Budget reallocation to PMax campaigns: The new Google Ads experiment 

Budget is the lifeblood of advertising marketing. A well-thought-out allocation can make all the difference between a successful campaign and one that stagnates. To help marketers maximise their ROI, Google Ads is testing a new method: measuring the impact of reallocating budget to PMax campaigns. What exactly is it? And how can you use it? Find the answers here. 

What is the new experiment to reallocate the budget to PMax campaigns? 

Controlled experiments in budget reallocation 

With PMax, Google’s artificial intelligence takes care of everything: delivery, audiences, real-time bidding, and more. AI refines your campaigns and boosts your return on spend. 

If this advertising tool allows you to maximise your results, it is tempting to allocate your entire advertising budget to Performance Max campaigns. 

But how can you be sure you’re making the right choice? 

Until recently, this was difficult. Then Google introduced a new update that measures the impact of reallocating budget to PMax campaigns. 

Marketers can now reallocate budgets from Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) or Display campaigns to PMax and evaluate the performance of this choice. 

Enhanced overall performance

Through these controlled experiments, marketers gain concrete insights into the effectiveness of reallocating budget to PMax campaigns. They can: 

• accurately assess the impact of their choices; 

• compare the performance of traditional campaigns, such as DSA or Display, with that of PMax; 
• make informed decisions on optimising budget allocation. 

Ultimately, Google’s update translates into a better return on investment and enhanced overall performance. 

Alongside these new testing methods, Google continues to promote automation and artificial intelligence on Performance Max. Over the course of the year, we can expect to see numerous improvements aimed at further optimising ROAS. But once again, the impact of these changes will need to be measured. 

How can the impact of budget reallocation be measured?

Google offers a guide to testing budget reallocation to PMax campaigns. Here are the main steps: 

• Go to your Google Ads account and click on the "Campaigns" icon. 
• Click on the drop-down menu, then go to "Experiences"; 
• Click on the "+" button and then select "Performance Max Experiences"; 
• Select the "Test campaign" or "Display campaign" option and click "Continue".
• Click on “Set up your monitoring campaign”. 
• From there, select an eligible campaign, define the proportion of traffic to allocate between the control campaign and the new PMax campaign, then configure the processing. 
• Click Next; 
• Name your campaign;  
• Define the start date and end date; 
• Click on "Schedule".

Your experiment is ready to be launched!

Good to know: Not all Display or DSA campaigns are eligible to participate in the experiment. To be eligible, they must be currently running and not part of other Google Ads experiments. 

Need help getting the most out of PMax? Feel free to contact our Google Ads agency to optimise your advertising campaigns.