Google has just announced a major update. Google is changing the way Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns compete with each other, making it important for many advertisers to adjust their strategy. And that just before one of the most important months of the year.
Key changes:
- Performance Max no longer automatically takes priority over Standard Shopping campaigns, both campaign types now have the same priority.
- The ad rank now determines which ad is displayed for campaigns targeting the same products.
Before the update, Performance Max automatically took priority (when used in the same account) over your Standard Shopping Campaigns. Now, Performance Max and Standard Shopping have the same priority, and the campaign with the highest ad rank is displayed.
Google has indicated that the update will be gradually rolled out over the accounts in Q4, without an exact timeline. We are already seeing the impact of the update in various accounts. It is therefore important to closely monitor the campaigns in the coming weeks so that you can respond in time.
We will guide you through the key changes that may arise in your Google Ads account as a result of this update.
‘Dormant’ Standard Shopping campaigns may start delivering again
If you currently have a standard shopping campaign running alongside your Performance Max campaign in your campaign strategy, which has so far only served as a backup, keep a close eye on this campaign in the coming days/weeks. It may start delivering again if the ad rank is higher than your Performance Max campaign.
Analyze if your Performance Max campaign delivers more on non-shopping placements such as Video, Display, and Search
If your Standard Shopping campaign is displayed more, it is quite possible that your Performance Max campaign will deliver more on non-shopping placements such as Video, Display, and Search. Therefore, it is very important to closely monitor the channel distribution in the coming weeks. Additionally, it is important that your bidding strategy is well set with a ROAS target or CPA. This way, the campaign does not have full freedom to deliver without the desired performance. While this may not have been an issue in your account until now, as the campaign was mainly delivered as a shopping campaign. It is important to start analyzing and adjust your strategy if necessary.
Standard Branded shopping campaigns receive more non-branded traffic
For several days, we have been seeing more and more non-branded traffic appearing in our standard branded shopping campaigns without making changes to our strategy. Google's update now confirms that this strategy needs more attention.
In our Google Ads strategy, we almost always exclude branded traffic from Performance Max and capture this traffic in a Standard Shopping and Google Search campaign. Until now, Performance Max had priority in the auction and attracted the non-branded traffic so that we could capture the branded traffic in the Standard Shopping campaign. This gives you a good split in your branded and non-branded traffic and also the control in bidding strategy.
But since Standard Shopping and Performance Max now have the same priority in the auction, you may be delivered more on non-branded traffic in your Standard Shopping campaign.
It is therefore very important to closely monitor your branded shopping campaign in the coming days/weeks and exclude non-branded traffic that comes through to maintain a good distribution of branded and non-branded traffic. Also, take a good look at your bidding strategy, you may even need to make adjustments here.
If you currently have both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns active in your Google Ads account and target the same products, closely monitor their performance in the coming weeks and adjust your strategy if necessary.
