Going once…going twice…SOLD!

When you think of an auction, you likely picture large crowds, a charismatic auctioneer, and rapidly selling products. Competition is intense, and whoever bids the most ultimately wins, right?

Well, in the search engine arena, this isn’t always the case. 

Competitive ad rank scores are based on several components, including ad rank thresholds, landing page quality, anticipated asset performance, and more.

With these tips on how to improve ad rank, you’ll be increasing your search engine ranking position in no time!

What Is Ad Rank?

Ad rank is a ranking system used by Google Ads to determine the order in which paid ads show in the search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Just because an ad is eligible to appear, doesn’t mean it will show up at the top—or even at all. You’re a part of the Google auction with all other competitors, so your ad quality needs to be up to par.

The higher quality your ad is, the less you’ll pay per click. Follow these ad rank tips to get the most out of your money.

6 Ad Rank Factors

1. Bidding

In its simplest form, a bid is the maximum monetary amount you’re willing to pay per click. You might even pay less than that amount, depending on the competition and the quality of your ad. We’ll explain more about this below.

Google strives to stay as close to your daily budget as possible, while still maximizing the impact of your bidding strategy. You can adjust the amount at any time.

Need help with the calculations? You can use Keyword Planner to see a range of bids that advertisers in your industry are known for paying per click for related terms. 

Using the example above, you would add up the left column of top of page bids (low range) and divide by 4 to get the average. You would do the same for the column on the right. Therefore, in this case, your bid range would be about $1.75-$5.59 for each click. 

Let’s say you’d like about 10 clicks per day. You would then multiply each by 10. 

$1.75×10 = $17.50

$5.59×10 = $55.90

Therefore, $17.50-$55.90  would be a good range for your Google Ads daily budget. 

*Tip: To calculate a monthly budget, just multiply by 30.4 (the number Google uses for the average number of days in a month).

2. Auction Time Ad Quality

Auction Time Ad Quality includes three main parts (though it can also include other user signals like device type, location, and time of day):

1. Expected click-through rate
2. Landing page quality
3. Ad relevance

These three factors make up an ad’s Quality Score.

Ensure your landing page is well-structured with appropriate headings, visuals, and compelling call-to-actions. Humans crave consistency, so ensure your ads, keywords, and landing pages are all telling the same story. Include your keywords in your headlines and throughout your landing page (especially in the headings). 

*Tip: Fully optimize your landing pages by following these landing page best practices.

You can see in the example below that the query “kitchen drawer organizers” matches well with the headline in the ad “Kitchen Drawer Organizers” and it leads to a landing page with the same title. There’s promotional text in the ad copy, and there are engaging photos on the landing page. All of them are consistent and create a positive shopping experience for the user.

3. Ad Rank Thresholds

Even when there are no other competitors, your ad still might not show or you might have to pay a high amount.

The reason lies in the ad rank thresholds. Certain quality standards must be met because Google doesn’t want to show irrelevant ads on its site. So, if you have a poor-quality ad or your landing pages aren’t as relevant, then Google will charge you more. And if your ad doesn’t meet those thresholds, it won’t show at all.

4. Level Of Competition

Just like in a regular auction, you’re competing with others.

If they also meet their ad rank thresholds, then the person with the highest ad rank score will win the highest search engine ranking position. That’s why having a competitive ad rank score is important.

You’ll only pay the minimum amount needed to outrank the competitor below you.

But, let’s throw a curveball here: Let’s say your ad is the only one that cleared the thresholds and there’s no other competition. In that case, you would pay the reserve price, which is the minimum amount decided by Google. 

5. Context

Context is key in how your search engine ranking position is determined. 

Is the user in the same location as the business being advertised? Local searches could be deemed more relevant.

Do the user’s current and past searches indicate that they are in the market for that item or service? If so, they might be placed into an “In-market” audience category and it could be deemed more likely that they will convert over someone who is not in that category.

What device are they using? If phone calls are one of your goals, your ads might be shown more to people on a mobile device, for example.

Google takes all of these and many other user signals into consideration to optimize for the best performance across the most relevant audience.

