Google’s Performance Max campaigns are becoming an increasingly present part of the online marketing ecosystem as more businesses use them to work alongside their traditional search campaigns. 

When you’re working with Performance Max, you’ll be segmenting ads into different asset groups. These are essentially the component parts of what can make up your ads — headlines, images, URLs, audiences, videos (in certain cases), other copy, and so on — which are thematically related and can be arranged in different ways and formats depending on the platform on which they’re being served. 

Asset groups also crucially allow you to segment your campaign. 

In doing this, you’ll find better sales, return on your ad spend, and overall higher quality traffic to keep sustaining that pattern. Here’s why and how: 

Image Source: aimtechnologies.co

Why does segmentation matter?

At its core, segmenting your campaign is a way to help you spend your Google Shopping budget more efficiently. In practice, that’s because by doing so you’re able to more effectively focus on what makes different audiences distinct, and tailor your appeals to them accordingly. 

Inherent to that process is how segmentation also allows you to analyze your differentiated audiences more in-depth than if they weren’t segmented. When segmenting by audience (more on that in a second), part of this is specifically learning more about your better-performing audience segments, as well as those that are performing below average. By segmenting, you can get a better picture of what works and what doesn’t. 

This is all particularly important because Performance Max’s aggressive focus on automation means it’s more limited than earlier Google Ads platforms when it comes to reporting. The additional information to which you’re then privy via segmenting helps fill that gap, giving you better insights to help inform budget and other adjustments. 

When should you be segmenting Performance Max asset groups? 

While segmenting your asset groups on Performance Max is something you should almost certainly be doing when the conditions are right, there are situations where you should forgo segmentation. 

For example, if your catch-all campaign doesn’t have enough data yet to make informed budget changes — don’t segment. Instead, run it longer as a non-segmented campaign until you’ve accumulated sufficient data to act as the foundation for those changes. 

So, one condition where it makes sense to segment your Performance Max asset groups is when your campaign has enough data — what other conditions will help you know that it’s a good time to segment? We tend to look at two other situations: 

One is when you have a particular product (or product type) that’s higher priority, and so want to have Performance Max make distinct changes for said product that are specifically optimized for that based on the incoming data associated with that segment. 

Without segmenting, Performance Max’s automation would apply broader adaptations to this product too along with the rest of your campaign — these would probably work fine, but by segmenting you’re taking advantage of the specificity of that product and its campaign. 

The second scenario in which it makes sense to segment asset groups is something we discussed earlier — that is, when you want to focus on gathering information on better-performing audiences. Simply put, it’s a valuable roundabout way to learn more about your asset groups and audiences where non-segmented Performance Max wouldn’t otherwise give you such insights. 

Different ways to segment your asset groups, and the importance of audience signals

When segmenting your campaigns, you have options like: 

• Product type 

• Individual SKUs 

• Audience 

• Location 

• Product group 

• ROAS (return on ad spend) target 

• Product revenue 

You can edit the products showing in an asset group under your listing groups settings. 

Another important aspect of this is making sure you’re providing Performance Max with productive audience signals, which can be done in your asset group settings. 

Audience signals are similar to (but notably different from) traditional audience targeting. 

Here, you’re giving Performance Max input on your audiences, which it will then use to find a future prospective audience that it deems optimal for what you’re selling. Essentially, your audience signals are the little manual push you’re giving Google’s machine, similar to search campaign keywords, which will then use that input to find internet users it decides are most likely to “pick up what you’re puttin’ down,” so to speak.   

Information you can provide for audience vary, but a good starting point — suggested by Google itself — includes website visitor lists, app user lists, customer lists i.e. mailing lists or subscriptions, video viewer lists, and so on. 

Close by in the settings control panel, you can also edit the products showing in an asset group, which you’ll find under listing group settings. 

Segmenting Performance Max asset groups while knowing your audience’s qualities can really help improve your campaign’s overall performance. By paying attention to detail and focusing on your segments and who you’re trying to reach with them, you’re likely to find a better return on ad spend, higher quality traffic, and, ultimately, more sales.