Smart Shopping campaigns created in Merchant Center are now Performance Max campaigns

All Smart Shopping campaigns created in Merchant Center have been automatically upgraded to Performance Max. When you create a new campaign in Merchant Center, the campaign will use Performance Max by default. As the next generation of Smart Shopping campaigns, Performance Max campaigns help you reach more shoppers across all Google Ads channels, including YouTube, Search, and Discover. Learn more about promoting your products in ads using Merchant Center

If you use Merchant Center to create and manage Smart Shopping campaigns, this announcement covers important details about the upgrade.

Note: For additional campaign management functionality, you can use Google Ads to create Performance Max campaigns. Smart Shopping campaigns created in Google Ads will also upgrade automatically to Performance Max campaigns. Learn more about the upgrade for Google Ads

Benefits of Performance Max campaigns

• Serve on additional Google Ads inventory: Performance Max ads are eligible to serve on YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.
• Optimal machine learning for stronger performance: Performance Max uses the best of Google Ads machine learning and attribution technology to help deliver better performance.
• Increase conversions: Retail advertisers using Performance Max have an average 12% increase in conversion value at the same or better return on ad spend (ROAS) when upgrading from Smart Shopping campaigns.
• Equivalent features as Smart Shopping: Performance Max has equivalent features as Smart Shopping.

What happens next

Now that your campaigns have been upgraded to Performance Max:

• You’ll see “Performance Max (Upgraded)” when reviewing an upgraded campaign in Merchant Center.
• You can view historical data for an updated campaign by hovering over the campaign type and selecting “View Smart Shopping campaign data”.
• To create a new Performance Max campaign in Merchant Center, go to “Marketing” > “Ad campaigns”, then select “New campaign”.

FAQs

How can I check if a specific campaign was upgraded?

You'll see “Performance Max (Upgraded)” when reviewing an upgraded campaign in Merchant Center.

Why have some of my campaigns not upgraded?

This announcement relates only to campaigns created in Merchant Center. Campaigns created through other means, for example through Google Ads or a third party, may follow a different timeline. Learn more about the upgrade for Google Ads

Were multiple Smart Shopping campaigns combined into a single Performance Max campaign during the upgrade?

No. A new Performance Max campaign was created for each Smart Shopping campaign. Your active or paused Smart Shopping campaigns were set to “Removed” status. Each new Performance Max campaign optimizes to the same goals as the original Smart Shopping campaign.

How long will it take for my Performance Max campaign to ramp up?

We use information from your original Smart Shopping campaigns to minimize the time it takes your Performance Max campaign to ramp up. We recommend waiting 1-2 weeks to judge the performance of your new Performance Max campaign. Actual performance time will depend on many factors, such as whether you have other campaign history in your account, what your conversion goal is, and how many conversions you can get with your daily budget.

Can I switch back to Smart Shopping campaigns if I’m not happy with performance?

No. Performance Max campaigns are expected to provide an average increase of 12% conversion value at the same or better ROAS for retail advertisers, when compared to Smart Shopping campaigns.

What types of campaigns have been upgraded automatically?

Active and paused Smart Shopping campaigns have been upgraded. This also applies to active and paused campaigns with end dates in the past. We've included both paused and ended campaigns so you can easily restart your periodic and seasonal campaigns.

Will my Performance Max campaigns perform similarly to my Smart Shopping campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns should perform similarly or better than your Smart Shopping campaigns. During Beta testing, retail advertisers noticed an average increase of 12% conversion value at the same or better ROAS by upgrading to Performance Max.

We recommend waiting 1-2 weeks to judge the performance of your new Performance Max campaign. Actual performance time will depend on many factors, such as whether you have other campaign history in your account, what your conversion goal action is, and how many conversions you can get with your daily budget.

What budget should I set for my Performance Max campaign?

When your Smart Shopping campaigns were upgraded, an identical budget was set for your Performance Max campaign. As the campaign starts serving ads and ramping up, you may be provided with additional recommendations. You can choose to adjust your budget based on the recommendations.

Where do Performance Max campaigns show ads? What types of ads are available?

Performance Max campaigns show ads across all Google Ads inventory. Examples include Search results, the “Shopping'' tab on search results, websites, YouTube, feeds on the YouTube homepage and “What to watch next”, Gmail inboxes, and Discover. Types of ads include text ads, image ads, video ads, multi-image carousel ads, and product listing ads.

Why are impressions and conversions not showing up in my migrated Performance Max campaign?

You may notice a 1-2 hour delay between when your campaign is migrated and when performance statistics start populating in your Performance Max campaign. During this period, statistics will continue to populate in the original Smart Shopping campaign.

Can I prevent my Performance Max campaign from serving on a specific channel, or exclude placements?

No. Currently, you can’t choose which channels your Performance Max campaign will serve on. Performance Max will continuously optimize based on achieved performance to bring you the best possible performance across all channels.

Still have questions? Contact support