6. Anticipated Asset Performance

Ad assets (formerly known as “extensions”) are additional pieces of information that you can add to your Google Ads. These include phone numbers, addresses, sitelinks to other relevant pages on your site, and more. 

Many components are taken into account, such as click-through rates, relevance, and prominence of the assets in the SERPs. Essentially, these are all ways to capture your users’ attention and encourage them to take action on your ad.

Assets are ranked: “Best,” “Good,” or “Low.” You might also see “Learning,” which means the system is still gathering details on it. 

This information is listed in your ads under “View asset details” in your Google Ads account. To see that performance column, you will need at least 2,000 impressions at the top of Google Search within 30 days.

Ad Rank Monitoring

Now that you’ve learned how to earn competitive ad rank scores, it’s time to evaluate your ads. Be on the lookout for notifications in your account like this:

This is an indication that you could use more consistency across your landing pages, keywords, and ad copy.

Diagnose Your Keywords

To run a report, go into the keyword section of Google Ads, select the 3 dots, and under “Diagnose Keywords,” click “Run now.”

When it’s done, you’ll be able to view it in the “Reports” section. This report can give you insights into why your ad isn’t showing, such as being blocked by a negative keyword, distribution preferences, or having a low ad rank score.

Pay Attention To Keyword Intent

When evaluating your keywords, pay attention to whether or not they have the right intent. Those with transactional intent will be from users who are further down the sales funnel and who are likely ready to buy the product. You can view the intent by using a tool like Semrush or by looking for keyword phrases that include words like “for sale.”

Monitor Your Quality Score

Enable the Quality Score column in the keyword section of Google Ads to see which ads need to be improved. As we mentioned earlier in this blog, your Quality Score is a measure of three components: Expected click-through rate, landing page quality, and ad relevance. Try including more keywords in your ads and throughout your landing page to improve your quality score.

Why Is Having A Competitive Ad Rank Score Important?

Paying attention to ad rank is important because higher-quality ads often get charged less per click, which means a better use of your money.

Every time a search occurs, ad rank is calculated. Therefore, it’s important to ensure you have a competitive ad rank score in order to outrank your competitors in the Google auction. 

With machine learning becoming more prominent and the needs of online users becoming highly specialized, marketers (and search engines!) are seeking ways to optimize their reach on the web. Google Performance Max does exactly what it sounds like – it maximizes your performance. 

Google processes over 8.5 billion searches per day, which would be impossible for mere humans to keep up with. Machine learning and advanced AI technologies allow users’ needs to be met in an efficient and time-sensitive manner.

In this article, we’ll cover important tips to help you adapt to these new technologies, including helpful resources and best practices for the creation, implementation, and evaluation of Performance Max campaigns.

What Is Google Performance Max & How Does It Work?

Google Performance Max is an automated campaign structure that uses machine learning to understand consumer trends and adjust your ads accordingly to be shown in various formats across Google channels (YouTube, Search, Gmail, Discovery, and more). 

Google will automatically optimize your performance for the channels your target audience visits the most, allowing your ad spend to be used responsibly to target the right audience that may eventually convert (buy your product).

If you’re not a marketer, here’s a fun example to help you understand Performance Max campaigns: Think of it like a buffet at your favorite restaurant!

If you’re bringing a group of people together and have only one entree, it can be difficult to satisfy everyone in the group with that single choice. Each person has different preferences. But with a buffet, everyone can be served something different. You can satisfy the preferences of multiple people with a single restaurant.

Similarly, Google Performance Max uses a single campaign across many channels/formats to satisfy a variety of people, no matter which one they prefer.

Keep reading to uncover Performance Max best practices to enhance your Google Ads experience. Check out the Google Ads Help Center for step-by-step guidance on setting up your Performance Max Campaign.

10 Performance Max Best Practices

Now that we’ve identified what Google Performance Max is, let’s move on to some best practices that will allow you to get the most value out of your campaign.

1. Use it in conjunction with your other search campaigns. If the query exactly matches a keyword you’re bidding on, the Search campaign you have running will show its ad. However, if it doesn’t match exactly, Google will show either the Search ad or the Performance Max ad (whichever has the highest Ad Rank score).

