In 2024, Google introduced an enhanced set of Performance Max features designed to improve control and reporting functionalities. Performance Max harnesses the full potential of Google's channels and artificial intelligence within a single campaign to optimize your performance.
Looking ahead to 2025, Google plans to further develop Performance Max in several critical areas, aiming to enhance results and provide greater transparency regarding performance drivers. Begin the year on a strong note with these new features.
Google has just announced new and expanded capabilities in Performance Max to set up advertisers for success in 2025 and beyond.
The aim with these updates is to provide advertisers with more control, transparency, and actionable insights within Performance Max to achieve their desired campaign outcomes. Couple of things to point out:
- More campaign control: Advertisers are gaining more granular control with these updates, allowing for more precise AI steering and alignment with specific marketing goals, all the while keeping advertisers in the driver's seat.
- Enhanced Search reporting and guidance: Google is giving PMax campaigns a transparency boost to provide a clearer picture of what's driving results, enabling data-driven optimization and more informed decision-making.
- Asset group improvements: Google is also delivering ways to help advertisers become more actionable and analyze asset effectiveness in more granular detail, ultimately leading to more impactful campaigns.
Enhanced campaign controls to guide your AI strategy
At last year's DMEXCO, the technology leader unveiled a beta feature for campaign-level negative keywords, enabling advertisers to exclude certain queries that may not align with brand suitability or other criteria. This highly anticipated functionality is set to be available to all advertisers in the coming weeks.
Additionally, you can optimize your use of Performance Max by focusing on acquiring new customers through newly introduced customer acquisition goals. The previous year saw the launch of a beta for high-value new customer mode, which is now being rolled out to all advertisers. This feature allows you to identify your high-value customers and the long-term benefits they bring through Customer Match. Google AI will analyze your data to forecast which new users are most likely to enhance your business's lifetime value and adjust bids accordingly. Campaign-level reporting will also be accessible, allowing you to track the number of new customers generated by your campaign, including those classified as high-value.
For retail advertisers utilizing product feeds, improved control over brand exclusions across various ad formats will soon be available. Previously, brand exclusions were uniformly applied to both Search and Shopping ads. Now, you will have the option to restrict brand exclusions solely to Search text ads while maintaining branded traffic for Shopping ads. This adjustment can be particularly beneficial if you prefer to display Shopping ads for brand terms but wish to manage Search text ads for those terms in a separate campaign.
The “URL contains” rules, currently available in standard Performance Max campaigns, will also be extended to Performance Max campaigns featuring product feeds. These rules allow you to target traffic based on specific categories of pages on your website. For example, if you operate an athletic apparel store, you can tailor your campaign to target all pages on your site that include “shoes” in the URL.
Two new betas are set to be introduced soon for Performance Max campaigns. The first beta will enable age-based demographic exclusions, allowing you to eliminate specific age groups, such as “18-24” or “65+.” The second beta focuses on device targeting, giving you the ability to tailor your campaigns to traffic from computers, mobile devices, or tablets. If you are interested in participating in either of these betas, please contact your Google Ads account team or Google Ads support for enrollment.
Enhanced Search Reporting and Guidance
This month, Performance Max will also see the arrival of more comprehensive and detailed reporting features. Google previously launched search themes in beta, which allow you to specify the queries that your customers are likely using to find your services. These themes complement the queries and placements that Performance Max identifies as effective based on your assets, feeds, and landing pages. Based on user feedback, Google is now officially rolling out search themes with significant enhancements. You will have access to search term insights that reveal whether queries originate from Performance Max’s keywordless targeting or from the search themes you have implemented.
Additionally, an indicator will be available next to your search themes, showing how “useful” they are. These new reporting insights will assist you in determining whether the search themes you provided are generating additional traffic beyond what Performance Max would discover independently, or if there is a need to revise your search themes.
Enhanced Reporting for Asset Groups
Google is advancing its asset group reporting capabilities. The new feature allowing for the segmentation of asset group performance is currently being rolled out across all Performance Max campaigns. Users can now analyze their results in greater detail, including conversions categorized by device, time, and other factors. We have also taken your suggestions into account regarding the need for easier access to this data outside of the Google Ads interface, which is why asset group performance can now be downloaded.
In the coming months, expect further enhancements to Performance Max, including additional controls, reporting options, and insights.