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Read time : 8min
Hey fellow google ads enthusiasts
You can’t trust your Performance Max results.
Why? Because they’re heavily inflated by Branded Search conversions.
Since Google launched Performance Max in 2021, I’ve been super vocal about why I think you should exclude branded traffic.
But a lot has changed since I first started using this about this 1.5 years ago…
So lets discuss what are the changes that happened, I’m giving you an updated guide on why and how to exclude branded traffic from pMax (and why you need a Branded Standard Shopping campaign to prevent your ads from not showing on the Shopping network).
Let’s dive in!
The biggest problem with Performance Max: the data is inflated with branded search conversions, making it look better than it actually is.
Performance Max heavily cannibalizes your other campaigns and LOVES to take credit for every single conversion. People who search for your brand would’ve converted anyway, so why should you let pMax take credit for it?
On average, we see 10-20% of conversions on pMax are branded. That’s a lot!
Even with tight Branded Search campaigns, misspellings will slip through.
If you have a big share of branded search conversion in Performance Max, you simply cannot trust the data. This will lead to wrong decisions, and your account as a whole becomes less scalable.
Make Your pMax Data More Trustworthy
Here’s a simple 3-step process to make your pMax data more trustworthy and easier to scale:
1. Analyze Your Share of Brand in pMax**
2. Exclude Brand from pMax (2 Methods)**
3. Catch Brand Traffic in Branded Search and Branded Shopping Campaigns
- Step 1: Analyze Your Share of Brand in pMax
Analyzing your share of brand traffic in Performance Max used to be manual. Now, the team at Smarter Ecommerce (SMEC) has built a script that allows you to see the share of brand within pMax over time.
-Step 2: Exclude Brand from pMax (2 Methods)
You can exclude branded traffic from pMax using two methods:
1. **Brand Exclusions**
2. **Negative Keywords (Lists)**
**Brand Exclusions** are great, but Negative Keyword Lists tend to be faster and more accurate. Here’s how to use both:
-Option 1: Exclude Brand with Brand Exclusions
1. Go to Settings: In your pMax campaign, go to settings and scroll to ‘Brand Exclusions’.
2. Create a New Brand List: Create a list directly inside your pMax campaign or in the Shared Library.
3. Save and Add the List: Save the list and ensure it’s added to the correct pMax campaign.
4. Check Results: Use the Brand Analyzer script to ensure you no longer catch brand traffic in pMax.
- Option 2: Exclude Brand with Negative Keyword Lists
1. Fill Out the Request Form: Use the “Performance Max Campaign Modification Request Form” to request adding Negative Keyword Lists.
2. Download the Template: Fill it out with your desired negative keywords and campaigns.
3. Submit: A Google Support Rep will add them to your campaigns.
- Step 3: Catch Brand Traffic in Branded Search and Branded Shopping Campaigns
Now that you’ve excluded brand traffic from pMax, ensure you catch your brand traffic elsewhere:
- Search: Branded Search campaign.
- Shopping: Branded Shopping campaign.
- How to Set Up a Branded Standard Shopping Campaign
1. Campaign Setup: One campaign is enough; you can segment by products/categories if needed.
2. Product Groups: Create multiple product groups for easier CPC management.
3. Targeting: Select the right feed and location targeting.
4. Bidding: Use Manual CPC unless you have a specific ROAS target.
5. Exclude Non-Branded Terms: Create a negative keyword list to exclude non-branded search terms.
-Conclusion
By following this 3-step process, you’ll make your pMax data more trustworthy and easier to scale:
1. Analyze your share of brand in pMax.
2. Exclude brand from pMax.
3. Catch brand traffic in Branded Search and Branded Shopping campaigns.
Give it a try, it works really well.
Thanks for reading
Cheers,
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