2. Select one of two bidding strategies (make sure it aligns with your business goals):

• Maximize conversions: Use this strategy when you’d like to get the most conversions possible  (i.e. leads, signing up for an email list, phone calls, etc.)
• Maximize conversion value: Use this strategy when you value certain conversions more than others (i.e. If you’d ultimately rather have more leads rather than phone calls, give them a higher value so Google will optimize for those)

3. If you already know your target audience, you can either use your own data like Customer Match/Audience lists or specify various groups using Audience Signals. These are suggestions that give Google an idea of which audiences to go after, speeding up the machine learning process of discovering new audiences. Google will still show your ads to other audiences aside from these, this is just simply a starting point.
   
   For example, if you run an event venue for theater performances, you can select audience signals like “Frequently Attends Live Events,” “Performing Arts Tickets,” or “Theatre Shows and Plays,” among others.
   

4. Consider using a feature called “Final URL Expansion.” This option is a new way to automatically customize your ads to match the queries your audience is searching for, even if you aren’t bidding on those exact keywords. If you opt into this, Google will choose the landing page on your site that best matches the user’s query, along with developing a dynamic headline and description.
   
   Now, you may be reading that and thinking, “Hey, I want control over which pages on my site Google can choose from!” and that’s a valid point. There are cases where you, as the marketer, will decide that letting Google automate everything isn’t the best solution.
   
   In that case, you can choose to restrict certain URLs (“URL exclusion”). Additionally, if you only have one landing page that you’re directing people to, it wouldn’t make sense to use this feature.

5. Another Performance Max best practice is to make sure you’re supplying as many assets as it’s asking for. This gives Google plenty of options to choose from. Enter the maximum amount of headlines and descriptions, use as many audience signals and match lists as are relevant, use a high-quality video, and upload a variety of photos for Google to choose from.
   
   It’s best to have a minimum of 5 versions of text assets (4 headlines, 5 descriptions) and 5 versions of image assets. Having a variety of assets also contributes to a higher ad strength (ideally, you’ll want your ad to be in the “Excellent” category).
   
   To expand on this, you’re probably wondering about the details of Performance Max asset requirements. We’ll cover this in the next section.

6. Visual content is so important to connect with your users and capture their attention. Be sure to keep your content fresh and upload new highly relevant assets regularly. 

7. Pay attention to how well your assets are performing and replace the ones that aren’t performing well. Be sure to replace them, not remove them to avoid negatively affecting your campaigns.

8. If you’re targeting multiple products, try focusing on only one for each asset group so it can be as personalized as possible. You can have a maximum of 100 asset groups per campaign. However, you’re going to want to make sure you have enough budget (the more asset groups you have, the more budget you’ll want to have as well).

9. Some sources recommend a daily budget of at least $50-$100/day for Performance Max campaigns in order to receive enough data to analyze results adequately.

10. Keep your campaign running for at least 6 weeks to give Google enough time to learn your strategies and fully optimize the account.

Performance Max Asset Requirements

When you go to create your Performance Max campaign, it will walk you through the asset requirements you’ll need. These include:

• Business Name
• Up to 20 images (in a variety of sizes – square, landscape, etc.)
• Up to 5 logos (at least one must be a square)
• Up to 5 videos that are 10 seconds or less 
• Up to 5 headlines (30 characters each)
• Up to 5 long headlines (90 characters each)
• Descriptions (one 60-character description and up to four other 90-character descriptions)
• Call to action button
• Final URL

For more specific guidance on what size photos to upload, check out the assets section of Google Ads API.

In addition to these, you may be familiar with ad extensions, now also called Assets, which take up additional space in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This allows for more clickable components in your ads and provides additional information to help your audience decide whether or not your ad answers their query. 

