Final URL Expansion in PMax: What It Is and How It Works

Did you ever wonder if there’s a feature that could send users to a more relevant page from your domain instead of just the final URL that you added for your Performance Max campaign? If you did, you must know that Google provides a feature like this for PMax campaigns, known as Final URL Expansion. 

In this blog, we’ll explore in detail what Final URL Expansion in PMax is, what its benefits are, how advertisers can set it up for their Performance Max campaigns, and other important details related to it. 

Let’s quickly start! 

What is Final URL Expansion in Performance Max? 

Final URL Expansion is an automatically created asset provided by Google to optimize the performance of your PMax campaigns. With its help, Google can dynamically swap out the final URL (i.e., landing page URL) you provide for your PMax campaigns with another relevant page on your website, which is much more suited to the user’s search intent. 

Also, Google generates a dynamic ad copy whenever it replaces your final URL with another relevant page. Thus, based on the user’s search intent, your ad copy and its headlines, descriptions, and other PMax assets will keep changing to align with the content of the new landing page. 

Let’s consider an example.  You have set up a Performance Max campaign to promote products from your clothing store. For your asset group’s final URL, you have provided a link to the women’s shoes category page. If a user searches for “red running sneakers size 8,” and in case you have a product page that serves this intent better, Google will send the user to that product page and also create an ad copy that is more suited to the new landing page.

There are some important things you must note about Final URL Expansion: 

1. By default, final URL expansion is turned on for your campaigns. You can turn it off during the campaign setup stages or from your campaign’s settings. 
2. PMax campaigns for store goals don’t support this feature. 
3. Google can send traffic to any page on your domain that you haven’t excluded. This includes even subdirectories like ‘example.com/brand’ if they match the user’s search intent. 

Note: This feature, or automatically created asset known as ‘Final URL Expansion’, is only available for Performance Max campaigns. But please note that automated selection of landing pages based on the user’s query is also supported for Dynamic Search Ads, and it is similar to what Final URL Expansion does for PMax campaigns.

Benefits of Final URL Expansion in Performance Max Campaigns 

There are several benefits to using Performance Max Final URL Expansion:

1. Higher Conversion Potential: Whenever a user lands on a relevant landing page that clearly answers their query, they are more likely to convert (make a purchase, submit a form, etc.)
   
   Final URL expansion ensures that users are landing on those pages which better serve their needs. This is much better than a scenario where users are landing on generic pages which might require them to navigate further before they finally find what they need.
2. Better and Broader Reach and More Traffic: With this automatic asset turned on, your PMax campaign will be able to serve a wider array of search queries. Why so? It’s because your ad is not limited to serving only when the landing page you provided is relevant.
   
   Google’s smart system will find any other relevant page on your domain, match it to a query, create a dynamic copy catering to that page, and display your ad!
3. Less Manual Work for Advertisers: Without Final URL expansion, you will have to create multiple ads or campaigns to target a broad range of keywords and queries that are relevant to your business and cover the most important pages of your website.
   
   However, with this feature turned on, Google will automate the heavy lifting. This can be beneficial for those e-commerce websites which have extensive product catalogs, as final URL expansion will allow store owners to get their important and best-selling product pages discovered without putting in too much of a manual effort and constantly updating their campaigns.

Configuring Final URL Expansion for PMax Campaigns 

Let’s also understand how you can configure final URL expansion for PMax campaigns. There are basically two different stages when you can enable or disable final URL expansion for PMax campaigns: 

1. When you are creating a new PMax campaign
2. After you have created your campaign 

Let’s cover both in detail below. 

When Creating a New PMax Campaign  

Note: As shared earlier in the blog, when you are creating a Performance Max campaign, Final URL expansion is enabled by default. Thus, at this stage, you can only turn it off.

We won’t discuss the detailed step-by-step process of creating PMax campaigns. For that, refer to our blog on ‘What is PMax in Google Ads?’

But during the PMax campaign setup process, when you are creating asset groups, you should scroll down to the Asset Customization section. 

Click and expand Text, and review whether the Final URL expansion is on. You can disable or keep it enabled, and then press Next to continue with the PMax campaign creation process. 

Note:  1. You must note that if you don’t turn on Text Customization or Customization, you cannot configure Final URL expansion.  2. Also, remember that Google Ads often updates its interface. So, when you are viewing the settings of a particular Performance Max campaign, you may see “Asset Customization” or “Automatically Created Assets,” under which you can enable or disable final URL expansion. Both represent the automatically created assets for PMax campaigns, and depending on the interface version you are currently using, either of the two will appear.

After A PMax Campaign Has Already Been Created

If you have already created PMax campaigns and wish to turn Final URL expansion on or off, you need to: 

1. Go to “Campaigns” within the Campaign Menu. 

2. Apply the filter to only view Performance Max Campaigns from the top of the window.

3. Select any one campaign you would like to edit from the list of Performance Max campaigns. Then click on the gear icon, which will appear like this ‘⚙️’.

4. The “Settings” window for that campaign will expand. Scroll down to “Asset Customization.” 

5. Click on ‘Text’ to expand its sections. 

6. Check or uncheck the “Final URL” option to enable or display it. 

How Final URL Expansion Works with Merchant Center Feeds 

For Performance Max campaigns that use a product feed from a connected Google Merchant Center account, ads are served to:

1. Either the final URL you provide during campaign creation stages, or;
2. To a product that is included in the campaign, from the connected Merchant Center account 

Thus, you must note that Final URL Expansion doesn’t have any impact on shopping ads created within PMax campaigns. This is because for Shopping ads, Google mainly relies on the titles and URLs provided in your product data feed. Those product URLs are used as-is, without any changes from Google, even when Final URL expansion is turned on for your PMax campaign. 

