Retailers choose between Standard Shopping and Performance Max campaigns with a Google Merchant Center feed to promote their online and local inventory and attract leads. But with multiple campaign choices, you might feel overwhelmed. Especially when it comes to the debate of Performance Max vs Standard Shopping. Let’s simplify the decision.
Each campaign type offers different levels of reach, targeting, and bidding. You need to understand the differences between the two before deciding which campaign type to choose and creating your campaign.
In this blog, we will discuss the differences between PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns and compare their features so that you can understand how each campaign type works and which one best suits your business needs.
Table of Contents
- What Are Standard Shopping Campaigns?
- What Are Performance Max Campaigns?
- Performance Max vs Standard Shopping: Key Differences
- Pros and Cons of PMax and Standard Shopping Campaigns
- Recent Changes in Google’s Ad Serving Priorities
- Performance Max vs Standard Shopping Campaigns: Which One Should You Use?
- Best Practices for Performance Max and Standard Shopping Campaigns
- Conclusion
- FAQs
What Are Standard Shopping Campaigns?
Standard Shopping campaigns allow retailers to showcase and promote their products on Google. Submit your product feed to create a shopping ad. Google creates ads using your product data and campaign.
Your Shopping ads can appear on Google platforms, which include:
- Search
- Shopping tab
- Google Images
- Maps (with the help of Local Inventory Ads)
- Google Search Partner Websites (If your campaign includes Search partner websites)
Unlike standard Google text ads, which display only text, Shopping ads allow you to display your product’s image, title, price, store name, etc., and important details. This gives viewers a product preview before clicking your ad.
Also, remember, Shopping ads differ from keyword-based ads. For these ads, Google uses the information in your product data feed to decide where and how to show your ads. It matches your ad to user queries using your feed’s data, and shows the most relevant product.
You can’t manually target keywords for a Shopping ad. That said, you can add negative keywords to your shopping campaigns.
With Standard Shopping ads, you have more control of bidding, targeting, ad groups, etc.
| Note: To promote your local inventory with Shopping ads, you can set up Local Inventory Ads. |
What Are Performance Max Campaigns?
Performance Max or PMax is a goal-based campaign type in Google Ads, which is powered by Google’s AI. With PMax campaigns, advertisers can run ads across multiple Google channels, such as:
- The Shopping tab
- Search
- Google Search Text Ads
- Google Images
- Google Display Network
- YouTube
- Gmail
- Discover
- Demand Generation
- Maps (with the help of Local Inventory ads)
PMax campaigns are mainly useful when you have specific advertising and conversion goals, such as:
- Increasing your online store’s sales
- Driving leads.
Moreover, PMax campaigns help you deliver more value to your customers by optimizing campaign performance in real time and across different channels with Smart bidding. For instance, PMax can increase sales by optimizing ad placements. To further explore how to test and optimize these campaigns, consider conducting experiments in Performance Max.
Google AI powers these campaigns. It optimizes bidding, audiences, attribution, and other elements of PMax campaigns.
However, while Google’s AI automates several important aspects of PMax campaigns, advertisers also need to submit some inputs for the ad to perform well.
These inputs include Performance Max Signals, such as pmax search themes and audience signals. Additionally, you also need to add assets such as text, images, videos, sitelinks, callouts, etc.
These PMax assets are grouped together based on a similar theme or specifically created for a target audience. Further, you can mix and match each asset in a group to create the best ad combination that runs across Google’s channels.
Thus, it’s fair to say that both Google’s advanced AI and your inputs for PMax signals and assets play crucial roles in determining your campaign’s performance.
Performance Max vs Standard Shopping: Key Differences
Let’s explore the differences between Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns.
Check out this table for a quick comparison.
| Feature | Performance Max Campaigns | Standard Shopping Campaigns |
| Ad Placements and Reach | Access multiple Google Ads Channels: – Search – Shopping tab – Google Display Network – Google Search text ads – YouTube – Gmail – Discover – Maps (with the help of Local inventory ads) – Demand Gen PMax campaigns automatically access new inventory and channels. | Standard Shopping campaigns appear across the following Google Ads Channels: – Search – Shopping tab – Google Images, – Maps (Local Inventory Ads), – Search Partners |
| Ad Formats | Supports multiple formats: Shopping Display YouTube Text Local Vehicle Ads | Supports two formats: – Shopping ads, and – Local Inventory Ads |
| Targeting | No real control over target audiences – only signals for the AI. GEO targeting. | Negative keywords, audience targeting, and GEO targeting |
| Bidding Options | Fully automated: Maximize Conversions or Conversion Value with optional CPA or ROAS targets. | Manual CPC, Maximize Clicks, or Target ROAS (automated) |
1. Automation vs. Manual Control
Google AI largely automates Performance Max campaigns.
