{"id":10808,"date":"2025-02-05T10:53:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T10:53:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/?p=10808"},"modified":"2025-02-06T09:27:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-06T09:27:44","slug":"pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies &amp; more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Trying to keep up with Google\u2019s latest PMax updates feels like chasing a moving target\u2014<strong>blindfolded.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More control, more transparency, more pro features\u2014kind of. Many of the 2025 updates are <strong>legit game changers<\/strong>, long overdue and genuinely useful. Others? Well\u2026 they\u2019ve left plenty of you with <strong>more questions than answers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my latest webinar, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/en\/talks-and-webinars\/pmax-2025-what-s-next-for-your-ecomm-strategy\/\">PMax 2025: What\u2019s Next for Your Ecommerce Strategy<\/a><\/em>, we unpacked the biggest changes\u2014what\u2019s great, what\u2019s still a black box, and what might just <strong>shake up how you run campaigns<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You had a ton of questions, so here\u2019s the <strong>straight-up rundown on what really matters<\/strong>\u2014and how to actually make these updates work for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s cut through the noise<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\"><p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<\/div><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#pmax-campaign-setup\" >PMax campaign setup<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#brand-and-audience-strategies\" >Brand and Audience strategies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#product-segmentation-prioritization\" >Product segmentation &amp; prioritization<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#campaign-efficiency-bidding-strategies\" >Campaign efficiency &amp; bidding strategies<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#google-ads-the-future-of-pmax\" >Google Ads &amp; the future of PMax<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#conclusion\" >Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-pmax-campaign-setup\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"pmax-campaign-setup\"><\/span>PMax campaign setup<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738673597379\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">1. <strong>If you were starting an e-commerce retail campaign today with 90k SKUs, would you choose Performance Max, Standard Shopping, or a hybrid approach?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>As mentioned in the question above, you need to be careful about hybrid\/parallel structures due to the <strong>risk of self-competition. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>I would choose which foot you want to put forward \u2013 what your primary campaign type will be. I recommend PMax because these highly-automated campaign types are the future not only of Google Ads,<strong> but all digital advertising platforms. <\/strong>It\u2019s important to develop the skills and processes now.<br\/><br\/>From an in-platform performance perspective, I would expect PMax to typically be stronger. From a back-end business perspective, the incrementality of PMax can be called into question, but the part no one likes to discuss is that <strong>Shopping is also not \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Incremental Campaign Type.\u201d <\/strong><br\/><br\/>In both cases you need to <strong>help Google\u2019s algorithm work harder <\/strong>by reflecting your goals, your customers, and your product data.<\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738673455048\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">2. <strong>Would you recommend running Performance Max and Standard Shopping in parallel?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>You can run PMax and Shopping in parallel, however it needs to be done carefully. This is especially true as of October 2024, when Google announced that PMax no longer takes priority over Shopping. <br\/><br\/>While many advertisers welcomed this news, it comes with the trade-off that these campaign types can cause your bids to escalate. While on paper the campaign conflict is resolved via ad rank, the ads, landing pages, and query targeting are so similar that it comes down to bidding, as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/adsliaison\/status\/1849214501000007824\">confirmed by Google<\/a>.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>Bearing this in mind, it\u2019s important to consider <em>why<\/em> you want to run them in parallel: What is my expectation of each campaign type, which role should each one play in my strategy?<br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1996\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.08.49.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.08.49.png 1996w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.08.49-300x84.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.08.49-1024x288.png 1024w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.08.49-1536x432.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1996px) 100vw, 1996px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738673715446\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">3. <strong>Do you recommend using feed-only Performance Max campaigns for ecommerce clients?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/><strong>Yes,<\/strong> we sometimes configure feed-only PMax campaigns. We also use asset-only and full-build PMax campaigns depending on the circumstances. These are all tools in the tool box, and it depends on the goals and strategy of the entire account. <br\/><br\/>Reasons for using feed-only campaigns could include reducing interference with Search campaigns or other campaign types, a lack of assets or audience signals, etc. <br\/><br\/>Typically I don\u2019t see a huge performance difference between feed-only and full-build, so I would look at what other effects you are aiming to achieve or prevent within the account.<br\/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738681645242\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">4. <strong><strong>What are your thoughts on full-asset Performance Max vs. feed-only Performance Max?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>I am probably more forgiving of full-asset PMax than some people. <br\/><br\/>However, I feel that Google hasn\u2019t made the business case clear enough. From what I can tell, there is little-to-no downside of using a feed-only campaign and<strong> little-to-no upside of using a full-asset campaign<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>That\u2019s something Google needs to work on if they want to convince skeptics.<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-brand-and-audience-strategies\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"brand-and-audience-strategies\"><\/span>Brand and Audience strategies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738673455048\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">5. <strong><strong>As a multi-brand retailer, is it better to break out brands into separate Performance Max campaigns for reporting and optimization or bundle them into one campaign for more data?