Performance Max has been available to advertisers for the last two years and has previously faced criticism over the limited information and lack of control advertisers have over the campaigns.

This new feature is arguably going to be the biggest change to the Performance Max campaigns since its inception. By using advertisers' data, Google will be able to target potential new customers.

According to Search Engine Land, the new features will give users a number of options to choose from;

• Customer Match lists. These lists use first-party data including email, phone, first name, last name, country and zip code. When uploaded Google will provide a match rate that shows how many of your customers have a matching Google account that can be used in targeting.
  
  Note: While this PII information is currently being used by Google this is to be used for first-party data only. Once support for third-party cookies are phased out, Customer Match will no longer be supported in third party contexts but Google will continue to allow Customer Match in first-party contexts, when a publisher has a direct relationship with a customer. 
  
• Conversion tags. Pixels are still alive and well in Google Ads and the use of conversion tags for purchases can help these new PMax goals exclude folks that are not new.
  
• Google’s autodetection method. This autodetection method is similar to what was used in Smart Shopping campaigns called “Google detected” but also adds some new flair. According to a Google spokesperson, the new autodetection in Performance Max includes the Google detected purchase conversion tracking previously seen in Smart Shopping, plus they “have also built new machine learning modelling to predict how likely a user is to be a new vs. existing customer for an advertiser to make up for low match rates”.

This gives Google the ability to take 1st party signals, Google conversion information and their own data to define who is not a previous customer, before targeting them through the traditional Performance Max routes.

As with previous Performance Max campaigns, their advice is still to allow 4 - 6 weeks before drawing any conclusion on performance.

If you need any advice or assistance setting up any Performance Max or more traditional Google campaigns, then get in contact with our Paid Search experts on 0203 368 8556 or info@kaumediagroup.com.