Google Ads is testing a new feature for Performance Max (PMax) campaigns aimed at giving advertisers better control over brand traffic. This update addresses long-standing concerns about how brand traffic is handled within PMax campaigns. Here’s a simple breakdown of what’s happening.
When PMax campaigns first launched, many advertisers noticed an issue: brand traffic—users searching specifically for a business’s brand—was being pulled into PMax campaigns, often cannibalizing dedicated brand Search campaigns.
This caused several challenges:
- Performance distortion: Brand traffic typically converts more efficiently, making PMax results appear inflated.
- Budget and bid challenges: Businesses often want to manage brand and non-brand traffic separately to optimize spending and bidding strategies.
To address this, Google introduced a brand exclusion feature. However, this feature had its limitations.
The problem: Overly restrictive brand exclusions
The initial brand exclusion option blocked brand traffic entirely, including both Search and Shopping ads within PMax campaigns. While it solved the problem for Search, it created a new issue: advertisers lost valuable brand traffic in Shopping ads, which many businesses rely on for revenue.
To work around this, advertisers often created separate “brand-catcher” Shopping campaigns. But recent changes in Google’s campaign priority mechanics made these workarounds less effective, leaving advertisers without a clean solution.
The new solution: Smarter brand exclusions
Google’s latest test introduces a new option in the brand exclusions setup. This feature:
- Excludes brand traffic from PMax campaigns.
- Keeps brand traffic active for Shopping ads within PMax.
This adjustment is simple yet effective, allowing advertisers to manage brand traffic more precisely without needing complex workarounds. It aims to balance control and flexibility for advertisers by:
- Ensuring brand traffic doesn’t inflate PMax results.
- Allowing businesses to retain valuable brand traffic in Shopping ads.
While this feature is still in testing, it represents a significant improvement in how PMax campaigns handle brand traffic, addressing a major advertiser concern.
Mike Ryan spotted this update.
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