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>It is not necessary to separate brands because of reporting, because brand is <strong>a supported dimension in Report Editor<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>It <em>can<\/em> be a good idea to separate brands for optimization. I would follow this logic: do the brands need a dedicated budget? (e.g. due to vendor agreements, co-op, etc).<strong> If yes, then split them out. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>Do you have a large amount of high-quality brand assets, and\/or do your customers perceive in a highly \u201ccategorical\u201d way? If yes, it might make sense to <strong>segment on a thematic basis.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>However my preferred solution would be to use brand as an <a href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/multi-dimensional-product-segmentation\/\">inventory scoring<\/a> attribute. This allows you to keep a smaller, more consolidated set of campaigns (easier to manage; preserves data volume) and items will land in the correct campaign on the<strong> basis of their score, where brand is part of that score.<\/strong><br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1774\" height=\"724\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.05.34.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.05.34.png 1774w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.05.34-300x122.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.05.34-1024x418.png 1024w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.05.34-1536x627.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1774px) 100vw, 1774px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738682148068\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">6. <strong>What do you think about running two Performance Max campaigns: one including branded traffic and another excluding brand to preserve historical performance data?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>This is complicated so bear with me.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>First off: \u201cto preserve historical performance data.\u201d <strong>Your <em>historical<\/em> data is there, it\u2019s not going anywhere.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>I think what you\u2019re asking about is <strong>preserving <em>future<\/em> data volumes<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/en\/google-ads-scripts\/search-term-insights\/\">We have a script<\/a> that can help you understand how much of your monthly conversion volume comes from brand\/non-brand traffic. If your non-branded monthly conversions are <strong>typically less than 30<\/strong>, you might want to keep that campaign intact <strong>with brand traffic to avoid disruption<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>Regarding an \u201cincludes brand\u201d and \u201cexcludes brand\u201d campaign in parallel: in theory this can work, but since it\u2019s not a true brand\/nonbrand split, <strong>I find it messy<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>I would consider introducing <strong>additional differentiation into the campaigns<\/strong>. For example, strongly differentiated bids\/budgets, different products, different audiences\/demographics, different goals (e.g. NCA-only bidding).<br\/><br\/>And connecting the dots\u2026 It sounds like you want to preserve volume across two campaigns. This is another \u201cin theory it works\u201d topic. <em>In theory<\/em>, Smart Bidding<strong> learns at the conversion action leve<\/strong>l, meaning it can learn across campaigns within an account as long as they share the same conversion action. However, in practice, I don\u2019t have evidence to support that. <br\/><br\/>In my assessment, campaigns <strong>live or die based on their own volume<\/strong>, not \u201csibling\u201d or \u201cfamily\u201d volume.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>If you are dealing with volume issues, I would make a good clear decision on brand traffic and then <strong>try to keep as much consolidation<\/strong> as possible.<br\/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738673597379\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">7. <strong><strong>Do Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns interfere with each other\u2019s performance? Have you experienced this?<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/><strong>Yes,<\/strong> in certain circumstances. <br\/><br\/>PMax and Demand Gen share a lot of inventory and formats. In theory, the conflict between them is resolved via ad rank. However, similar to the PMax-Shopping conflict, <strong>the bid is often decisive.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>This risk is particularly high if you have built your Demand Gen campaign \u201clike PMax,\u201d that is, conversion-oriented and including a product feed.<br\/><br\/>My recommendation is to <strong>let Demand Gen be Demand Gen<\/strong>. Embrace it as a mid-funnel campaign type, don\u2019t make it too performance-oriented, and be mindful of your product overlap with PMax if you include a feed. <br\/><br\/>Otherwise you basically turn it into a low-funnel campaign, which is not what it was built for and which can be highly competitive with PMax.<br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2168\" height=\"842\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25.png 2168w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25-300x117.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25-1024x398.png 1024w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25-1536x597.png 1536w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.02.25-2048x795.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2168px) 100vw, 2168px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-product-segmentation-amp-prioritization\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"product-segmentation-prioritization\"><\/span>Product segmentation &amp; prioritization<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738682584148\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">8. Is Price Benchmark still available in Merchant Center, and does it compare prices against the average?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>Yes, price benchmarks are still available in Merchant Center, and it seems they will also be returning to Google Ads. I don\u2019t know why they were removed as it was very handy to have that data easily available and side-by-side with product and campaign performance data.<br\/><br\/>It doesn\u2019t <strong>quite compare against the average price<\/strong>. Google uses the click-weighted average. This has the advantage of implicitly aligning the benchmark to CTR and consumer demand.<br\/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738684052834\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">9. How can I exclude Search Partners at the account level?