5 things you need to know before you set up your Google Performance Max campaign

In the recently-concluded Google Marketing Livestream 2021, Google announced Performance Max – a brand new way to use automation to run your Google Ads. It has been turning heads and raising questions, so we at Oxedent thought we would go ahead and give you a lowdown of how Performance Max works and how you can make the most use of it.

1. What exactly is Performance Max?

A part of Google’s push to use automation for smarter ads, Performance Max is currently in beta but will be rolled out to all advertisers by the end of 2021. Google aims to automate ad creation with Performance Max, but based upon assets provided by the advertiser. Essentially using Performance Max, you will be able to create one campaign for all of Google’s platforms, which includes:

a. Search
b. Display and Youtube
c. Discover
d. Gmail
e. Maps

2. How do I set up Performance Max campaigns?

Just like you do while running an ad on Facebook or Instagram, you simply choose your goal(s), target audience, and keywords while setting up your Performance Max campaign.

Our recommended budget would be 10k USD per month to start with, but you can play around and test for the number you see fit.

3. What is the character set limitations on Performance Max?

As you can see in the infographic, text ads inside the Performance Max campaigns can have:

a. 3 headlines of 30 characters each at max
b. 1 headline of 90 characters at max
c. 2 character description boxes of 90 characters each, at max

4. What are the media sizes I can use in Performance Max campaigns?

The list of eligible image sizes in Performance Max campaigns are:

1. 600 x 316
2. 300 x 300
3. 314 x 414
4. 128 x 128
5. 1200 x 628

If you are using video content, it needs to be at least 10 seconds in duration and the maximum file size for image or video content is 5 MB.

5. What is the biggest advantage you get from Performance Max?

The aim of the Performance Max is, according to Google, that it takes the hassle of having to schedule different paid media marketing drives on different Google inventories. In essence, using AI, Google seeks to create a process that delivers ads across its entire network seamlessly without the involvement of the advertiser. Based on just your marketing goals, Google will be able to serve responsive ads to the relevant audience via a Smart Bidding process.

You can hire a professional Google Ads agency to manage your performance max campaigns to get the most out of it.