Google Ads Certification

A. Grow Your Business with Google Ads

Your advertising campaign should center around the objectives you have for your business.

Ways Google Ads can fuel your business goals :

 Drive sales : Grow online, in-app, in-person, and over-the-phone sales.

 Get leads : Boost conversions by encouraging people to take action.
 Increase website visits : Get the right people to visit your website.
 Influence consideration : Encourage people to explore your products and services.
 Build awareness : Reach a broad audience and maximize exposure.
 Promote your app : Increase installs and interactions with your app.

Benefits of Google Ads

Google Ads is built around three principles :

 Relevance : Google Ads helps you connect with the right people, at the right time, with the
right message. With customize options, such as keywords and location your ads can easily
appear on Google Search, YouTube, and more.
 Control : You have complete control over you budget, meaning you decide how much you
want to spend per month, per day, per ad. Google Ads uses a lightning-fast auction to
determine which ad to show. If you want to change your strategy, you can easily adjust your
ad, modify your budget, or pause and restart a campaign.
 Results : You only pay for results, like clicks to your website or calls to your business. The
measurement tools make it easy to see how your site, apps, and ads are performing.
Additionally, smart technology lets you create, manage, and optimize your campaigns so you
can get the most out of your investment.

Example : If you’re a brand manager with an eCommerce retail company. You’re looking to
advertise online and measure the volume of sales coming from your digital campaigns.

Then : Results : Using Google ads measurement tools to understand how your campaigns are
performing.

Q : Based on what you’ve learned so far in this course, how can Google Ads help you achieve
your business objectives?

A : To achieve my objectives as a business owner, few ways to run a good campaign is through
relevance, control, and results. With relevance google ads helps your business grow online by
connecting your brand with a broad and right audience and maximize exposure. The control
principle is all about encouraging people to explore your products and services and having
control over your budget and what strategy you decide to use. Through results, measurement
tools at your disposition allow you to keep track of your site, apps, and ads performances.

B. Identify Campaign Types (Google Ads campaign types)

 Search
 Display
  Video
 Shopping
 App
 Specialized campaign types
 Smart Campaigns

Example : Each Google Ads campaign type can help support your unique business objectives.
Let's review a few examples:

- Display: Increase brand awareness when users are browsing content they’re interested in
online.
- Shopping: Promote your products, share details about your inventory, and boost traffic to
your online or physical store.
- Search: Drive action on your site when users are searching for similar products or services.
- Video: Reach your target audience at scale and bring your business’ story to life.
Q : Based on what you've learned in this course, which Google Ads campaign resonates most
with your business goals, and why?

A : The Google Ads Campaign Ads that resonated the most with me is the Search and display. I
strongly believe that these two methods would make an impactful campaign strategy. The two
combined would allow my business to reach ouch to a significant audience, draw on-line traffic
on my website and boost sales or visits. Which will essentially optimize my brand and all its
social media platforms.

Display advertising on Google Display ads

With Google Display your brand can reach over 90% of global internet users across more than
three million apps and websites. Which allows you to learn about consumer behavior, identify
valuable audiences, and engage with those audiences quickly and often.

The value of Google Display ads :

 Powerful intent signals : Google harnesses best-in-class intent signals to place ads against
the most relevant content, driving your marketing results.
 Massive scale : Run your ads and connect with your audience through Gmail, YouTube, and
millions of other websites.
 Measurable performance : Maximize results with Google Display ads’ measurable
performance.
 Easy campaign set-up : Once you indicate your marketing objective, Google Display ads will
bring you the features and options that are relevant to what you want to accomplish.

Intent Signals and machine learning

Google intent signals and machine learning enable greater relevance to achieve your desired
outcome, at scale.