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>In your Google Ads account, go to the Campaigns section and click the Audiences, keywords, and content dropdown. Select Content, then navigate to the Exclusions tab and click Edit exclusions. Finally, choose Account and add your exclusions. For up-to-date, detailed info, check Google Support\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/7331110?hl=en#:~:text=as%20placement%20exclusions.-,Instructions,-In%20your%20Google\">instructions<\/a>.<br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1870\" height=\"610\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.04.30.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.04.30.png 1870w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.04.30-300x98.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.04.30-1024x334.png 1024w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.04.30-1536x501.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1870px) 100vw, 1870px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738682866550\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">10. <strong>Do you trust Google with COGS data, or is there a risk they might use it to charge more per click if they think you can afford it?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\/><br\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\/strong>.Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\/><br\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1236\" height=\"672\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.06.58.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.06.58.png 1236w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.06.58-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.06.58-1024x557.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1236px) 100vw, 1236px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-campaign-efficiency-amp-bidding-strategies\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"campaign-efficiency-bidding-strategies\"><\/span>Campaign efficiency &amp; bidding strategies<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738684158920\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">11. Will Profit Optimization in Performance Max optimize for margin instead of spend, and does it risk taking more of the advertiser&#8217;s margin?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>It will optimize for gross profit instead of revenue. <strong>No, you can still set a ROAS target<\/strong> and it\u2019s not imaginable to me that gross margin will get worse<\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-google-ads-amp-the-future-of-pmax\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"google-ads-the-future-of-pmax\"><\/span>Google Ads &amp; the future of PMax<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"schema-faq wp-block-yoast-faq-block\"><div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738684420645\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">12. <strong>Do you think Google will retire Standard Shopping campaigns soon?<\/strong><\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>I don\u2019t know. <br\/><br\/>People have been asking since probably 2019 \u2013 including me \u2013 <strong>and I just don\u2019t know.<\/strong> Shopping still represents an <strong>unignorable percentage of Google Ads budget<\/strong> for ecommerce, and the reaction from advertisers would be ugly. So honestly I think it\u2019s too risky as of today.<br\/><br\/>I think they will continue their strategy of presenting <strong>PMax as the default option<\/strong> and adding features to PMax. If and when the risk becomes manageable, they might take that next step.<br\/><\/p> <\/div> <div class=\"schema-faq-section\" id=\"faq-question-1738684478981\"><strong class=\"schema-faq-question\">13. What excites you most about Performance Max, and what concerns you the most?<\/strong> <p class=\"schema-faq-answer\"><br\/>I\u2019m excited that PMax has been improving in terms of transparency and control. I\u2019m thrilled to see the recent <strong>addition of device targeting and demographic exclusions<\/strong>, for example. <br\/><br\/>However I\u2019m most excited about Google\u2019s work on expanding goal types and moving \u201cupstream\u201d with those, in the sense of toward <strong>more mature and challenging targets than just ROAS<\/strong> and revenue. They\u2019re working new customer acquisition, profit bidding, high-value customers, etc. I like that.<br\/><br\/>I\u2019m most <strong>concerned about Search Max<\/strong> and recent focus groups directed at migrating Search campaigns toward PMax. I first said three years ago that PMax is \u201ca new advertising platform incubating within the old one\u201d and that other campaign types \u201cwill shrink into something vestigial \u2013 like a tailbone or an appendix.\u201d <br\/><br\/>While I generally advise everyone to <strong>get comfortable and skilled<\/strong> with PMax for exactly this reason, I do <strong>simultaneously find it troubling.<\/strong><br\/><br\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1902\" height=\"860\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.12.06.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" srcset=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.12.06.png 1902w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.12.06-300x136.png 300w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.12.06-1024x463.png 1024w, https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-04-at-17.12.06-1536x695.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1902px) 100vw, 1902px\" \/><\/p> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-conclusion\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"conclusion\"><\/span>Conclusion<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Love it or hate it, PMax is charging full speed ahead, and 2025 is shaping up to be a wild ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The good news? Google is finally handing over more levers to pull. The catch? You still need to <strong>steer the beast in the right direction.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next few months will be all about <strong>testing, tweaking, and making these updates actually work for your business<\/strong>\u2014because let\u2019s be real, Google\u2019s automation won\u2019t magically align with your goals on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Want the <strong>full scoop on what\u2019s changing, what\u2019s working, and what still needs some\u2026 fine-tuning?<\/strong> Catch the full webinar here:<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe hidef\" id=\"WYL_7io-S4zfbtI\"><div id=\"lyte_7io-S4zfbtI\" data-src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F7io-S4zfbtI%2Fmaxresdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/7io-S4zfbtI\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F7io-S4zfbtI%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video thumbnail\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trying to keep up with Google\u2019s latest PMax updates feels like chasing a moving target\u2014blindfolded. More control, more transparency, more pro features\u2014kind of. Many of the 2025 updates are legit game changers, long overdue and genuinely useful. Others? Well\u2026 they\u2019ve left plenty of you with more questions than answers. In &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":10837,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[479],"tags":[704],"class_list":["post-10808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-google-ads","tag-microblog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.7 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies, performance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about key changes in PMax: What&#039;s new in 2025 - campaign setup advice, and tips to optimize performance and control.