Performance Max paved the way for a more powerful, improved dynamic advertising, known for boosting conversions by 22%, replacing Smart Shopping campaigns.
With PMax and Smart Shopping displaying automation capabilities and marketing features, many advertisers wonder how the two differ.
In this blog, we explore Google Performance Max vs Smart Shopping in detail, covering the transition, the cause for the transition, and how they differ from one another.
Let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
Transition from Smart Shopping to Performance Max
In September 2022, Google discontinued Smart Shopping campaigns (and Local campaigns) and upgraded it into Performance Max.
As of today, Performance Max combines the capability of both Smart Shopping and Local campaigns and takes advertising one step further with features that enhance reach, audience targeting, and generate captivating ad campaigns with PMax assets.
Google has automatically upgraded the two into Performance Max and rolled it out for all advertisers and merchants on their Google Ads accounts.
Why did Google transition from Smart Shopping to Performance Max?
Google decided to transition from Smart Shopping to Performance Max to offer merchants and advertisers a more comprehensive advertising solution.
Performance Max consolidates multiple Google Ads channels, such as Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps, into one, goal-based campaign.
This integration allows for broader reach and simplifies campaign management.
Moreover, Performance Max leverages advanced AI to optimize targeting, bidding, and creative asset delivery, aiming to drive higher return on ad spend (ROAS) and improved conversion rates.
Implications for Google Merchants
With the transition, PMax unlocked more ad placements, with integration across the Google Display Network, Search, Discover, YouTube (broader enhancements), and Maps.
This has become a game-changer for advertisers and merchants alike, as more ad placements across the entire Google network mean more reach.
Additionally, Google ensured merchants using Smart Shopping did not lose their ad data. It automatically transferred pre-existing data to the current Ad account setup.
Moreover, it preserved past campaign performance so merchants can compare their previous ad campaigns with the new Performance Max campaigns.
PMax vs Smart Shopping Campaign Comparison
As we mentioned before, both campaigns utilize automation, which helped skyrocket merchants’ advertising efforts. However, there are slight differences, with PMax having more tools and capabilities.
Let’s explore Google Smart Shopping vs Performance Max in detail.
General Differences between Smart Shopping and PMax
Let’s cover the main differences between Performance Max and Smart Shopping.
- Conversion goals
Performance Max: Sales, Leads, Website Traffic, Local store visits, and promotions, Campaign without a goal’s guidance.
Smart Shopping: Sales and clicks.
- Ad Creatives
Performance Max: Uses asset groups based on a theme or target audiences, containing headlines, long headlines, descriptions, images, etc. It also uses listing groups that contain products and collections.
Smart Shopping: Used ad groups, which have ads and keywords. Also used products groups.
- Google Channels
Performance Max: Search, Display, YouTube (broader enhancement), Gmail, Maps, Discover, and Google Display Network.
Smart Shopping: Google Search Network (only Shopping), Google Display Network, YouTube (limited), and Gmail.
- Automation Capability
Performance max: High automation with the usage of signals. Advanced automation features like search themes, final URL, placements, audience signals, etc.
Smart Shopping: High automation but lower in comparison to PMax. Merchants had limited control over their campaigns due to the automations.
- Reporting
Performance Max: Advanced reporting with asset group performance, audience insights, and search categories.
Smart Shopping: It covered basic performance metrics.
| Further Reading: When running PMax ads, advertisers ponder whether to opt for feed-only or all the assets. To find out, explore our guide on feed-only vs all assets, and understand their differences. |
Audience Targeting & Generating Relevant Ads
| Feature | Performance Max | Smart Shopping |
| Merchant Control | High: It allows input through audience signals and custom segments | Comparatively low: It is heavily automated with minimal manual input |
| Audience Signals | It supports first-party customer and marketing data from website visitors, customer lists, app users, and video viewers | Not supported |
| AI Targeting | Utilizes Google AI across Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and more | Uses Google AI, but it has limited shopping-related behavior and inventory |
| Custom Audiences | Allows creation of audiences based on interests and intent | Not available. It would automatically use the most relevant signals from the audience lists |
| Retargeting | Advanced retargeting. It supports multiple first-party data lists | There is minimal or no manual control |
| Overall Targeting Capability | Robust: it is intelligent and customizable | Basic: It is driven by product data and automation |
Performance Max gives you much more control and smarter targeting than Smart Shopping.
These campaigns rely on first-party data from past website visitors, customer lists, and app users. This helps merchants create custom audiences based on interests or intent for the right audience targeting, and retargeting also becomes easier.
Smart Shopping would automatically use the most relevant signals from the audience lists. Compared to PMax, it offered little control and mainly relied on automation, even though Google AI powered it.
