Performance max campaigns may or may not be successful for any business at any given time. They may be successful for a while and then performance may degrade or vice versa. It’s hard to understand what is working well or what went wrong as the entire campaign is like a big black box – you cannot tell the keywords or sites that were included by Google therefore it either works or it does not.
In the art of ice sculpting, an artist starts with a plain block of ice, chipping away at it to reveal a beautiful sculpture. This process mirrors managing a Performance Max campaign, where one begins with a ‘black box’ full of potential – a wide array of keywords, topics, and placements. Like the sculptor who meticulously removes excess ice to uncover the art within, a digital marketer strategically excludes irrelevant elements from the campaign. This careful pruning enhances the campaign’s effectiveness, akin to a sculptor refining their masterpiece, demonstrating how both processes transform a raw block into a refined, impactful creation.
Recently Google offered the ability to exclude the following from Performance Max campaigns:
- Keywords
- Topics
- Placements
You can exclude any of the above using an Excel template provided by Google.
Other Performance Max Resources:
- SEL talks about why Performance Max may not work well for lead generation sites
- Mega Digital offers Techniques to optimize a Performance Max campaign
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Darlene is a search marketer, analyst, speaker, trainer, and owner of DriveTraffic Digital Marketing. She has been working in the digital marketing industry since the mid 90s and has narrowed her specialty to SEO, Google Ads and Google Analytics. She is especially interested in Google’s new Search Generative Experience and how businesses will need to adapt to remain visible. Want to see how DriveTraffic can help? Let’s chat!