Here are some examples that you can add to your Performance Max campaigns:

• Four or more sitelinks (additional pages on your site that you wouldn’t mind leading traffic to)
• Promotions (10% off, $25 off, etc.)
• Prices and descriptions of your products
• Phone number of your business
• Structured snippets (additional information based on category – styles, types, etc.)
• Lead Form (includes basic contact information for your user to fill out)
• Callouts (small pieces of information that aren’t clickable, but still provide relevant information. i.e. “Free Shipping”)
• Locations (connected to your Google Business Profile)

How To Evaluate Campaign Performance

Now that you’ve set your campaigns up for success, how can you ensure these best practices are working?

1. Google Ads provides an “Insights page” to combine your data with larger trends across Google. It will notify you of optimization opportunities and any problems to address. There are  different types of insights: asset audience insights, search trends, auction insights, demand forecasts, and more. 

2. Run an experiment! Test the performance of your campaigns with or without a Performance Max campaign. 
   
3. Remember, be sure to give the campaign at least 6 weeks before you come to any conclusions about its performance.

What Are The Benefits Of Performance Max Campaigns?

Something that’s unique about Google Ads, and specifically Performance Max, is that it focuses heavily on your “why.” Why are you seeking to run Google Ads for your business? What is your ultimate goal? 

Google Ads optimizes entirely around whichever goal you select, giving you more store visits, sales, or whichever goal you’ve identified as most important to your business.

Benefits For Users

1. Receive information in a variety of formats to fit any preference – search, discover, video, and more.
   
2. Show more visual assets such as photos and videos rather than only text ads for a more engaging experience.
   
3. Obtain access to products and services that they have an interest in. Meet their needs for products that they’re already searching for, or help them identify something they didn’t realize they need.
   
4. Create a more unified experience rather than an orphaned ad on a single platform. Repetition and seeing ads in a variety of formats/platforms help users identify with the brand.

Benefits For Marketers & Business Owners

1.  Simplify the campaign set-up process (who doesn’t love that?). You’ll only need to set up one campaign, and yet it will be optimized for multiple channels. 
   
   Without using Performance Max, you would need to set up individual campaigns for YouTube, Search, and Display, along with individual budgets for each. This could limit the number of impressions, interactions, site visits, and conversions you receive. 

2. Receive insight into your top audiences and target those categories specifically. You’ll also receive insight into which channels (YouTube, Search, Gmail, etc.) your audience is using the most. 
   
   If you already know your target audience, you can specify various groups using Audience Signals, as mentioned previously.

3. Understand rising search trends and identify future opportunities to capitalize on. Google provides this information under the “Insights” tab in your Google Ads account.
   

4. Draw more people to your physical store location if you decide to use Performance Max for Store Goals. This is especially helpful for retail businesses.

What Are The Disadvantages Of Performance Max Campaigns?

In mentioning the benefits of Performance Max, it’s also important that we mention some disadvantages. 

1. Marketers will have less control. Although you provide the assets, Google ultimately chooses the combinations, which could be in any number of formats. There’s no way to predict the exact combinations that will show.

2. If you don’t have a video to upload, Google will create one for you from the images you provide. However, a point of caution is that if it ends up not being high enough quality, Google may stop showing your video ad, which puts you at risk for significant impacts in your campaign’s reach and performance.

3. It may take some time for Google’s machine learning algorithm to learn and adapt to your bid strategies, budget, audience, and highest-performing ad formats.

4. Pay attention to the size of your images that you upload to ensure they aren’t getting cut off in any of the formats it appears in.

5. It’s challenging to add negative keywords to a Performance Max campaign – you’ll need to contact a Google Ads representative.

6. It can get expensive, especially if you are running search campaigns, too.

In summary, while Performance Max campaigns have both advantages and disadvantages, they ultimately can help you diversify your channel mix, giving you more unique opportunities to reach the right audiences. 

In my opinion, automation is the direction the world is headed. It’s not a trend, but rather, something marketers must adapt to. With these best practices in mind, you’ll be able to optimize your performance to be the most effective. 

Additional Performance Max Resources

1. Take a Google Performance Max course through Skillshop – it’s something I found very helpful when researching information for this blog!
   
2. Solutions 8 has a comprehensive guide to Google Performance Max.
   
3. Having some problems with your campaign? Check out Google’s Troubleshooting Guide.