As 2024 comes to a close, and with the holiday season on the horizon, advertisers are focused on getting the most out of their marketing efforts. To help advertisers make the most of the year-end push, Google has introduced several new features to Performance Max.

1. Optimize your assets using experiments and Generative AI

• Test and enhance campaign assets: Advertisers will soon be able to run experiments to test the impact of adding new assets (such as images, videos, and text) to campaigns. This will allow retailers to assess the effectiveness of adding more assets beyond a product feed, rolling out in beta in November.
• Final URL expansion testing: This feature, now widely available, lets advertisers test replacing their final URL with a more relevant landing page from their website. This can better match search intent, leading to improved results.
• AI-powered visuals: Google has updated its image generation capabilities using its advanced Imagen 3 model, which is fine-tuned with ad performance data. This will help advertisers create higher-quality visuals for their Performance Max, Demand Gen, App, and Display campaigns driving better engagement and performance.

2. Expand video reach with AI-powered enhancements

Google is enhancing video ads by using AI to create multiple versions of existing videos. This can help advertisers tap into more YouTube inventory and boost performance.

Video ad enhancements include:

• Flipping ads: AI flips your video into different aspect ratios, preserving key elements so they look great across YouTube’s diverse formats.
• Shortening ads: AI selects key moments from longer videos to create shorter versions, maintaining your original message.

Advertisers can control these enhancements, opting out or removing videos that don’t meet their expectations through asset reporting or campaign settings.

3. Greater flexibility for managing Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns

A significant change is coming for those running both Performance Max and Standard Shopping campaigns in the same account. Moving forward, Ad Rank will determine which campaign serves an ad, instead of Performance Max automatically being prioritized. This gives advertisers more flexibility, similar to how Performance Max works with other campaign types like Demand Gen.

For more details, read the full Google announcement here.