The only optimization Google may apply is adjusting product titles to better match the user’s search query and intent. But please note that Google only makes minor adjustments to titles when automatically created assets are turned on for your PMax campaign, not specifically Final URL Expansion. 

Case Scenarios: When to Leave Final URL Expansion On or Turn It Off

Now the real question: when should you leave the Final URL expansion setting enabled, and when to turn it off? 

You should leave it on if: 

1. Suppose you have a large website with an extensive range of product or category pages. In such cases, Google will be able to guide users to the most relevant page. 
2. You want to take advantage of Google’s automation. With its help, your ads can serve a wide range of search queries. Additionally, Google will generate PMax assets such as headlines, descriptions, etc., for your ad to align it with your landing page’s content. 
3. Your end goal is to maximize the number of conversions. As your primary concern is more conversions and not which page drives the most, this feature can be helpful. 

You should turn it off if: 

• You have multiple lines of business. For example, if under your brand you offer different types of cleaning services, such as home cleaning, garage cleaning, etc., keeping or turning Final URL Expansion on might confuse Google’s system. If a user is looking for home cleaning services, Google might send that user to your garage cleaning page. This can have a negative impact on your ad’s performance. 
• You have multiple brands or websites under your Google Ads account. As we learned earlier, Final URL expansion will automatically select a landing page that best suits the user’s query. While doing so, it poses a risk of mixing content from different brands. Also, it may end up creating mismatched headlines and descriptions for your ad.  
• Your website has many non-commercial pages that aren’t meant for paid ad traffic. These pages can include ‘About Us’, ‘Blogs’, ‘Privacy Policy’, etc. 

Pro tip: Google recommends using URL exclusion to avoid sending traffic to such non-commercial pages.

• Manual control in terms of what users see after clicking on your ad matters the most to you.

Best Practices for Final URL Expansion in PMax

Recommended best practices for using PMax Final URL Expansion campaigns include:

1. Use URL Exclusions Strategically: This feature helps to exclude any URL on your domain that isn’t a good choice as a landing page for your PMax ad. Thus, use this feature and remove informational pages such as FAQs, About Us, etc., or even those product or subcategory pages that you don’t want to promote as a part of your ecommerce marketing strategy.
2. Use Negative Keywords: If you don’t want your PMax ad to show up for certain search terms or queries, you should use negative keywords for PMax campaigns, rather than disabling Final URL Expansion.   
3. Leverage Page Feeds: Submitting page feeds helps Google better understand which URLs matter the most for your business. You must note that using a page feed doesn’t guarantee that Google will restrict ad traffic to only those pages. However, it helps advertisers ensure that Google indexes and considers those pages on a priority basis. 

For e-commerce sites, using page feeds can be useful to highlight the best product or category pages. 

4. Use Experiments for Performance Max: Using Experiments, Google now allows users to test if replacing your provided Final URL with another landing page on your site drives better results. 

Potential Drawbacks and Considerations of Final URL Expansion

We will also look at the challenges of using Final URL expansion, and how you can deal with those drawbacks. 

1. You have a single, primary landing page or a very specific funnel

Using this automatically created asset can be challenging if your campaign is centered around one page. This page can be a promo page, or a signup page, etc., and for such campaigns, you would want all your traffic to be directed to that landing page. 

To deal with this challenge, you can consider disabling Final URL expansion. 

2. Your brand image requires you to maintain a consistent message

If you want every ad to reflect your brand’s core message and already have some approved marketing material for it, then Google’s dynamically created headlines and descriptions (which it generates for your ads, when Final URL expansion is enabled) might not be suitable for you. It may deviate from your expectations. Thus, consider turning off URL expansion in such cases. 

3. Low campaign budget

If you have a low Google Ads budget, then you shouldn’t use Final URL Expansion for your PMax campaigns. It’s because using Final URL Expansion will dilute your ad budget while serving a wide range of search queries. Moreover, on a low budget, Google AI cannot gather enough data for your PMax campaign and optimize it for optimal results.    

You can use URL expansion or even page feeds to spend your ad budget wisely. Both features will help send users only to the most relevant pages on your domain. 

Conclusion 

In summary, Final URL Expansion in Performance Max can be a powerful asset for your campaigns. It allows you to easily automate the selection of landing pages for your campaigns, ensuring that the relevance between the user’s search query and your landing page is strong. 

However, you need to be careful about whether using this feature is suitable for your business, especially if you have several different business lines or too many non-commercial pages on your site. 

Good luck! 

FAQs

1. Is Final URL Expansion enabled by default in PMax campaigns?

Yes, Final URL Expansion is enabled by default when setting up a Performance Max campaign. Advertisers can choose to disable it during campaign setup or within the campaign settings.

2. How do I exclude certain pages from being used in Final URL Expansion?

Within your Performance Max campaign settings, you can specify URL exclusions. This allows you to prevent certain pages from being selected as landing pages by the system.

3. Can I test the impact of Final URL Expansion on my campaign performance?

Yes, you can use the Google Ads Experiments tool to test how Final URL Expansion affects the performance of your campaigns. You can also compare those results with your current campaign. 

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