Can giving up control in PPC actually improve results? See why even skeptics are embracing Google and Bing’s Performance Max campaigns.
Here’s an interesting alternative take on PPC advertising: perhaps giving up control to the algorithms isn’t as bad an idea as it might have seemed at first? In Performance Max: I Was A Skeptic & Now I’m Devout (Even In Bing) on Search Engine Journal, experienced advertiser Jonathan Kagan says that when Google launched ‘Performance Max’, “Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled about it. Then, when Bing (because I refuse to call them Microsoft Ads) announced it was going to be rolling out PMax back in 2024, I almost lost it.”
The author’s objections are similar to those I’ve outlined here over the years. Google was offering an advertisement which could end up in areas you may not want to be in, such as Display, Partner Network and YouTube. You couldn’t target one network, and there were no exclusions or negatives, and negligible reporting. Additionally, it might show in the ad placements you were already in!
However, the author says that he’s had to accept that the results just about negate all this. He says: “You need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, and PMax definitely makes you uncomfortable.” He recommends: “Do not launch without using search themes. You don’t have a lot of controls, but that is one to definitely use. Bing has a good search query report, and Google has recently started rolling out a comprehensive search query report (which) are helpful to understand where you’re mapping. Use every extension under the sun, because why not?” However, although PMax, whether it is on Google or Bing, is an ad unit that makes you feel somewhat powerless… “honestly, that isn’t a bad thing.”