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies &amp; more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn about key changes in PMax: What&#039;s new in 2025 - campaign setup advice, and tips to optimize performance and control.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"smec Blog | Follow current Ecommerce News, Trends &amp; Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmarterEcommerce\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-05T10:53:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-06T09:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/QA.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Ryan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mikeryanretail\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smec\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike Ryan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike Ryan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/effa2765c648a602e080267660e48aac\"},\"headline\":\"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies &amp; more\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-05T10:53:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-06T09:27:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2067,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/QA.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"microblog\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Google Ads\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"WebPage\",\"FAQPage\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/\",\"name\":\"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies, performance\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/02\\\/QA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-05T10:53:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-06T09:27:44+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn about key changes in PMax: What's new in 2025 - 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Smarter Ecommerce\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/SmarterEcommerce\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/smec\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/smarterecommerce\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCgEKAonH-2IoV2fIDyCJFMA\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/effa2765c648a602e080267660e48aac\",\"name\":\"Mike Ryan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e5d5391a80dde6fdf4d7e53474ed3675cf41843e624340f45a8cfd28ee7f77ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e5d5391a80dde6fdf4d7e53474ed3675cf41843e624340f45a8cfd28ee7f77ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/e5d5391a80dde6fdf4d7e53474ed3675cf41843e624340f45a8cfd28ee7f77ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mike Ryan\"},\"description\":\"Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is the Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec) with over ten years of experience in retail and PPC landscape. With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market. [linebreak] As a seasoned content creator and thought leader, Mike is the force behind the popular \\\"Growing Ecommerce\\\" podcast, where he discusses industry trends, performance marketing tactics, and the evolving dynamics of digital advertising. His deep analytical approach\u2014whether it\u2019s dissecting Performance Max campaigns or refining profit-based bidding strategies\u2014has earned him recognition among peers and in leading industry publications. Mike\u2019s commitment to innovation and his ability to translate complex data into actionable insights make him a trusted advisor for clients and an inspiring speaker at major conferences (SMX, OMR, DMEXCO, IRX). [linebreak] These diverse experiences and his passion for continuous learning position Mike as a key influencer in the ecommerce space, dedicated to helping businesses navigate and thrive in the digital era.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/in\\\/mikeryanretail\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/mikeryanretail\"],\"award\":[\"Most Influential PPC Experts by PPCsurvey.com (#8 for 2026)\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Head of Ecommerce Insights\",\"worksFor\":\"Smarter Ecommerce (smec)\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/author\\\/ryan\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673597379\",\"position\":1,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673597379\",\"name\":\"1. If you were starting an e-commerce retail campaign today with 90k SKUs, would you choose Performance Max, Standard Shopping, or a hybrid approach?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>As mentioned in the question above, you need to be careful about hybrid\\\/parallel structures due to the <strong>risk of self-competition. <\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>I would choose which foot you want to put forward \u2013 what your primary campaign type will be. I recommend PMax because these highly-automated campaign types are the future not only of Google Ads,<strong> but all digital advertising platforms. <\\\/strong>It\u2019s important to develop the skills and processes now.<br\\\/><br\\\/>From an in-platform performance perspective, I would expect PMax to typically be stronger. From a back-end business perspective, the incrementality of PMax can be called into question, but the part no one likes to discuss is that <strong>Shopping is also not \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Incremental Campaign Type.\u201d <\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>In both cases you need to <strong>help Google\u2019s algorithm work harder <\\\/strong>by reflecting your goals, your customers, and your product data.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673455048\",\"position\":2,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673455048\",\"name\":\"2. Would you recommend running Performance Max and Standard Shopping in parallel?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>You can run PMax and Shopping in parallel, however it needs to be done carefully. This is especially true as of October 2024, when Google announced that PMax no longer takes priority over Shopping. <br\\\/><br\\\/>While many advertisers welcomed this news, it comes with the trade-off that these campaign types can cause your bids to escalate. While on paper the campaign conflict is resolved via ad rank, the ads, landing pages, and query targeting are so similar that it comes down to bidding, as <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/adsliaison\\\/status\\\/1849214501000007824\\\">confirmed by Google<\\\/a>.\u00a0<br\\\/><br\\\/>Bearing this in mind, it\u2019s important to consider <em>why<\\\/em> you want to run them in parallel: What is my expectation of each campaign type, which role should each one play in my strategy?