Episode cover
Google Ads: The 5 Dos and 5 Don'ts of PMax Optimisation with Becky Hopkin and Jonny Hyams
June 04, 2025 · 35 min

If you're looking to up your game with Google Ads, you're in the right place. We're diving deep into the world of Performance Max, or PMAX, and sharing the five essential dos and five key don’ts for optimising your campaigns. Understanding what you aim to achieve with your campaign is crucial before you even set your bid strategy. With insights from Google Ads experts Becky Hopkin and Johnny Hyams, we'll equip you with practical tips to fill your optimisation to-do list for months to come.

The 5 Dos of PMax Optimisation

Understand channel performance: PMax campaigns run across various Google channels, so it's important to analyze performance on each to optimise effectively. Use scripts to get data on channel performance and understand where your budget is going.Test feed-only PMax: To prioritize shopping and limit placements, create PMax campaigns using only a product feed and no other assets. This gives you more control and focuses spend on shopping, which often performs best for eCommerce.Use high-quality assets: If you include images, videos, headlines, and descriptions, ensure they are high quality and relevant. All creatives should work well together, and asset groups should be used to maintain coherence.Use negative keywords: Add negative keywords to your PMax campaigns to refine targeting and prevent irrelevant traffic. Google now allows adding negative keywords at the campaign level, which gives you greater control.Align bid strategy with objectives: Choose the right bid strategy and set appropriate targets to achieve your campaign goals.

The 5 Don'ts of PMax Optimisation

Only use PMax campaigns: Don't rely solely on PMax; continue to use other campaign types like search, remarketing, and display for better control and targeting.Bid on your brand name in PMax: Exclude your brand name from PMax campaigns to avoid paying higher costs per click, and use separate search campaigns for brand terms.Let campaigns be limited by budget: If possible, avoid budget limitations, and adjust targets or increase budgets to maximize potential.Overly segment campaigns: Avoid excessive segmentation, as PMax needs sufficient conversions to optimise effectively.Leave final URL expansion on: Turn off the final URL expansion setting to control which pages users land on and prevent traffic from going to irrelevant pages.

Find the notes here: https://keepopt.com/259

Download our ebook >> https://keepopt.com/ebook "500 Top Tips to Make Your eCommerce Business More Profitable"

****

Get all the links and resources we mention & join our email list at https://keepopt.com

Love the show? Chloe would love your feedback - leave a review here: https://keepopt.com/review or reply to the episode Q&A on Spotify.

Interested in being a Sponsor? go here: https://keepopt.com/sponsor