Performance Max vs Bidnamic

Contents

Why your performance data is vital
Using your data to make better campaign decisions
Bidnamic's technology
Performance Max
Compare bid management options

Performance Max is similar to Google Smart Shopping: it’s a ‘black box’ that lacks data transparency. With this data closed off, campaign optimisation can be difficult and performance can be negatively affected.

Everything you need to know about Google's Performance Max campaigns

Why your performance data is vital

To really get the most out of your advertising efforts, you need full access to your campaign performance data. When it comes to knowing how your money’s being spent to improve performance, data is an invaluable resource.

Missing out on audience data, for example, can make your social media ads and retargeting campaigns less effective than they could be. Plus, search term data is a brilliant way to inform your SEO strategy, as well as your email marketing campaigns.

To compete successfully, you need access to all of your data

Using your data to make better campaign decisions

Having access to all of your data can help you make the most informed decisions when it comes to your Google Shopping campaigns.

With search term data at your fingertips, you can gain insight into the demand associated with your industry. This could otherwise be difficult depending on your specific niche. You can even analyse this data to predict any potential fluctuations in search traffic that would be wise to take advantage of.

Search data also allows you to pinpoint your direct and indirect competitors in your industry, and determine your overall share of search. This information can be hugely helpful when directing your marketing strategy.

Check out these four valuable things you can do with search data

Bidnamic's technology

We believe that combining machine learning with human thinking gets the best results. Our technology platform is fully automated, 100% data transparent, and provides granular data insights.

We know that no one knows your business like you do, which is why we keep you and your brand expertise at the heart of decision-making. 

We offer weekly calls with a dedicated Client Success Manager, which is a time for you to communicate any concerns, strategise new ideas, plan for events, and receive an in-depth report on your Google Shopping campaign performance.

Bidnamic’s technology works at the individual SKU level, which allows us to:

• Match search terms to individual SKUs. This helps to identify why a product didn’t convert. Without this kind of insight, you’re buying traffic blindly.
• Use real-time search term data to pick up high-performing search terms. Identifying the intent behind each search query and adjusting the bid amount accordingly gives our clients an edge over their competitors. Real-time data can also be used across other channels, overall positively impacting advertising efforts.
• Use natural language processing to match relevant search terms and bids more aggressively for long-tail search terms. This enables our clients to consistently outrank competitors on the Google Shopping carousel. Ad budget is saved by lessening the bid price for irrelevant terms, all while bidding for awareness and consideration terms to help maximise profits.

Performance Max

Performance Max is an automated bidding management system. It aims to lessen the time spent manually changing bids for thousands of SKUs, as well as make accurate bid adjustments according to fluctuations in traffic. Performance Max campaigns also have a simple setup process, making them appealing.

However, Performance Max campaigns come with limitations. You can’t adjust bids for different brands, products, or SKUs, and there are other things to consider, too:

• Negative keywords aren't currently available with Performance Max. Using negative keywords helps prevent you from wasting your allocated ad budget on irrelevant search traffic - you don’t want your ads appearing for people who aren’t looking for your product. Negative keywords help to filter out searches so only the most interested shoppers see the ad(s).

Learn more about negative keywords and why you should be using them

• You have no control over where the ads appear. While Performance Max campaigns show ads across Google channels (such as Display, Search, Gmail, and YouTube), you have no control over which channels your ads are served on. What’s more important is that users have no access to channel-specific reports, so you’re left in the dark about how each channel’s performing. 
• Limited location targeting. You can select which country you want your ads to show, but you’re unable to target a specific region or exclude a city. This could lead to wasted ad spend.
• Ad scheduling is out of your control. Google takes full control over when your ads are shown - you can’t input the best times or days that you’d like your ads to be displayed. There’s also no visibility on how these decisions are made. 
• You can’t choose which devices to target. This means if your audience primarily uses mobile, for example, you may end up wasting ad budget on ads being shown on desktops.
• Challenges with attribution modelling. Performance Max runs one unified campaign over different channels. This means that each conversion will be attributed to a Performance Max campaign - you can’t see which exact platform your ad was clicked on, and what the conditions of the conversion were.
• You lose the ability to prioritise specific products. You don’t have the flexibility to promote or demote specific products. So, for instance, if you wanted to get rid of a backlog of hard-to-sell products, you wouldn’t be able to do so with Performance Max.
• Performance Max cannot leverage and analyse data of sales made through other channels (e.g. offline). If you also conduct sales through other channels, you can’t use that data to inform your Performance Max campaigns.

Compare bid management options

Find out which management option works best for you using the table below

• Did you know you can run Bidnamic campaigns alongside PMax?
• Considering using an agency to manage your Google Shopping campaigns?