<br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673715446\",\"position\":3,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673715446\",\"name\":\"3. Do you recommend using feed-only Performance Max campaigns for ecommerce clients?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/><strong>Yes,<\\\/strong> we sometimes configure feed-only PMax campaigns. We also use asset-only and full-build PMax campaigns depending on the circumstances. These are all tools in the tool box, and it depends on the goals and strategy of the entire account. <br\\\/><br\\\/>Reasons for using feed-only campaigns could include reducing interference with Search campaigns or other campaign types, a lack of assets or audience signals, etc. <br\\\/><br\\\/>Typically I don\u2019t see a huge performance difference between feed-only and full-build, so I would look at what other effects you are aiming to achieve or prevent within the account.<br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738681645242\",\"position\":4,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738681645242\",\"name\":\"4. What are your thoughts on full-asset Performance Max vs. feed-only Performance Max?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>I am probably more forgiving of full-asset PMax than some people. <br\\\/><br\\\/>However, I feel that Google hasn\u2019t made the business case clear enough. From what I can tell, there is little-to-no downside of using a feed-only campaign and<strong> little-to-no upside of using a full-asset campaign<\\\/strong>. <br\\\/><br\\\/>That\u2019s something Google needs to work on if they want to convince skeptics.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673455048\",\"position\":5,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673455048\",\"name\":\"5. As a multi-brand retailer, is it better to break out brands into separate Performance Max campaigns for reporting and optimization or bundle them into one campaign for more data?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>It is not necessary to separate brands because of reporting, because brand is <strong>a supported dimension in Report Editor<\\\/strong>. <br\\\/><br\\\/>It <em>can<\\\/em> be a good idea to separate brands for optimization. I would follow this logic: do the brands need a dedicated budget? (e.g. due to vendor agreements, co-op, etc).<strong> If yes, then split them out. <\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>Do you have a large amount of high-quality brand assets, and\\\/or do your customers perceive in a highly \u201ccategorical\u201d way? If yes, it might make sense to <strong>segment on a thematic basis.<\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>However my preferred solution would be to use brand as an <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/multi-dimensional-product-segmentation\\\/\\\">inventory scoring<\\\/a> attribute. This allows you to keep a smaller, more consolidated set of campaigns (easier to manage; preserves data volume) and items will land in the correct campaign on the<strong> basis of their score, where brand is part of that score.<\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682148068\",\"position\":6,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682148068\",\"name\":\"6. What do you think about running two Performance Max campaigns: one including branded traffic and another excluding brand to preserve historical performance data?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>This is complicated so bear with me.\u00a0<br\\\/><br\\\/>First off: \u201cto preserve historical performance data.\u201d <strong>Your <em>historical<\\\/em> data is there, it\u2019s not going anywhere.<\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>I think what you\u2019re asking about is <strong>preserving <em>future<\\\/em> data volumes<\\\/strong>. <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/en\\\/google-ads-scripts\\\/search-term-insights\\\/\\\">We have a script<\\\/a> that can help you understand how much of your monthly conversion volume comes from brand\\\/non-brand traffic. If your non-branded monthly conversions are <strong>typically less than 30<\\\/strong>, you might want to keep that campaign intact <strong>with brand traffic to avoid disruption<\\\/strong>.<br\\\/><br\\\/>Regarding an \u201cincludes brand\u201d and \u201cexcludes brand\u201d campaign in parallel: in theory this can work, but since it\u2019s not a true brand\\\/nonbrand split, <strong>I find it messy<\\\/strong>. <br\\\/><br\\\/>I would consider introducing <strong>additional differentiation into the campaigns<\\\/strong>. For example, strongly differentiated bids\\\/budgets, different products, different audiences\\\/demographics, different goals (e.g. NCA-only bidding).<br\\\/><br\\\/>And connecting the dots\u2026 It sounds like you want to preserve volume across two campaigns. This is another \u201cin theory it works\u201d topic. <em>In theory<\\\/em>, Smart Bidding<strong> learns at the conversion action leve<\\\/strong>l, meaning it can learn across campaigns within an account as long as they share the same conversion action. However, in practice, I don\u2019t have evidence to support that. <br\\\/><br\\\/>In my assessment, campaigns <strong>live or die based on their own volume<\\\/strong>, not \u201csibling\u201d or \u201cfamily\u201d volume.\u00a0<br\\\/><br\\\/>If you are dealing with volume issues, I would make a good clear decision on brand traffic and then <strong>try to keep as much consolidation<\\\/strong> as possible.<br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673597379\",\"position\":7,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738673597379\",\"name\":\"7. Do Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns interfere with each other\u2019s performance? Have you experienced this?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/><strong>Yes,<\\\/strong> in certain circumstances. <br\\\/><br\\\/>PMax and Demand Gen share a lot of inventory and formats. In theory, the conflict between them is resolved via ad rank. However, similar to the PMax-Shopping conflict, <strong>the bid is often decisive.<\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>This risk is particularly high if you have built your Demand Gen campaign \u201clike PMax,\u201d that is, conversion-oriented and including a product feed.<br\\\/><br\\\/>My recommendation is to <strong>let Demand Gen be Demand Gen<\\\/strong>. Embrace it as a mid-funnel campaign type, don\u2019t make it too performance-oriented, and be mindful of your product overlap with PMax if you include a feed. <br\\\/><br\\\/>Otherwise you basically turn it into a low-funnel campaign, which is not what it was built for and which can be highly competitive with PMax.<br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682584148\",\"position\":8,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682584148\",\"name\":\"8. Is Price Benchmark still available in Merchant Center, and does it compare prices against the average?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>Yes, price benchmarks are still available in Merchant Center, and it seems they will also be returning to Google Ads. I don\u2019t know why they were removed as it was very handy to have that data easily available and side-by-side with product and campaign performance data.