 Deep understanding of user mindset : Google analyzes user activity across our owned and
operated properties and over three million website and app partners to generate a clear
understanding of user preferences.
 Effective use of machine learning : Google uses advanced machine capabilities to bring best-
in-class automation, bidding, and targeting to reach users at just the right moment.
  Unique insights : Unique insights across over three million websites and apps including
access to six properties with over one billion users.
- Google’s proprietary, real-time view of context and user behavior on our owned and
operated properties and across the web powers our unique understanding of user intent our
full audience suite. Reach users in the moments that matter.

Display Campaign types

There are two type of Display campaign : Smart and Standard.

1. Smart Display campaigns

S.D campaigns uses full automation for campaigns. It bundles together all the pillars of successful
Display campaigns and accesses the best of Google’s machine learning capabilities to optimize and
automate nearly all aspects of your Display campaigns. You provide a few inputs: what your ads will
say, images you want to use, daily budget, and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) performance targets.
Google will mix and match your ads at scale.

 Key benefits of Smart Display campaigns

- Simplicity : Create your campaign in minutes by providing just three inputs: budget, bid, and
creative assets. Then rely on multiple Google machine learning technologies to provide
ongoing optimization and find you as many customers as possible.
- Insights : You receive all standard Google Ads reporting and then also get new, supplemental
reports based on insights that allow broad, strategic management instead of daily
micromanagement.
- Scale : Smart Display campaigns run across the three million websites and apps available on
Google Display ads, including AdMob and Google owned and operated properties such as
YouTube.
 Component of Smart Display campaigns :

There are 3 core automation models that drive Smart Display campaigns :

- Automated bidding : All you must do is specify a Target CPA or Target ROAS you’d like to
achieve, and Google will manage the CPC bids on a per-auction basis, based on the likelihood
that the auction will generate a conversion.
- Automated targeting : Targeting optimizes where the campaign runs, which means ads
increasingly show where they’ll get you the most business. Smart Display campaigns drive
remarketing and prospecting alike.
- Automated creatives : Ads are automatically generated from the building blocks you provide,
like headlines, descriptions, logos, and images. They responsively fit into almost all ad slots
across Google Display ads. Smart Display campaigns can also use your data feed to render
dynamic ads based on the items in your feed.

Who should run Smart Display campaigns ?

a. For someone who is new to display advertising and want a fast and highly performing
campaign :
 Scenario :
- Focused on performance and currently only runs on search
- Wants to reach new potential customers
 Value proposition :
 Delivers both remarketing and re-engagement/prospecting on Display with performance,
simplicity, and low time commitment
b. For someone display advertising to remarking but now to reach people earlier in the buying
process :
 Scenario :
- Currently only running remarketing campaigns
- Open to extend into mid-funnel to reach users who haven’t been on your site for pure
acquisition
 Value proposition :

Drive incremental conversions via one campaign type.

Note: Smart Display campaigns can run dynamic remarketing if you can connect data feeds
to them. Son smart Display campaigns aren’t just moving remarketing-only customers up the
funnel but dynamic remarketing customers as well -while still using your feed.

c. Someone who wants to attract additional customers beyond your manually targeted
campaigns or simplify your existing campaign structure
 Scenario :
- Multiple mid-funnel campaigns running
- Spends a lot of time micromanaging existing mid-funnel campaigns to find additional
conversions
 Value proposition :
Deliver better performance and reach than existing mid-funnel campaigns, with significant
time savings

2. Standard Display campaign

Standard Display Campaign is right when looking to have full control over all aspects of a
Display campaign.

 Targeting

When building a first Display campaign, there are three marketing objectives to choose
from:

- Build awareness : Increase how well people know your brand.

- Influence consideration : Encourage people to explore your products or services.
- Drive action : Get sales or leads by motivation people to take action.

 Bidding

It’s important to choose a bid strategy that reflects your marketing objectives. There are 4
main bid strategies to be able to choose from when using Smart Bidding :

- Enhanced CPC : Automatically adjusts your manual bid up or down based on each click’s
likelihood to result in a conversion.
- Maximize Conversions : Drive as much conversion volume as possible within your budget.
- Target CPA : Automatically sets bids to help you increase conversions while reaching your
average cost-per-acquisition goal.
- Target ROAS : Automatically sets bids to help get as much conversion value as possible at
the target return on ad spend you set.