Overall, Performance Max is a stronger option when it comes to more reach and better personalization.
| Further Reading: Need to test out your PMax campaigns? Understand PMax experiments, run A/B tests, and measure the impact of your ad campaigns. |
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Asset Creation & Visual Enhancements
| Feature | Performance Max | Smart Shopping |
| Ad Formats | Multiple formats (display, search, video) | Mainly product ads |
| Device Adaptability | Ads are compatible with mobile, desktop, and tablet | Limited adaptability |
| Content Variety | Includes text, images, videos, and more | Basic info only: image, title, price, store name |
| AI Usage | Uses AI to generate and improve ad content. Uses generative AI to fast-track the ad creation process | Relies on automation, but no generative AI content |
| Control & Editing | You can edit and manage assets anytime | Little to no manual control |
Performance Max supports a range of flexible ad formats, like responsive display ads that adjust to fit different screens (mobile, laptop, and tabs), and dynamic search ads that generate headlines, long headlines, descriptions, images, videos, etc., based on what your audience is searching for.
PMax campaigns use generative AI to create more relevant assets that match the theme. These assets are edited and managed in real-time.
You can also create asset groups that encapsulate all assets in one place and use them individually in different ad campaigns. These assets replace ad groups and product groups in Smart Shopping.
Smart Shopping mainly focused on automating product ads. They displayed images, titles, prices, and your store name to shoppers, with less variety in format.
Campaign Goals and Objectives
Smart Shopping mainly focused on driving sales and clicks. In contrast, Performance Max gives advertisers more flexibility.
You can choose from different goals, like sales, leads, website traffic, in-store visits, etc., and assign different values to each based on what matters most to your business.
You can even run a campaign without a specific goal, giving you more freedom and control. This setup helps advertisers align their campaigns with their unique business objectives.
Process of Setting Up Ad Campaigns
PMax offers a faster, swifter way of setting up ad campaigns. It lets you access all Google Ads channels from a single goal-based campaign, which was not the case in Smart Shopping.
In Smart Shopping, you had to create different campaigns for different Google channels, which made the setup process longer.
| Further Reading: Supercharge your Search campaigns with AI Max. Expand ad reach and drive more conversions. |
Budget Management
In Smart Shopping, splitting budgets by objective or network often limited their efficient use.
Performance Max changes that by combining budgets across all channels and goals, allowing Google’s AI to allocate spending where it can drive the best results.
Another positive aspect of PMax is that when advertisers are on a low budget but want to boost efficiency, PMax offers automated bidding, which allocates ad spend to more suitable places where the possibility of conversions increases.
This unified approach helps improve overall campaign performance.
Final Verdict
In summary of Performance Max vs Smart Shopping, Smart Shopping offered a streamlined, sales-focused approach but lacked flexibility and deeper targeting options.
Performance Max builds on that foundation by integrating all Google channels, using advanced AI, and giving advertisers greater control over goals, audiences, and creative assets.
For businesses looking to scale, Performance Max is the more strategic and future-ready solution. It supports better campaign performance with broader reach and more personalized targeting.
Explore more about Performance Max to boost your advertising efforts:
- Performance Max Ad Specs
- How to Add Negative Keywords to Performance Max Campaigns
- Demand Gen vs Performance Max
- 6 Ways to Optimize Performance Max Campaigns
- Performance Max for Store Goals
FAQs
What are the key differences in targeting capabilities between Performance Max and Smart Shopping?
Performance Max offers more advanced audience targeting options, including custom segments and signals, providing greater flexibility and control compared to Smart Shopping.
How can I optimize my creative assets for Performance Max campaigns?
Use a variety of ad formats, ensure high-quality images and videos, and tailor your creatives to align with specific campaign goals and customer intent.
Why might my Performance Max campaign not be delivering the expected results compared to Smart Shopping?
Common issues include misaligned audience signals, insufficient budget, poor asset quality, or underutilization of Performance Max’s full feature set.
Can I use existing Smart Shopping data to enhance my Performance Max campaigns?
Yes, leveraging historical Smart Shopping data can help guide audience targeting, budget allocation, and asset strategy for improved Performance Max results.
Does Performance Max include Shopping?
Yes, Performance Max includes Shopping ads as part of its inventory, along with Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover placements.
What are the pros and cons of Performance Max campaigns
Pros: Access to all Google ad inventory from a single campaign, advanced automation and machine learning, improved audience targeting and performance insights, and support for custom audience signals and rich asset groups
Cons: Limited visibility into channel-level performance, less granular control over placements and can require more time upfront to set up strong assets and signals
What were the pros and cons of Smart Shopping campaigns?
Pros: Simple setup and management, automatic targeting and bidding for Shopping and Display and often effective for smaller or less complex accounts
Cons: Limited insights and reporting transparency, no access to Search, YouTube, or other Google channels and no manual audience targeting options
Do I have to manually transition from Smart Shopping to Performance Max?
No, Google automatically transitioned all Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max by September 2022. Manual transition was optional before the deadline.
Is Smart Shopping still available?
No, Smart Shopping campaigns have been fully phased out and replaced by Performance Max.
