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Create a Performance Max campaign

The campaign wizard can publish a Performance Max campaign instead of a Search campaign. Performance Max shows your ad on Search, YouTube, Gmail, Display, Discover, and Maps. You select the campaign type on the Choose what to target step. The wizard has the same three steps for both campaign types. For Performance Max, the Check your ad step has two more tabs: Long headlines and Images.

Performance Max uses Category search only. When you select Performance Max, the Search type menu does not show.

Select Performance Max​

  1. On the Choose what to target step, click Campaign type. It is the first setting under the sentence. By default, it shows Search.
  2. Select Performance Max.
  3. Complete the sentence.
  4. Click Find keywords.
  5. On the Choose keywords and budget step, select a keyword group.
  6. Click Write ad copy.

Hero Marketer then writes your ad for Performance Max. This uses credits, the same as other ad copy.

On the Choose keywords and budget step, the keywords of the group become search themes. The line above the keyword table shows used as search themes in place of exact match. You set a monthly budget on this step, the same as for a Search campaign. See Set your monthly budget.

The conversion tracking warning​

A warning shows under the settings of the Choose what to target step when your Google Ads account has no conversion action that counts in Conversions. On the Check your ad step, the campaign card shows Conversion tracking not enabled under Bidding. Performance Max bids for conversions. Without conversion tracking, Performance Max cannot learn which clicks pay off. The warning does not stop the launch. Set up a conversion action in Google Ads, or select Search.

What changes in the ad copy for Performance Max​

Performance Max ad copy has the 15 headlines and 4 descriptions of a Search ad, plus these lines:

  • 5 long headlines of 60 to 90 characters.
  • One call to action headline of 15 characters or fewer.
  • One description of 60 characters or fewer. Google requires one description of this length.

Google mixes the headlines for each place where the ad shows, so no headline is pinned. The Headlines tab shows the three groups as Keyword headlines, Benefit headlines, and Call to action headlines. The Long headlines tab holds the 5 long headlines. Larger ads show a long headline in place of a short one. The Descriptions tab tells you that one description must have 60 characters or fewer.

Each line shows its character count. A line over the limit turns red.

The ad copy is also a valid Search ad. If you go back and select Search, Hero Marketer does not write the ad again. A Search ad has no long headlines. If you change a Search campaign to Performance Max after Hero Marketer wrote the ad, Hero Marketer writes the ad again when you continue from the Choose keywords and budget step.

Images that a Performance Max campaign needs​

A Performance Max campaign from the wizard needs at least 5 images of each size: landscape, square, and portrait. Google takes up to 20 images, so you select 15 to 20 images. Launch is not available until you select 5 images of each size. Before it publishes, Hero Marketer checks the 5 images of each size again.

The images can come from two places:

  • Create images. Hero Marketer makes them on the Images tab, or you made them before on the Create images page. A landscape image is 16:9, a square image is 1:1, and a portrait image is 4:5.
  • Your uploads. PNG, JPEG, or WebP files that you upload on the Images tab. Uploads are free.

What the Images tab shows​

The first time for a product, the Images tab shows Add your brand. Enter your website and add your logo. Then click Build my ad styles. This takes about two minutes and uses credits, the same as on the Create images page. You must add your brand also when you upload all of your images, because the logo of the campaign comes from the brand.

After that, the Images tab shows these parts, from top to bottom:

  1. The selection count. For example, 12 of 20 selected and 5 of each size to launch. Each size shows its count. A size with 5 selected images shows a check, for example Landscape 5. A size with fewer than 5 shows its count out of 5, for example Portrait 3 of 5. While a size has fewer than 5, the link Make N more shows.
  2. Make images. The text box and the settings of Create images.
  3. Your images. A size filter, the Upload images button, and your images as tiles with a check box.
  4. Logo and Business name.

Select images for the campaign​

Until you change the selection, Hero Marketer selects the images for you:

  1. The newest 5 images of each size.
  2. Then the newest of the other images, up to 20 images in total.

To select an image, click it. To remove an image from the selection, click it again. When you select 20 images, the tab shows You selected 20, the most Google takes. Remove one to add another.

To show one size only, click Landscape, Square, or Portrait above the images. Each size shows its number of images. To show all sizes again, click All.

The tab shows only the newest version of each image. If you change an image on the Create images page, the earlier version leaves your selection. Select the new version. If you delete an image, it also leaves your selection.

A landscape tile from Create images shows Landscape · edges cropped under the image. Google crops landscape images to 1.91:1, so the tile shades the top and bottom edges that Google cuts.

Make images for the campaign​

Under Make images, the text box starts with a sentence about your product and your keyword group: "product, for people who search for keyword group." You can change the text. The toolbar under the text box has these settings:

  • Aspect ratio. Only 16:9, 1:1, and 4:5. All three are selected at the start.
  • The ad style. The same three styles as on the Create images page.
  • Ideas. 5 ideas at the start. With all three aspect ratios, 5 ideas make 5 images of each size.

The campaign keeps its own aspect ratios and number of ideas. These settings do not change the settings of the Create images page.

To make the images, click the button at the end of the toolbar, for example Make 15 images. New images arrive selected, also when you open a different tab while Hero Marketer makes them. Launch is not available until the images are ready.

The images cost the same as on the Create images page. See Create ad images.