Google’s smart system controls the bidding, placements, audience targeting, and asset combination based on the campaign goals you select. As an advertiser, you only need to provide assets and PMax signals, such as Search Themes, Audience Signals, etc., along with your conversion objectives.
Based on that, Google’s AI determines ad display timing and placement.
In contrast, for Standard Shopping ads, you can decide your bidding and budgeting strategy, how you wish to structure your campaigns, campaign priority, locations, etc. You can also decide how to create ad groups and organize product groups inside them.
Verdict: Want more control over bidding and targeting? Choose Standard Shopping. If you are comfortable with Google’s AI making those adjustments, PMax campaigns can be worth looking at.
2. Ad Placements and Reach
Standard Shopping campaigns offer limited visibility compared to PMax campaigns. With Performance Max placements, your ads can also appear across additional channels like Gmail, YouTube, and Google’s Display Network, beyond what Standard Shopping supports.
These additional channels where PMax ads can appear ensure that your ads have enhanced visibility and reach users across all Google Platforms. It also helps you uncover newer audiences and drive more conversions than before because, ultimately, you will be present across all the essential stages of a customer’s journey.
Verdict: PMax campaigns provide broader reach across multiple channels, which is better than Standard Shopping ads.
3. Audience Targeting Capabilities
For PMax campaigns, Google’s AI takes care of targeting. You can’t manually select an audience.
However, you can add Performance Max audience signals, such as customer lists or even in-market segments, to guide Google’s algorithm toward better targeting.
Recent updates to Performance Max campaigns allow you to add negative keywords to PMax campaigns. This can be helpful in excluding certain audiences at the campaign level. Moreover, Google has also rolled out certain new features like Demographic Exclusions (currently in beta), which allow you to exclude certain age groups from your PMax campaigns.
With these new updates and Google’s AI, you can fine-tune your PMax campaign’s audience targeting.
For standard shopping campaigns, you get more traditional targeting controls. While you can’t use keywords for targeting, you can use audience segments like data segments (remarketing lists), detailed demographics, etc.
You can also use negative keywords for standard shopping campaigns to avoid appearing for irrelevant queries. You also have the option of targeting specific locations in Standard Shopping ads.
Verdict: If you want more manual control and precision in targeting, Standard Shopping ads are better.
4. Performance Reporting
Earlier, the performance reports for PMax campaigns were not as detailed as reports for Standard Shopping ads. However, Google has improved the performance reports for PMax campaigns. You can now view search term reports and asset group-level data. Additionally, now Google allows you to download the asset group performance report outside the Google Ads UI.
So, while the reporting for PMax campaigns has improved by leaps and bounds, there are still some shortcomings. Still, PMax campaigns report blended performance across all channels. This means data is not broken down by placement by default. You’ll need to segment manually to understand which surfaces (like Search, YouTube, or Display) are driving results.
On the other hand, Standard Shopping ads provide highly transparent reports. Advertisers can track performance by products, product groups, and even individual search terms. This simplifies attributing results to specific products or queries.
Verdict: Standard Shopping ads offer much cleaner and granular insights into your ads and even product-level data. PMax reports are catching up in terms of the data they offer with recent updates, but they still need extra steps and tools to analyze results properly.
5. Bidding and Budget Management
PMax campaigns only support Smart Bidding. Thus, advertisers can choose between Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value. Plus, for these bidding options, you can also select Target Cost Per Action (CPA) or Target Return on Ad Spend (RoAS).
You must note that there is no manual CPC option. Google’s AI adjusts bids in real-time to help you meet your campaign goals.
You can set the budget of PMax campaigns by either selecting your average daily budget or creating a custom budget.
With Standard Shopping campaigns, you get more control over bidding and budget. You can use Manual CPC, or even automated bidding strategies like Target ROAS, Target CPA, or Maximize Clicks. Google also provides you with the option to use campaign priority settings.
| 💡Campaign priority settings are helpful when multiple campaigns promote the same products. Your campaign priority allows Google to decide which campaign should win the auction in different bidding situations. |
For Standard Shopping campaigns, you can set a daily budget for every campaign.