<br\\\/><br\\\/>It doesn\u2019t <strong>quite compare against the average price<\\\/strong>. Google uses the click-weighted average. This has the advantage of implicitly aligning the benchmark to CTR and consumer demand.<br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684052834\",\"position\":9,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684052834\",\"name\":\"9. How can I exclude Search Partners at the account level?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>In your Google Ads account, go to the Campaigns section and click the Audiences, keywords, and content dropdown. Select Content, then navigate to the Exclusions tab and click Edit exclusions. Finally, choose Account and add your exclusions. For up-to-date, detailed info, check Google Support\u2019s <a href=\\\"https:\\\/\\\/support.google.com\\\/google-ads\\\/answer\\\/7331110?hl=en#:~:text=as%20placement%20exclusions.-,Instructions,-In%20your%20Google\\\">instructions<\\\/a>.<br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682866550\",\"position\":10,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738682866550\",\"name\":\"10. Do you trust Google with COGS data, or is there a risk they might use it to charge more per click if they think you can afford it?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\\\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\\\/><br\\\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\\\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\\\/strong>.<br\\\/><br\\\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\\\/strong>.Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\\\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\\\/><br\\\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\\\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\\\/strong>.<br\\\/><br\\\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\\\/strong>.<br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684158920\",\"position\":11,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684158920\",\"name\":\"11. Will Profit Optimization in Performance Max optimize for margin instead of spend, and does it risk taking more of the advertiser's margin?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>It will optimize for gross profit instead of revenue. <strong>No, you can still set a ROAS target<\\\/strong> and it\u2019s not imaginable to me that gross margin will get worse\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684420645\",\"position\":12,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684420645\",\"name\":\"12. Do you think Google will retire Standard Shopping campaigns soon?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>I don\u2019t know. <br\\\/><br\\\/>People have been asking since probably 2019 \u2013 including me \u2013 <strong>and I just don\u2019t know.<\\\/strong> Shopping still represents an <strong>unignorable percentage of Google Ads budget<\\\/strong> for ecommerce, and the reaction from advertisers would be ugly. So honestly I think it\u2019s too risky as of today.<br\\\/><br\\\/>I think they will continue their strategy of presenting <strong>PMax as the default option<\\\/strong> and adding features to PMax. If and when the risk becomes manageable, they might take that next step.<br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684478981\",\"position\":13,\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smarter-ecommerce.com\\\/blog\\\/en\\\/google-ads\\\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\\\/#faq-question-1738684478981\",\"name\":\"13. What excites you most about Performance Max, and what concerns you the most?\",\"answerCount\":1,\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"<br\\\/>I\u2019m excited that PMax has been improving in terms of transparency and control. I\u2019m thrilled to see the recent <strong>addition of device targeting and demographic exclusions<\\\/strong>, for example. <br\\\/><br\\\/>However I\u2019m most excited about Google\u2019s work on expanding goal types and moving \u201cupstream\u201d with those, in the sense of toward <strong>more mature and challenging targets than just ROAS<\\\/strong> and revenue. They\u2019re working new customer acquisition, profit bidding, high-value customers, etc. I like that.<br\\\/><br\\\/>I\u2019m most <strong>concerned about Search Max<\\\/strong> and recent focus groups directed at migrating Search campaigns toward PMax. I first said three years ago that PMax is \u201ca new advertising platform incubating within the old one\u201d and that other campaign types \u201cwill shrink into something vestigial \u2013 like a tailbone or an appendix.\u201d <br\\\/><br\\\/>While I generally advise everyone to <strong>get comfortable and skilled<\\\/strong> with PMax for exactly this reason, I do <strong>simultaneously find it troubling.<\\\/strong><br\\\/><br\\\/>\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies, performance","description":"Learn about key changes in PMax: What's new in 2025 - campaign setup advice, and tips to optimize performance and control.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PMax 2025 FAQ: Campaign setup, brand strategies &amp; 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With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market. [linebreak] As a seasoned content creator and thought leader, Mike is the force behind the popular \"Growing Ecommerce\" podcast, where he discusses industry trends, performance marketing tactics, and the evolving dynamics of digital advertising. His deep analytical approach\u2014whether it\u2019s dissecting Performance Max campaigns or refining profit-based bidding strategies\u2014has earned him recognition among peers and in leading industry publications. Mike\u2019s commitment to innovation and his ability to translate complex data into actionable insights make him a trusted advisor for clients and an inspiring speaker at major conferences (SMX, OMR, DMEXCO, IRX). [linebreak] These diverse experiences and his passion for continuous learning position Mike as a key influencer in the ecommerce space, dedicated to helping businesses navigate and thrive in the digital era.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/mikeryanretail\/","https:\/\/x.com\/mikeryanretail"],"award":["Most Influential PPC Experts by PPCsurvey.com (#8 for 2026)"],"jobTitle":"Head of Ecommerce Insights","worksFor":"Smarter Ecommerce (smec)","url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/author\/ryan\/"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673597379","position":1,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673597379","name":"1. If you were starting an e-commerce retail campaign today with 90k SKUs, would you choose Performance Max, Standard Shopping, or a hybrid approach?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>As mentioned in the question above, you need to be careful about hybrid\/parallel structures due to the <strong>risk of self-competition. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>I would choose which foot you want to put forward \u2013 what your primary campaign type will be. I recommend PMax because these highly-automated campaign types are the future not only of Google Ads,<strong> but all digital advertising platforms. <\/strong>It\u2019s important to develop the skills and processes now.