 Ad Formats

There are 2 main types of ad formats you can leverage for your Display campaign :

- Responsive Display ads : Greater efficiency and scale

- Upload ads (Image & AMPHTML) : Greater control

C. Reach Users on Google Display Ads

1. Display Targeting

Google Display Ads is designed to help you find the right audience. Its targeting options
allow you to strategically show your message to users at the right place and at the right
time.
You can use targeting to direct your campaign’s ads to the people you want to reach the
most. Simply choose the targeting option that aligns to your campaign goal and Google
Display ads will work to get your ad in front of the right people, in the right pace, at the right
time.
Note : If you choose to use the marketing objectives options on a Display campaign, Google
Display ads will guide to the targeting options designed to work best with your goal.
Example : Hiroko is the digital marketing manager at Your Adventure, which sells bicycles
and cycling gear both online and in brick-and-mortar locations around the world. 
Let's explore how Hiroko will be leveraging the three main marketing objectives through her
Google Display ads campaigns.
1. Build awareness
2. Influence consideration
3. Drive action

2. Build Awareness

When wanting to reach a broad audience and maximize your brand exposure, we
recommend selecting build awareness as your Display campaign marketing objective.
Example : Kiroko is expending her current product offerings by launching a new bicycle line.
She wants to get this new bicycle line in front of as many users as possible.
Here are some Google Display Ads targeting options available that will help her build
awareness :
 Demographic targeting : Demographic targeting enables you to show ads to users based on
a combination of declared and inferred date. You can target on age, gender, and parental
status (for example, Hiroko wants to reach men and women, ages 25-45).
 Affinity audiences : With Affinity audiences, you can reach TV-like audiences based on a
holistic picture of their lifestyles, interests, and passions. Choose from over 100 segments
based on online behavior. Google’s best-in-class algorithm distinguishes these users that rae
truly passionate about a topic rather than those that are merely interested (for example,
Hiroko wants to reach health and fitness buffs).
 Custom Affinity audiences : If one of the 100+ off-the-shelf Affinity audiences doesn’t meet
your needs, create your own with Custom Affinity audiences. This feature allows you to
define an ad target custom-made audience, giving you substantive reach against niche
groups of users (for example, Hiroko wants to find people interested in outdoor activities
such as bicycling, rather than general health and fitness buffs).

3. Influence Consideration

When wanting to engage with users that are actively researching products or services,
Google Ads recommends selecting influence consideration as your Display campaign
marketing objective.
Example : Kiroko has sufficiently made users aware of her new bicycle line. She now wants
to engage with users that have the intention of purchasing bicycles and are actively
researching.
Let's look at the Google Display how Hiroko will be leveraging the three main marketing
objectives through her Google Display ads campaigns.
 In-Market audiences : Reach potential customers while they-re actively browning,
researching, or comparing the types of products you sell and are close to a conversion.
 Custom Intent audiences : If you want to create a tailored audience that isn’t covered in one
of our In-Market audience segments, Custom Intent is for you!
 Similar audiences : allows you to find users that are similar to an original remarketing list or
other upload compatible list. It finds that are similar in profile based on their recent
browsing and interests around different topics.

4. Drive action

When you want to re-engage with users that have already shown interest in your brand, we
recommend selecting drive action as your Display campaign marketing objective.
Example : Hiroko has seen her website traffic significantly increase since launching her
Display campaign. Unfortunately, not all those users have made a purchase yet. She now
wants to re-engage with those users so they make a purchase.

