Why Standard Campaigns Are the Key to a Better-Performing Google Ads Account

For years, Google has aggressively pushed Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, funneling advertisers into using this opaque campaign type with limited control. While Google touts PMax as an all-in-one solution for better performance, the reality is that many advertisers struggle with its lack of transparency and control. The good news? You don’t need PMax to run a thriving Google Ads account. In fact, using Standard Search and Standard Shopping campaigns can give you better performance, lower costs, and more control over how your budget is spent.

The Hidden Motivation Behind Performance Max

Google’s push for PMax isn’t just about improving advertiser performance—it’s also about selling more Display Network ads. Historically, display ads have been difficult to sell because they don’t convert as well as search or shopping ads. To fix this, Google created Smart Shopping (the predecessor to PMax), bundling display ads with high-performing ad formats like search and shopping. This allowed Google to sell more display ad placements while making advertisers believe they were getting a better deal. But in reality, advertisers lose transparency and control over where their money is going.

Why Standard Campaigns Work Better

Instead of spending time and money trying to work around PMax’s limitations with Google Ads scripts and hacks, advertisers can simply use Standard Search and Shopping campaigns to achieve better results. With Standard Shopping campaigns, you can structure your account to drive more revenue efficiently by segmenting brand and non-brand searches.

Here’s how to do it:

Non-Brand Shopping Campaign: This should have negative brand keywords added, ensuring that it captures only non-brand search traffic.
Brand Shopping Campaign: Instead of using negative brand keywords, you’ll add negative non-brand keywords to focus solely on brand searches. To further optimize this:

Set your target ROAS substantially higher than in your non-brand campaigns. This tells Google to bid lower and prioritize showing ads on brand searches instead of non-brand searches.
Use bid adjustments to set a max CPC bid, even while using target ROAS.
Ensure there’s not too much headroom between your daily budget and actual daily spend—this helps Google prioritize where your budget goes.

Expert Validation: A Proven Strategy

I ran this setup by Google Ads veteran Brad Geddes, who is generally more pro-Google than I am, and he endorsed this strategy. It’s a structured and proven way to optimize Google Ads accounts for better control, lower costs, and higher efficiency—all without getting trapped in the Performance Max black box.

If you’ve been frustrated with PMax and want a better-performing, more transparent Google Ads account, Standard Search and Shopping campaigns are the way to go.