Verdict: Standard Shopping gives more flexibility and control over bidding and budget management. Performance Max prioritizes automation over manual input.
Pros and Cons of PMax and Standard Shopping Campaigns
Let’s understand the pros and cons of both PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns.
Pros of Performance Max
- PMax campaigns reach a wide audience. With a single campaign, your ads can appear on Display, YouTube, Search, and other major Google surfaces.
- Google AI optimizes bids and targets.
- Advertisers can leverage Google’s deep understanding of customer preferences and intents to find their businesses’ ideal customers. Pair Google’s insights with your input signals for even better results.
- You can also add first-party data related to conversions, customers, etc., and audience signals to improve the performance and targeting of your PMax campaigns.
- Google regularly updates PMax campaigns and their features. Google introduced new features like retention bidding and an expanded limit for negative keywords for these campaigns. This makes PMax a future-ready option for advertisers who want to stay updated with Google’s latest tools and AI-driven improvements.
Cons of Performance Max
- Limited control and broad targeting in PMax campaigns can lead to high costs.
- There is no option for Manual CPC bidding or other bid rules.
- As we learned earlier, Google’s intelligent AI optimizes PMax campaigns in real time. While this can improve the performance of your ads, it can also make it harder to predict the performance of your campaigns.
Pros of Standard Shopping Campaigns
- Shopping ads have visual appeal, as they showcase product images. This makes them more attractive to viewers than other alternatives, such as Google text ads.
- Standard Shopping ads have a 23% lower cost-per-click and a 26% higher conversion rate than other Google ad formats, such as Text ads.
- Offer detailed reports for search terms, ad groups, or product group-level data.
- Google can display more than one of your Shopping ads for a user query. Additionally, Shopping and Search ads can appear together for your store or products. This means your visibility increases exponentially on the same search results page.
- Supports both manual and automated bidding strategies.
Cons of Standard Shopping Campaigns
- Shopping ads don’t appear across Google properties like YouTube, Display Network, etc. This limits their visibility compared to PMax campaigns.
- As per Google’s official guidelines, shopping campaigns also require you to send up-to-date product data to the Merchant Center at least every 30 days.
Moreover, you must ensure that the product data meets Google’s stringent requirements. This can be a technically demanding task if you are not well-versed in Google’s feed requirements and if you are optimizing your product feed manually.
| Pro tip: To avoid these complexities, you can use a product feed management software like AdNabu. It is a Built For Shopify-certified app that helps you manage and optimize your Shopify product feeds with its powerful AI. |
Sell on Google Shopping, Facebook, TikTok,
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- Standard Shopping ads are less effective for goals like driving e-commerce sales and bringing in more traffic to your store. However, to run Google ads for brand awareness, you might have to choose a different ad format, such as Responsive Search ads.
Recent Changes in Google’s Ad Serving Priorities
Google recently updated how PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns interact with each other. Earlier, PMax campaigns were automatically prioritized over Standard Shopping campaigns when both were in the same account and targeting the same set of products.
However, now with Google’s recent update, the Ad rank of both campaigns will decide which campaign gets to serve the ad. Thus, if you include a product in both types of campaigns you are running, the campaign with the higher ad rank will ultimately win based on its relevance, bid, etc.
As Standard Shopping campaigns are no longer automatically suppressed by Google, it becomes important for advertisers to monitor if there are any product overlaps.
As a pro tip, you should split your inventory between the PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns to ensure that products don’t overlap. Taking one step further, you should also keep different goals for both campaigns.
For example, one campaign could focus on acquiring new customers, while the other could focus on marketing your highest-margin products. This would help Google show the right campaign at the right time, get you optimal results, and avoid a situation where both campaigns are fighting to show the same products.
Performance Max vs Standard Shopping Campaigns: Which One Should You Use?
Now, coming to the most important question, which campaign type should you choose out of PMax vs Standard Shopping ads?
Go with Performance Max campaigns if:
- The goal is to drive maximum conversions across all Google channels (that PMax supports) without much manual intervention.
- You have strong creative assets that can help you create visually appealing and value-rich ads.
- Multiple campaigns are unnecessary; you need one single campaign to handle Search, Display, YouTube, etc.
- Also, you need Google’s smart AI to do most of the campaign creation heavy-lifting for you.