Let’s take a look at the Google Display ads targeting options available that will help her drive
action :
 Remarketing : lets you show ads to the people who demonstrated their interest in what you
offer with their visit to your website or app. It’s how you reconnect with great prospects as
they browse the millions of websites and apps available on the network.
 Standard remarketing : Show ads to your past visitors as they browse network websites and
use network apps. Communicate with people who’ve previously visited key pages o your
websites across screens, giving you a powerful new way to match the right user with the
right message.
 Dynamic remarketing : Work to boost your results with dynamic remarketing, which takes
remarketing to the next level with ads that include products or services that people viewed
on your website. Create dynamically generated display ads with product data pulled from a
pre-uploaded feed. You can achieve great performance showing to users products they have
seen on your website, with low effort in campaign, ads, and remarketing lists creation.
 Q : Which of the following remarketing options is a better fit for Hiroko if she doesn't have a
data feed?
A : Standard remarketing

D. Increase Efficiency with Automated Bidding

 What’s automated bidding?

Bidding is a key success factor for online marketing, and the bid strategy you choose directly
influences how your campaigns perform and how visible your ads are in the unique
moments that are important to your business.

Google Ads offers several bid strategies that are tailored to your marketing goals and different types of
campaigns.

Key factors to keep in mind while setting the appropriate bid strategy.

- Performance : Bids influence how visible your ads are and the amount of interaction you get
in each unique moment. If you don’t bid efficiently, you could miss valuable conversions.
- Auctions : Given the dynamic nature of our auctions, the appropriate bid can often be a
moving target that’s challenging to reach at scale when using manual bidding.
- User Journey Complexities : Manny signals influence user behavior. Their intent and
likelihood to complete valuable actions for your business vary based on location, time,
device, and so on. Taking all these signals into account for every auction and bidding can be
done through automation.

 Benefits of Google Ads automated bidding

- Machine learning : uses machine learning to algorithmically help you set the appropriate bid
for each and every auction. This takes much of the heavy lifting and guesswork out of setting
bid, so you can meet your performance and accurately.
- Time saved : Cross-referencing audience data with context to establish internet and set the
appropriately bid is a complex and time-consuming task. Automation offers a way to
alleviate this strain on marketing resources.
- Auction-time bidding : Our bidding algorithms tailor bids to each user’s unique context,
using relevant signals present at auction time. This is a unique capability in the market, as it
allows for bid differentiation, with a high degree of precision based on the conversion
opportunity of each auction.
- Depth signals used and cross analysis : Our algorithms integrate a large variety of signals
and consider new ones to evaluate user intent. They also go a step beyond traditional signal
analysis by recognizing and adjusting for meaningful interactions between combinations of
signals while constantly considering new ones.

Tip : You can implement a Google Ads automated bidding strategy to get the benefits of
auction-time bidding while still using a third-party management solution.
 Bidding strategies
i. Awareness-based bidding strategies
If you want to make sure that your ad is visible for certain queries and even at certain
locations on the page.
 Goal : Visibility
 Bid strategies to choose from :
Target impression share : This helps make sure your ads are meeting a specific impression
share threshold for a specific location on the search results page (anywhere top of page,
or absolute top of page).
 Use case : This is for raising awareness of your brand and campaigns that include brand
terms.
ii. Consideration-focused bidding strategies
If you want to drive as many clicks as possible within a set level of spend.
 Goal : Clicks
 Bid strategies to choose from :
Maximize clicks : Set bids to try to get you as many clicks as possible within a target spend
amount that you choose.
 Use case :
- Budget-constrained campaigns focused on driving clicks
- Drive more click volume
- Maximize traffic when extra budget is received
- Upper funnel keywords that have high value in conversion
iii. Conversion-focused bidding strategies

If you’re tracking actions post-click, valuing conversions equally, and looking to maximize the
number of conversions.