<br\/><br\/>From an in-platform performance perspective, I would expect PMax to typically be stronger. From a back-end business perspective, the incrementality of PMax can be called into question, but the part no one likes to discuss is that <strong>Shopping is also not \u201cThe World\u2019s Most Incremental Campaign Type.\u201d <\/strong><br\/><br\/>In both cases you need to <strong>help Google\u2019s algorithm work harder <\/strong>by reflecting your goals, your customers, and your product data.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673455048","position":2,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673455048","name":"2. Would you recommend running Performance Max and Standard Shopping in parallel?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>You can run PMax and Shopping in parallel, however it needs to be done carefully. This is especially true as of October 2024, when Google announced that PMax no longer takes priority over Shopping. <br\/><br\/>While many advertisers welcomed this news, it comes with the trade-off that these campaign types can cause your bids to escalate. While on paper the campaign conflict is resolved via ad rank, the ads, landing pages, and query targeting are so similar that it comes down to bidding, as <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/adsliaison\/status\/1849214501000007824\">confirmed by Google<\/a>.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>Bearing this in mind, it\u2019s important to consider <em>why<\/em> you want to run them in parallel: What is my expectation of each campaign type, which role should each one play in my strategy?<br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673715446","position":3,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673715446","name":"3. Do you recommend using feed-only Performance Max campaigns for ecommerce clients?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/><strong>Yes,<\/strong> we sometimes configure feed-only PMax campaigns. We also use asset-only and full-build PMax campaigns depending on the circumstances. These are all tools in the tool box, and it depends on the goals and strategy of the entire account. <br\/><br\/>Reasons for using feed-only campaigns could include reducing interference with Search campaigns or other campaign types, a lack of assets or audience signals, etc. <br\/><br\/>Typically I don\u2019t see a huge performance difference between feed-only and full-build, so I would look at what other effects you are aiming to achieve or prevent within the account.<br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738681645242","position":4,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738681645242","name":"4. What are your thoughts on full-asset Performance Max vs. feed-only Performance Max?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>I am probably more forgiving of full-asset PMax than some people. <br\/><br\/>However, I feel that Google hasn\u2019t made the business case clear enough. From what I can tell, there is little-to-no downside of using a feed-only campaign and<strong> little-to-no upside of using a full-asset campaign<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>That\u2019s something Google needs to work on if they want to convince skeptics.","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673455048","position":5,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673455048","name":"5. As a multi-brand retailer, is it better to break out brands into separate Performance Max campaigns for reporting and optimization or bundle them into one campaign for more data?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>It is not necessary to separate brands because of reporting, because brand is <strong>a supported dimension in Report Editor<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>It <em>can<\/em> be a good idea to separate brands for optimization. I would follow this logic: do the brands need a dedicated budget? (e.g. due to vendor agreements, co-op, etc).<strong> If yes, then split them out. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>Do you have a large amount of high-quality brand assets, and\/or do your customers perceive in a highly \u201ccategorical\u201d way? If yes, it might make sense to <strong>segment on a thematic basis.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>However my preferred solution would be to use brand as an <a href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/multi-dimensional-product-segmentation\/\">inventory scoring<\/a> attribute. This allows you to keep a smaller, more consolidated set of campaigns (easier to manage; preserves data volume) and items will land in the correct campaign on the<strong> basis of their score, where brand is part of that score.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682148068","position":6,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682148068","name":"6. What do you think about running two Performance Max campaigns: one including branded traffic and another excluding brand to preserve historical performance data?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>This is complicated so bear with me.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>First off: \u201cto preserve historical performance data.\u201d <strong>Your <em>historical<\/em> data is there, it\u2019s not going anywhere.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>I think what you\u2019re asking about is <strong>preserving <em>future<\/em> data volumes<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/en\/google-ads-scripts\/search-term-insights\/\">We have a script<\/a> that can help you understand how much of your monthly conversion volume comes from brand\/non-brand traffic. If your non-branded monthly conversions are <strong>typically less than 30<\/strong>, you might want to keep that campaign intact <strong>with brand traffic to avoid disruption<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>Regarding an \u201cincludes brand\u201d and \u201cexcludes brand\u201d campaign in parallel: in theory this can work, but since it\u2019s not a true brand\/nonbrand split, <strong>I find it messy<\/strong>. <br\/><br\/>I would consider introducing <strong>additional differentiation into the campaigns<\/strong>. For example, strongly differentiated bids\/budgets, different products, different audiences\/demographics, different goals (e.g. NCA-only bidding).<br\/><br\/>And connecting the dots\u2026 It sounds like you want to preserve volume across two campaigns. This is another \u201cin theory it works\u201d topic. <em>In theory<\/em>, Smart Bidding<strong> learns at the conversion action leve<\/strong>l, meaning it can learn across campaigns within an account as long as they share the same conversion action. However, in practice, I don\u2019t have evidence to support that. <br\/><br\/>In my assessment, campaigns <strong>live or die based on their own volume<\/strong>, not \u201csibling\u201d or \u201cfamily\u201d volume.\u00a0<br\/><br\/>If you are dealing with volume issues, I would make a good clear decision on brand traffic and then <strong>try to keep as much consolidation<\/strong> as possible.