- A substantial marketing budget is in place, as PMax campaigns can be more expensive than Shopping campaigns (due to their broader reach). This is especially true in situations where you fail to provide good-quality conversion data or audience signals.
Opt for Standard Shopping campaigns when:
- You want more control over bidding, targeting, placements, etc.
- A well-optimized product feed for your store is in place. As discussed earlier in the blog, Shopping campaigns run seamlessly when you submit accurate product data to Merchant Center and keep updating it regularly.
- You want to analyze performance by specific products (by segmenting ad groups using product groups based on item ID, brand, custom labels, or price range) or search queries.
- There is a shortage of creative resources (or assets) for display and video ads.
Following a hybrid approach, where you use both PMax and Standard Shopping campaigns together, can also be a great idea. Basically, in a hybrid approach, you create both Standard Shopping and PMax campaigns to complement each other.
For example, you can run Shopping campaigns to market high-margin products in your catalog. This will allow you to control the campaign’s budget, whether you wish to use a manual or automated bidding strategy, which locations you should target, etc.
At the same time, you can use Performance Max Campaigns to improve product discovery, brand reach, and retargeting across different Google Ad Channels. Also, referencing our discussion of recent updates to PMax campaigns, both Standard Shopping and PMax campaigns can now compete fairly using Ad Rank, and neither of the two campaign types will block each other.
Best Practices for Performance Max and Standard Shopping Campaigns
Whether you’re running Performance Max campaigns or Standard Shopping campaigns, we’ve got you covered with some helpful tips and best practices for Performance Max and Standard Shopping to manage both effectively.
Performance Max
- For PMax campaigns, it is very important to add all the asset types that Google allows. For example, you should try to add as many Long Headlines, Descriptions, Images, etc., as possible.
This is because, as shown in the visual above, proper asset coverage improves the overall Ad Strength.
As a pro tip, we recommend using Google’s AI to generate assets. While this feature is currently in beta, it can provide useful headlines, descriptions, and other asset suggestions.
- Google recommends that you set up conversion tracking for your PMax campaigns. With conversion tracking, Google AI will make smarter decisions for your campaign. It will learn what conversion actions matter the most for your campaign and business and utilize your ad spend accordingly.
- You must also review the performance of asset groups regularly by analyzing asset group reports. This will help you understand how the creative elements of your PMax campaigns are performing. Further, use performance labels like Best, Good, or Low to identify which assets are contributing toward your campaign goals. Replace or refresh “Low” rated assets, especially if they have no conversions or weak engagement.
Standard Shopping Campaigns
- For Standard shopping campaigns, segmenting product groups to refine your targeting and improve RoAS is strongly recommended.
You can divide your products based on different attributes like price, brand, condition, custom labels, etc. This will allow you to set different bids for these products and also track their performance accurately.
- Enhance your Standard shopping campaigns and their impact with Shopping ad extensions like Google Merchant Promotions, adding product ratings to listings, etc.
- Use custom labels to group products by traits like seasonality, profit margin, or clearance status. This makes it easier to set bids, monitor performance, and adjust strategy for each group in both Shopping campaigns.
Conclusion
This guide clarifies Standard Shopping Campaign vs Performance Max Campaigns. Remember, both campaign types offer their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Choose according to your business and advertising goals.
Think about your budget, resources, and control needs before choosing. Many advertisers find a hybrid approach, using both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns, effective. It can strike the right balance between reach and precision.
Ready to boost your sales? Choose your campaign and optimize today!
FAQs
- Can I run Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns at the same time?
Yes, you can run Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns together. However, you must manage both campaigns carefully to avoid internal competition. If not handled properly, they might start competing for the same traffic and sales. To prevent this, target different products through each campaign separately.
- How does Performance Max determine where to show my ads?
PMax uses Google’s AI to place ads across various channels automatically based on performance data.
- Is there a difference in reporting transparency between the two campaign types?
Yes, Standard Shopping offers more detailed reporting, while PMax provides limited insights. But with recent updates, PMax reporting is improving for advertisers. You now get Deeper Search reporting, Search Themes indicators, and many other detailed reports.
This allows you to better understand campaign performance, optimize asset groups smarter, and improve your targeting based on real search behavior.
- How do recent Google Ads updates affect campaign prioritization?
As of October 2024, Google no longer automatically prioritizes PMax over Standard Shopping. Rather, it’s the Ad Rank that determines how campaigns interact with each other and which campaign serves.
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