Google Ads
Why one Performance Max campaign is rarely enough for ecommerce
Performance Max uses Google's automation to show ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display and more. Put everything into one broad campaign and the automation decides where your budget goes, often towards easy wins like brand searches or a few best-sellers, while the rest of your range and markets get little attention.
Signs your setup is too broad
- The monthly budget is spent well before the month ends.
- ROAS looks fine overall, but most sales come from people already searching your brand.
- A handful of products get nearly all the impressions.
- You can't tell how different markets or product lines are performing.
A practical structure
- Separate brand from non-brand. Run brand search on its own and exclude brand terms from Performance Max where possible, so you can see what new-customer spend really produces.
- Split by product line or margin. Give key categories their own campaigns or asset groups, so budget follows profitability rather than popularity alone.
- Split by market. International sales usually need their own budgets, targets and feeds.
- Separate goals. If you have physical stores, online sales and store visits should not compete in the same campaign.
- Add prospecting deliberately. Demand Gen can reach new audiences without muddying your sales campaigns.
Fix the inputs first
Automation is only as good as what you feed it. Check that purchase tracking records accurate values, that your Merchant Center feed has clear titles, images and categories, and that each campaign has strong, relevant assets.
Give changes time
After restructuring, campaigns need time and data to settle. Make changes deliberately, review weekly, and judge results over weeks rather than days.
A real example
For a pearl and jewellery brand, splitting one broad setup into brand, pearls, other jewellery and international campaigns took ROAS from below 2x to 10x within 8 weeks. Read the case study →