<br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673597379","position":7,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738673597379","name":"7. Do Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns interfere with each other\u2019s performance? Have you experienced this?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/><strong>Yes,<\/strong> in certain circumstances. <br\/><br\/>PMax and Demand Gen share a lot of inventory and formats. In theory, the conflict between them is resolved via ad rank. However, similar to the PMax-Shopping conflict, <strong>the bid is often decisive.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>This risk is particularly high if you have built your Demand Gen campaign \u201clike PMax,\u201d that is, conversion-oriented and including a product feed.<br\/><br\/>My recommendation is to <strong>let Demand Gen be Demand Gen<\/strong>. Embrace it as a mid-funnel campaign type, don\u2019t make it too performance-oriented, and be mindful of your product overlap with PMax if you include a feed. <br\/><br\/>Otherwise you basically turn it into a low-funnel campaign, which is not what it was built for and which can be highly competitive with PMax.<br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682584148","position":8,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682584148","name":"8. Is Price Benchmark still available in Merchant Center, and does it compare prices against the average?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>Yes, price benchmarks are still available in Merchant Center, and it seems they will also be returning to Google Ads. I don\u2019t know why they were removed as it was very handy to have that data easily available and side-by-side with product and campaign performance data.<br\/><br\/>It doesn\u2019t <strong>quite compare against the average price<\/strong>. Google uses the click-weighted average. This has the advantage of implicitly aligning the benchmark to CTR and consumer demand.<br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684052834","position":9,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684052834","name":"9. How can I exclude Search Partners at the account level?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>In your Google Ads account, go to the Campaigns section and click the Audiences, keywords, and content dropdown. Select Content, then navigate to the Exclusions tab and click Edit exclusions. Finally, choose Account and add your exclusions. For up-to-date, detailed info, check Google Support\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/7331110?hl=en#:~:text=as%20placement%20exclusions.-,Instructions,-In%20your%20Google\">instructions<\/a>.<br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682866550","position":10,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738682866550","name":"10. Do you trust Google with COGS data, or is there a risk they might use it to charge more per click if they think you can afford it?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\/><br\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\/strong>.Unpopular answer, but yes <strong>I do trust Google with COGS data. <\/strong><br\/><br\/>It\u2019s clear that the incentive is there to misuse this data. However I don\u2019t think Google is in a position to know what a given gross profit level means to your business. Which gross profit is \u201cgood\u201d or \u201chigh\u201d or \u201clow\u201d will depend on company\u2019s size, growth stage, vertical, geo, etc \u2013 <strong>and can further vary <\/strong>within a company across products and categories. <br\/><br\/>I guess Google could determine which products yield higher margin relative to others in the assortment but\u2026 <strong>you still have your ROAS target<\/strong>, and I\u2019m simply not convinced. Furthermore, in Report Editor you can report not only your gross profit but<strong> also your gross margin<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>If you are concerned about this, you can still reflect profit in a private way <strong>using server-side tagging<\/strong>.<br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684158920","position":11,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684158920","name":"11. Will Profit Optimization in Performance Max optimize for margin instead of spend, and does it risk taking more of the advertiser's margin?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>It will optimize for gross profit instead of revenue. <strong>No, you can still set a ROAS target<\/strong> and it\u2019s not imaginable to me that gross margin will get worse","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684420645","position":12,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684420645","name":"12. Do you think Google will retire Standard Shopping campaigns soon?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>I don\u2019t know. <br\/><br\/>People have been asking since probably 2019 \u2013 including me \u2013 <strong>and I just don\u2019t know.<\/strong> Shopping still represents an <strong>unignorable percentage of Google Ads budget<\/strong> for ecommerce, and the reaction from advertisers would be ugly. So honestly I think it\u2019s too risky as of today.<br\/><br\/>I think they will continue their strategy of presenting <strong>PMax as the default option<\/strong> and adding features to PMax. If and when the risk becomes manageable, they might take that next step.<br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Question","@id":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684478981","position":13,"url":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/google-ads\/pmax-2025-faq-campaign-setup-brand-strategies-performance\/#faq-question-1738684478981","name":"13. What excites you most about Performance Max, and what concerns you the most?","answerCount":1,"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"<br\/>I\u2019m excited that PMax has been improving in terms of transparency and control. I\u2019m thrilled to see the recent <strong>addition of device targeting and demographic exclusions<\/strong>, for example. <br\/><br\/>However I\u2019m most excited about Google\u2019s work on expanding goal types and moving \u201cupstream\u201d with those, in the sense of toward <strong>more mature and challenging targets than just ROAS<\/strong> and revenue. They\u2019re working new customer acquisition, profit bidding, high-value customers, etc. I like that.<br\/><br\/>I\u2019m most <strong>concerned about Search Max<\/strong> and recent focus groups directed at migrating Search campaigns toward PMax. I first said three years ago that PMax is \u201ca new advertising platform incubating within the old one\u201d and that other campaign types \u201cwill shrink into something vestigial \u2013 like a tailbone or an appendix.\u201d <br\/><br\/>While I generally advise everyone to <strong>get comfortable and skilled<\/strong> with PMax for exactly this reason, I do <strong>simultaneously find it troubling.<\/strong><br\/><br\/>","inLanguage":"en-US"},"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10808"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10834,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10808\/revisions\/10834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smarter-ecommerce.com\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}