Announced by Alphabet at the beginning of 2022, Smart Shopping and local campaigns will migrate to Performance Max campaigns. You have until September of this year to anticipate this structural change.
Reminders about Performances Max campaigns
Google continues to push the automation of its campaigns, relying on the various technological developments of its algorithm. The aim is simple: to use machine learning to maximize campaign performance. Performances Max campaigns enable you to be present on all “Google products”, i.e. the search network, Youtube, Display, Search, Discovery, Gmail and Google Maps. So, with this strategy, you let Google take care of everything: bids, placements, keywords, audiences, zones, devices and so on. It’s a great way to maximize your CSS reach on Google Shopping.
Migration from Smart Shopping to Performance Max
We’re entitled to wonder why Google is imposing this migration on all advertisers wishing to display their products on Google Shopping via its smart campaign system. After a test phase, Google measured a 12% increase in conversion value among advertisers who migrated to Performance Max “for the same or higher ROAS”, which is why they wanted to extend this feature to all its customers.
Two options are then open to you:
1. Taking the lead
Since April, it has been possible to convert your Smart Shopping campaigns with a single click. This option will also be available for your local campaigns from June 2022. This way, you can easily manage the migration while keeping the history of your old campaigns. “When you upgrade your Smart Shopping or local campaign, it becomes a new, separate Performance Max campaign that retains the learnings from your previous campaign to maintain consistent performance,” explained Eduardo Indacochea, Director product management at Google Ads.
2. Leave it to Google
The second option is to let Google automatically manage the migration for you. Google has announced that between July and September, Smart Shopping campaigns will be automatically replaced by Performance Max campaigns. You will no longer be able to create Smart Shopping campaigns from July onwards. The same applies to local campaigns between August and September.
This process should be completed by the end of September, so that everything is in place for the festive season.
The Effinity team’s opinion
The experts at our Google Ads-certified agency recommend taking the lead and managing the transition of Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max yourself, rather than waiting for the automatic migration.
Here are a few tips to help you prepare for the transition:
- Add creative resources to your ads to maximize the algorithm’s effectiveness.
- Add audience signals: the audience signals to prioritize are your customer and website visitor lists and custom segments.
- Activate URL expansion: the Final URL Expansion option helps you find new search queries that may not already be covered by your campaigns.
- Consider switching your campaigns to “maximize conversions” to generate as many conversions as possible.
