If you’ve spent any time tooling around the Google Ads platform, you’ll understand when I say that Google Search Ads center around themes. They have since their inception in 2000 and still do today. Do they still look the same, though? Let’s take a deeper dive.
When discussing themes in search advertising, we’re talking about keywords living in their main character era. The story revolves around them, how often they appear in ad copy, and nothing (much) else matters. When we apply the idea of search themes to Performance Max campaigns, however, we unlock a plethora of capabilities.
In this post, we’ll discuss how you can improve your Performance Max campaigns by using the new Search Themes Beta, as well as discover some reasons why search themes can be helpful for some common digital advertising scenarios.
Many advertisers have seen success by adding Performance Max (PMax) campaigns to an account. According to the Google Ads & Commerce Blog, data has shown that users who implement PMax campaigns in an account have experienced an average of 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action. The main reason for this uplift is the advancement in AI technology regarding bidding and search query matching. You get real-time performance optimization across Google’s properties like Search, Maps, YouTube, and more, and with that comes higher-level campaign and asset group reporting. Combine these, and you’ll have opportunities to discover more relevant customers and incremental conversions.
But wait, there’s more! With the addition of Search Themes Beta for PMax, you get to leverage your expertise along with Google’s AI to unlock new, relevant traffic and expand your reach even more! Search themes are great for giving Google information about your products or services that might not be included on your landing page.
You know what your customers are searching for, so why not utilize AI to unlock new, relevant traffic? We all know that AI isn’t perfect, but it certainly can be an excellent sidekick when we provide it with information it might not quickly learn.
“Search Themes for PMax” Enters the Chat
How does PMax search themes work?
Example: Your products make great gift items for Mother’s Day, but your landing pages don’t promote your products that way.
Add search themes like “mother’s day gifts.” “mother’s day gift ideas,” or “great gifts for mothers,” and you’ll give Google signals that your products make great Mother’s Day gifts.
In each asset group within a Performance Max campaign, you can select up to 25 unique themes, which can help expand your reach to a broader audience.
While there is a maximum number of search themes you can add to a PMax campaign, I suggest following Google’s best practices. Shoot for a max of seven to ten search themes per PMax campaign. Do not use punctuation marks, URLs, or phone numbers, and do not exceed 20 characters per search theme.
To make choosing search themes easy, just think like your customers. What would they be searching for? There may be industry terms that you are not aware of, so be sure to collaborate with someone more familiar with any niche words that might be relevant. As long as you remember your strategy, focusing on the exact thing(s) you are advertising, you are good to go.
If you’d like to highlight several of your offerings, Google suggests creating separate campaigns for each so you can target each theme as precisely as possible.
Worried about how search themes might affect the brand exclusion or account-level negative keywords that you’ve already identified? Don’t worry. The new Search Themes Beta considers those, so you won’t be casting your net into areas you have excluded. You can also see what categories your themes match using Search Terms Insights, so you can monitor and adjust if needed.
Search Themes Beta in Google Ads Performance Max campaigns is a game-changer for advertisers. Expand reach, boost performance, and uncover new audience segments, all while maintaining proper ad placements. Make the most of your digital advertising efforts, and include Search Themes in your PMax campaigns today!