Hello,
Recently our smart campaign auto migrated to the new google performance max… however, our sales that came from our smart campaign have completely halted. Is there something special I need to do with the performance max campaign. Any suggestions?
Yes, this an issue, and you are not singled out. The issue is that while Google does say its a smooth transition, PMax needs to re-learn to work again, which can take from a few weeks to 1.5 months.
The main thing you need to make sure is correct, is your conversion tracking and remarketing tracking.
Also make sure your ad assets are improved.
This burned me so incredibly hard. Ouch. I’ve spent hours reconfiguring Merchant Center. This was not a smooth migration by any means.
I’m very curious on how you went about the reconfiguring part. I’m very lost as to what to even look into.
This is killing our business as we type, did you get fixed? Any suggestions where to start?
I estimate the cost of this ‘migration’, for us, around $15,000. After
getting our products back online we’re now starting to close that gap.
Our products stopped showing on Google at migration because the new setup
had slightly different requirements for which information was populated for
each product in order for it to be shown.
I’m not sure where, I hacked my way through this whole mess. I don’t have
direct advice, but… Follow the product from your store to merchant center
to Google ads and make sure each product is displaying properly. You can
manually populate the missing fields in Merchant Center
Bradley Woods
The Virtual Foundry, inc.
Why would anyone even WANT to give customer lists to Google?
Do you really believe improving assets will solve the problem?
Google wants your data. In return, they promise to nag your customer’s internet experience.
Google can’t automate placement of tags; Shopify wants a full subscription to do it manually and properly!
It is what it is. Google says PM can leverage a standard search campaign’s keywords which seems to make having one sine qua non. Set bid strategy to clicks. Google invents conversions.
Do a direct mail campaign. It’s no secret. PM is a money pit. Play it for nickels and dimes.
You might click the Google Ads “Tools and settings” button and find “Content suitability” under “Setup”… this will give you some idea where your hard earned ad spend is being spent.
Go to advanced settings. Under “Excluded types and labels” you might want to get rid of Youtube. Under “Excluded placements”, you might think to click all but everything, except maybe the one that says “shopping”.
Under Content Suitability Advanced Settings, find “Below-The-Fold” and exclude it. This seems to have a marked effect on placement in Google Shopping.
As a general rule, if Google offers insights and recommendations, just do the opposite.
My final thought on this, is, Google Ads are not a magic wand. The standard advice from marketplace cheerleaders is: Sell great stuff at great prices; so, if you’re not doing that, you’re, by omission, selling hard-to-sell items. And this invites gurus from the peanut gallery as relentless self-promoters, or, “makeup artists”… so, I think, the old adage applies: “The only way to make money from a self-help book is to write one.” Thus, don’t spend any more than you have to and this implies a Basic Shopify subscription. Play Google Ads for nickels and dimes to keep the free ads alive. Read these threads and try this or that; only that, “Expect nothing and you’ll never be disappointed.” - Lao Tzu