Make more images for a size that is short​

When a size has fewer than 5 selected images, use Make N more:

  1. Click Make N more next to the counts. Hero Marketer sets the aspect ratios to the sizes that are short. It sets the ideas to the number that the largest gap needs.
  2. Click the button at the end of the toolbar.

The number in Make N more is the number of images that the batch makes. For example, when square needs 1 more and portrait needs 3 more, the link shows Make 6 more. The batch makes 3 square images and 3 portrait images.

Upload your own images​

You can upload your own images for the campaign. Uploads are free.

  1. On the Images tab, click Upload images.
  2. Select up to 20 PNG, JPEG, or WebP files. Each file can be up to 10 MB.

Hero Marketer puts each upload in the size nearest to its shape:

  • Landscape. The width is about 1.38 times the height, or more.
  • Portrait. The width is less than about 0.89 times the height.
  • Square. All other shapes.

Each upload must have Google's minimum width and height for its size:

  • Landscape. 600 by 314 pixels.
  • Square. 300 by 300 pixels.
  • Portrait. 480 by 600 pixels.

If a file is too small, Hero Marketer names the file and stops the upload. For example: photo.png is too small for a portrait image. Google needs at least 480 by 600 pixels. The upload also stops for a file over 10 MB, or a file that is not a PNG, JPEG, or WebP file. If you select more than 20 files, the tab shows Upload up to 20 images at a time.

An upload arrives selected. Its tile shows the crop that Google gets, with Landscape · uploaded, Square · uploaded, or Portrait · uploaded under it. Hero Marketer sends the upload to Google as you uploaded it, cropped to its size.

Uploads show only on the Images tab of a Performance Max campaign. They do not show on the Create images page. Hero Marketer deletes an upload 30 days after you upload it, the same as other images.

Logo and business name​

The logo and the business name are at the bottom of the Images tab. The logo is the brand logo from Create images, with the note From your brand. The business name starts as your product name. You can change it in the Business name field. The business name can have up to 25 characters. Google shows the logo and the business name with your ads.

The campaign card for Performance Max​

The campaign card next to the ad preview shows the monthly budget, for example $500 a month. It does not show expected clicks, because Performance Max also spends outside Google Search. To change the budget, click Monthly budget.

The card shows Search themes in place of Keywords, for example 10 from Product analytics software. Each keyword of the group becomes one search theme.

The card also holds two settings:

  • Bidding. Maximize conversions (the default) or Maximize conversion value. To change it, click Bidding. If the account has no conversion action that counts in Conversions, Conversion tracking not enabled shows under Bidding. This warning does not stop the launch.
  • Campaign name. The automatic name has this format: PMAX | search term | country code, for example PMAX | Product analytics | US.

Tab icons for a Performance Max campaign​

Each tab shows a status icon before its name. A green check shows that the part is done. An empty circle shows a tab that you did not open yet, or an Extras tab with no extras. The empty circle does not stop the launch. An amber alert icon shows a part that you must fix before you launch. The Long headlines tab works the same as the Headlines tab. It shows a green check after you open it. It shows the alert icon when a line is too long or empty.

Two tabs have more rules for Performance Max:

  • Descriptions. The tab also shows the alert icon when no description has 60 characters or fewer.
  • Images. The tab shows a green check when you selected at least 5 images of each size, and the logo and the business name are set. The tab shows the empty circle while an image batch is in progress. In all other cases, the tab shows the alert icon.

Launch a Performance Max campaign​

The Launch button is in the launch bar at the bottom of the step. It shows the monthly budget, for example Launch at $500 a month. Launch is not available until these are true:

  • You selected at least 5 landscape, 5 square, and 5 portrait images.
  • The product has a logo, and the business name is not empty.
  • No line of the ad copy is broken, and one description has 60 characters or fewer.
  • No image batch is in progress.

The launch bar lists each problem that stops the launch. To fix a problem, click its line. The wizard opens the tab where you fix the problem. For a Performance Max campaign, the launch bar can show these lines:

  • Set a monthly budget. This line opens the Choose keywords and budget step.
  • Fix the headlines in red.
  • Fix the long headlines in red.
  • Fix the descriptions in red.
  • Make one description 60 characters or fewer.
  • Launch needs 4 more images: 1 square and 3 portrait. The line counts the images that each size still needs.
  • Wait for the new images. An image batch is in progress.
  • Add your logo.
  • Add a business name.

Google Ads gets the monthly budget as a daily budget: the monthly budget divided by 30.4, rounded down to the cent. See What the campaign wizard creates.

Turn on Google's AI label after launch​

Google Ads asks advertisers to label images that AI made. Hero Marketer cannot set this label for you. After you launch, turn on Google's AI label in Google Ads for the campaign images that AI made, for example the images from Create images.

Images with text and buttons​

Hero Marketer sends each image from Create images to Google as Create images made it, with its headline and button. Google's guidance discourages text and buttons on images, so Google can limit or disapprove some images. You can replace an image in Google Ads.

What the wizard does not do for Performance Max​

  • It does not make a Performance Max campaign with Brand search or Competitor search.
  • It makes one asset group. Search themes are the only signal. It does not add audience signals.
  • It does not add video or a landscape logo.
  • Hero Marketer does not edit asset groups or assets after you publish. Use Google Ads. Hero AI can change the status, the budget, and the bidding of the campaign.

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