Understanding Performance Max with the Insights Page

Jill Goldstein - April 26, 2023

When advertisers began using Performance Max campaigns, early adopters had one primary complaint: a lack of insight into who was seeing ads, what searches ads were shown for and what channels were performing well. While the later question is still somewhat unknown, the Insights Page has evolved over time and has been extremely useful in helping answer some of these key questions about Performance Max campaigns. The Insights Page can be found by clicking into your Performance Max campaign and navigating to the “Insights” tab found in the left navigation.

1. How are my customers searching for and engaging with my business?
   • The search terms insights section analyzes searches your ads have appeared on the last 7 or 28 days, grouping them into categories and providing KPIs for each. Here you can see what searches are converting more frequently. This insight may inform landing page and creative asset decisions.
     

2. Who is seeing my ads?
   • The audience insights section shows which audiences are converting at higher rates. These insights will surface characteristics, interests and behaviors of users who see your ads and convert. You may learn something new about your audience which can inform a broader business strategy.
     

3. How are various ad assets resonating with my audience?
   • The asset audience insights section shows you which audiences are resonating with various assets. These insights can help you generate additional assets that may resonate well with users in your top audiences.
     

4. How are changes I’m making impacting performance?
   • The Performance changes section provides a great view on recent changes made to campaigns with correlated changes in performance.
     

While the initial launch of Performance Max campaigns brought a lot of mystery, Google has made some serious strides in giving advertisers added insights into what’s going on under the hood. The Insights page helps answer strategic questions to learn more about your audience and campaigns, which can inform optimizations and strategy. I look forward to the continued insights Google offers into Performance Max.

Contact the experts at MoreVisibility for help navigating Performance Max campaign insights and optimizations.