Pmax campaigns have been displacing others such as Standard Shopping or even Search in recent months, if not years.
Google encourages advertisers to use this type of campaign by showcasing its major advantages: automation that reduces management time for the SEM Manager and the benefits offered by its algorithm, which is trained to achieve more conversions.
Another significant advantage of Pmax is that it usually achieves greater reach. While search and shopping campaigns are only shown to users actively searching for the product or service, Pmax extends this reach by integrating multiple platforms. This allows advertisers to reach potential customers at various touchpoints as they browse, thus increasing the chances of conversion.
The major disadvantage of Pmax campaigns is that they are seen as a 'black box' where the manager has access to far fewer data from the Google Ads platform compared to other types of campaigns, which makes them feel like they are operating blindly.
Then we face the dilemma of whether or not it is advisable to use Pmax. Next, we will explain in which cases it is beneficial to use this type of campaign and what you should consider when structuring an E-Commerce account:
a) Good structure and performance of the search and display network: Pmax will perform very well if the search network is properly worked (with branding and generic keywords) and the display network, especially if Discover is used for remarketing.
Pmax becomes an 'opportunity discoverer,' focusing on Shopping (85% of the budget), as well as discovering new opportunities in other networks.
b) Poor structure or performance: using Pmax runs the risk of allocating little investment to the shopping network and wasting it on others that will not bring qualified leads. Additionally, there are few levers to maneuver on these networks.
Once Pmax is implemented and its performance analyzed, campaigns that perform well in this modality can be maintained and reverted to Standard Shopping if some are not yielding good results. To do this, it is necessary to be clear about the desired profitability in the account and in each of the campaigns.
As we have mentioned in other posts, it is impossible to analyze channel performance in your Pmax campaigns from Google Ads. However, with Dolnai, you can view the distribution of different KPIs such as impressions, clicks, cost, conversions, and performance across each of the channels and make more precise data-driven decisions.You can also see the performance of different asset groups and assets to improve them or replace them with new ones if they are not achieving good results.
Another recommendation we give for E-commerce is to structure campaigns by expected profitability margin and separate product categories into campaigns that you know will need to boost their sales to show them more.
We encourage you to try Dolnai's Pmax tool and discover all the additional information you can obtain beyond what is available in Google Ads.
If you opt to use Standard Shopping in some cases, you can also analyze this performance with Dolnai.
Lose your fear of Pmax with Dolnai and make more informed decisions to achieve better results!
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