category - Use this format for your product type: Product type > Product subtype 1 > Product subtype 2 > season/occasion/topic. For example, Animal & Pet Supplies > Pet Supplies > Dog Supplies > Dog Apparel
Steps:
From your Shopify admin, click Settings > Apps and sales channels.
From the Apps and sales channels page, click Google.
Click Open sales channel.
Choose the product that you want to edit and click Edit Google fields.
Input your edited product type in the Google product category field.
Click Save.
Product identifiers
Unique product identifiers help Google verify the product that you're selling. Make sure to properly set up these identifiers so that your product can be displayed in a Google Smart Shopping campaign. Refer to Unique product identifiers for more information.
Optimize your customer shopping experience
Your campaign's success can be affected based on what happens after they click your ad. By understanding how your customers behave when they arrive at your store, you can improve their shopping experience.
Identify shopper drop-off points
To improve your website experience, use your Google Performance Max campaign data to understand when customers leave your store to improve your on-site experience.
Improve your store's features
Google Performance Max campaign ads link to the product page of your online store. Consider adding multiple images, and editing your product page to set a good first impression with your customers.
You can also use Google's Grow My Store for recommendations on how to improve your store.
Build trust with customers
To create trust with your customers, consider improving the written content on your online store. Make sure that your product information, customer support, and return policy are all written in a clear and understandable way.
If you notice that customers leave your store after viewing your product page, then consider the following:
- Add unique selling points, such as fast shipping, 24/7 customer support, or free refunds.
- Include customer reviews, press mentions, and other endorsements on your product page.
- Improve your website quality. This can include reducing load times, improving product image quality, and editing your product description.
For more ideas on how to improve your online store, refer to How to Optimize Your Product Pages for More Sales on the Shopify Blog.
Setting budgets for Google Performance Max campaigns
Every time someone visits a page where a Google ad can be shown, Google's algorithms determine which ad to show. A factor for whether your ad is shown is your Google Performance Max campaign budget.
If your budget is set lower than similar campaigns in your target market, then your ad is shown less when competing with similarly relevant ads, because there is less budget to work with to place a competitive bid. Whenever possible, it's best to keep your daily budget for Google ads around the average or above average.
Google Performance Max campaigns work well if you already have existing visits and online traffic to your store. If you’re a new store, then the learning period may take longer to generate conversions.
Google Performance Max campaigns bid to help get conversions that are the most valuable for your campaign (basket value). Google Performance Max campaigns use cost-per-click pricing, so you pay only when customers click your ad.
| Market status | Example Countries | Recommended minimum budget |
|---|---|---|
| Emerging markets | India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and other emerging markets | 5 USD - 7 USD |
| Mature markets | Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and other mature markets | 10 USD - 15 USD |
| United States | United States | Over 15 USD |
How your budget affects your ad performance
Why is setting a competitive starting budget important?
An appropriate starting budget allows you to place competitive bids which makes it more likely that your ads are viewed and that you get a wider reach. The higher your budget is, the more frequently your ads can be shown when compared to similarly relevant ads.
If your budget isn’t competitive for the target market, then your traffic and conversion rate might not reach its full potential.
How does bidding work?
Google’s automated bidding helps to set bids for your campaign. Using information about your campaign and data present at auction-time (such as your budget, Google insights and Retailer insights), Google automated bidding automatically finds an optimal bid for your ad each time it's eligible to appear. Google sets these bids to help get conversions that are the most valuable for your campaign.
Google's algorithms use the performance data from your ads (clicks and conversions) to determine when your ads should be shown in the future and the right bid to place. Getting lots of performance data early helps better target your ads to potential customers, which leads to your ads performing better.
To learn more about bidding, refer to Google Ads Help.
How does pricing work?
Google Performance Max campaigns use cost-per-click pricing, so you pay only when customers click your ad.
If my budget is too low, how is my traffic affected?
If your budget isn't high enough, then your traffic and potential conversion rate can be lower. Other factors like product descriptions, titles, images, and pages can affect your traffic.
How your target market affects your budget
Why is the minimum budget suggestion more expensive in mature markets?
Mature markets are more expensive because there are more advertisers in these markets. This means that the auction is more competitive. The more competitive the auction is, the higher budget you need.
What countries are supported for Google Performance Max campaigns?
For a list of countries supported by Google Performance Max campaigns, refer to Google Merchant Center Help.