Google Performance Max Shopping vs Standard Shopping Campaign

Google Shopping is a service from Google that allows users to search, compare and buy products from various sellers who have paid Google to advertise their items online.

In this article, we’ll have a look at shopping campaigns and detail important differences between Performance Max and a Standard Shopping campaign. 

Google Shopping ads are a powerful advertising tool that can help businesses increase their online visibility and drive more sales.

Imagine you want to buy a 4k TV. The easiest way to do this is to go to Google and type the keyword “4k TV” into the search box.

Google generates search engine results pages (SERPs) filled with listings of 4k TVs with relevant information such as images, descriptions, prices, and brand names. I would like to note that in addition to the block with product cards, text ads will also be shown.

Here is how it looks in product listings ads:

Google Search Ads:

Google Shopping tab:

Take your online store to the next level with professional Google Shopping management.

This is the campaign required to create Product Shopping ads. Product Shopping ads let you include an image, title, price, and your store or business name inside your ads, without the need for you to create unique ads for each product you sell.

The key points you should know about the Standard Shopping Campaign:

• More time-consuming setup.
• Requires manual testing of ads (image and text combinations).
• Full control over every aspect of your campaign, but it takes more time to manage the ad campaign.
• You can disable online placements.
• You can manage location targeting.
• You can add negative keywords.
• You can add multiple landing pages to test ads.
• Shows only in search results and in the shopping section.

Read our article on Bing Shopping vs Google Shopping if you wonder about the key differences between these platforms and want to choose the best one for your e-commerce store.

Check out our article on how to optimize Google Shopping feed to learn which elements of your Google Shopping ads can be optimized for a more successful ad campaign. 

Performance Max (PM) is the type of automated campaign that works to achieve goals, pay for results and find customers wherever they are located.

Performance Max has replaced Smart Shopping and Local campaigns.

The main feature of PM campaigns is that they allow you to search for customers at all placements. The algorithm selects the placements itself. Ads can appear in search, networks, recommendations, Gmail, YouTube and Google Maps, and Discover. Placements cannot be excluded.

Performance Max is available for four targets: Sales, Leads, Website traffic, Local store visits and promotions.

1. It covers more types of campaigns. PM campaigns use many different advertising formats. So, PM can be useful to you If you are going to promote your offer across multiple channels in different formats.
2. This is full automation. Increase the number of conversions and the value of conversions. The smart algorithm automatically optimizes budget and channel rates to maximize conversions in real-time, across all placements. Machine learning models help predict more accurately which ads, audiences, and ad object combinations will yield the best results.
3. Provides detailed information about the work of an automatic campaign. The advertiser can monitor how well the automatic campaign is performing. Information is displayed in the “Overview” section and “Insights”.

PMax is a versatile and flexible tool. Moreover, it is suitable for most businesses. Often advertisers do not have a Merchant Center product feed, but PMax can work without it, this is not a critical factor.

If you don’t have an online shop, check out our Google Performance Max Guide to learn about PMax running without feed.

The main advantage is that the system will take data on products and their prices directly from the product feed. 

The steps for setting up a campaign are the same as for Performance Max without feeds. 

The main difference is only in the connection of the data feed. To learn more, check out these available materials from Google:

• Create a Google Merchant Center account:

• Requirements for data feed 

Once you have linked your Google Merchant Center and Google Ads accounts, you can create Performance Max Google Shopping.

The differences appear when you set up the item group. Here the advertiser can set up item groups. That is, select the products whose images will be used in ads.

To do this, click on the sign of the pen in the “Listing groups” section:

Then we define the parameter by which we want to select products. You can select by category, brand, item ID, condition, product type, channel, custom label:

Next, we set up audience signals and extensions as we described in the Google Performance Max Guide, and launch the campaign.

The main difference between Performance Max and Standard Shopping Campaign is certainly in automation and simplicity of settings.

Below you will find a comparison table that clearly shows the key differences between the campaign types.

You will ask WHAT? How do I add negative keywords in Performance Max if there isn’t even such a section?

Nice bonus for those who have read to the end.

This is a hidden feature, but can be accessed. You can ask our eCommerce PPC agency for help.

You can find many examples that will tell you about the effectiveness of Performance Max, such as how it raises revenue by 40% or ROAS by 45%.

Examples from Google:

1. Performance Max campaigns
2. New features to grow your business with Performance Max

But do not forget that Performance Max is not a panacea and not all projects will show its effectiveness. It is worth conducting tests, and only by running different variants of Performance Max can you achieve success.

So we can say that Performance Max is needed as a tool for scaling, moreover, with a quick startup. The disadvantage is obvious, and this is a limitation due to automation, which does not allow you to influence the advertising campaign in all aspects.

Performance Max is like a black box. So you have to choose: control and transparency vs. ease of management and coverage.

Embarking on a dual campaign strategy that includes both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns is not only possible but can be highly beneficial, provided it’s executed with strategic precision. This approach demands an understanding of the inherent differences and operational nuances of each campaign type.

A pivotal aspect to navigate is the priority setting of these campaigns. Performance Max campaigns inherently have a higher priority within Google’s advertising ecosystem, meaning they tend to secure a significant portion of ad impressions. This dynamic can lead to a scenario where, if the same product is featured in both a Performance Max and a Standard Shopping campaign, the former is likely to overshadow the latter. This imbalance can result in reduced exposure for your Standard Shopping campaigns.

This strategy should not only acknowledge the priority difference but also aim to harness the unique advantages of each campaign type. For instance, while Performance Max campaigns utilize Google’s machine learning capabilities to optimize ad placements across Google’s entire online real estate, Standard Shopping campaigns offer more granular control over product listings and bids. This control can be particularly advantageous for managing campaigns targeted at specific products or categories.

Moreover, implementing these campaigns concurrently allows for a more comprehensive data collection, offering insights into consumer behavior and preferences across different Google platforms. This data can inform future advertising strategies, making them more targeted and effective.

For an in-depth comparison of Google’s Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns, check out this informative tutorial video. It demonstrates how to set up experiments to directly measure the performance differences between these two campaign types, a valuable resource for managers of large Google Ads accounts:

Both Performance Max and Google Standard Shopping Campaign have their pros and cons, so choose what works best for your advertising campaign, line of business and marketing strategy.

If you also think about utilizing paid social media, check out our article on Google Shopping vs Facebook Ads.

We have extensive experience in running PPC for eCommerce businesses. If you have questions about the differences in shopping campaigns, or which type of shopping campaign to choose, don’t hesitate to contact our team.