 Goal : Conversions
 Bid strategies to choose from :
- Maximize Conversions : Drive as much conversion volume as possible within your budget.
No need to provide a specific cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA), or return on
ad spend (ROAS) target.
- Target cost-per-acquisition (tCPA) : This strategy automatically sets bids to help increase
conversions while the average cost-per-acquisition goal.
- Enhanced cost-per-click (eCPC) : This strategy automatically adjusts the manual bid up or
down based on each click’s likelihood to result in a conversion.
 Use case :
- Maximize Conversions : Advertisers who want to maximize the number of conversions for
a campaign. Advertisers that want to spend a fixed budget and don’t have an explicit
CPA/ROAS goal.
- Target cost-per-acquisition (tCPA) : Maximize amount of conversions, without considering
order value such as lead generation and eCommerce businesses.
Note : For a display campaign using Target CPA, you can choose to pay for conversions
billing.
- Enhanced cost-per-click (eCPC) :
For Search, this is for advertisers who want to set the core bid manually or though third-
party bidding tools, with an added layer of real-time optimization.
 For Display, this is for advertisers who do not have conversion tracking, use a third-party
bidding system, or insist on setting bids manually with an added layer of real-time
optimization. It’s also great for lead generation an to drive online sales.

Note : You must be tracking conversions for conversion-focused bid strategies to work
properly, with the exception of eCPC o display.

iv. Revenue-focused bidding strategies

If you’re tracing the revenue or value associated with your conversions and want to
maximize it at a specific return on ad spend target.
They’re goof fit if you’re traking conversion value and have campaigns that have at least 50
conversions in the past 30 days for Search and at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days for
Display.
 Goal : Revenue
 Bid strategies to choose from :
Target return on ad spend (Target ROAS) : Automatically sets bids to help get as much
conversion value as possible at the target return on ad spend (ROAS) you set.
 Use case : If you want to automatically optimize bids to maximize revenue within your
target ROAS.

Note : Enhanced CPC, Target CPA, maximize Conversions, and Target ROAS fall specifically under the
umbrella of Google Ads Smart Bidding. They’re conversions-based bid strategies that leverage an
exclusive set of signals to bid at auction time.

E. Deliver the Right Message on Goggle Display Ads

1. Display the ad formats

Creatives are the face of your brand through advertising, so you want to make sure they
represent you well. Ad formats let you choose how to communicate your business to your
audience.

Why Display ad formats ?

Display ads can help you promote your business when people are browsing online, watching
YouTube videos, checking Gmail, or using mobile devices and apps.

With Google Display ads, you can take an approach that enables greater efficiency or greater
creative control.

 Efficiency : If you value performance over everything else, to best achieve that goal, you
should take advantage of Responsive Display Ads, which automatically adjust to the
available ad space. They can run in native and non-native inventory.
 Control : If you take branding very seriously. Because you have the same requirements for
how and where your ads will show, it may be best to create and upload your own ads. This
option will likely limit your reach as uploaded ads don’t have access to the same inventory as
Responsive Display ads.
 2. Responsive Display Ads

Responsive Display Ads are Google’s marquee display ad format and are the default ad type when
creating a Display campaign. They represent the future of asset-based digital advertising.

What are Responsive Display Ads?

Responsive Display Ads give you the ability to upload your own assets and create ads that serve in al
ad slot sizes, into both native and non-native inventory. Simply upload your assets (images, videos,
headlines, logos, and descriptions), and Google will automatically create ads. They’re built for
performance, reach, and scale.

Key benefits

Not only do Responsive Display Ads look great, but they also perform. On average, we tend to see
50% more conversions at a similar cost-per-acquisition (CPA) when advertisers add Responsive
Display Ads to their image ad campaigns.

 Automation : When you create a Responsive Display Ad by uploading different assets into
Google Ads, Google uses a machine learning model to determine the optimal combination of
assets for reach ad slot based on predictions built from your performance history.
 Reach : Multiple assets can be uploaded per asset type, such as headlines, logos, images and
videos. The ads that Google assembles automatically adjust their size, appearance, and
format to fit just about any native or non-native ad slot.
 Simplicity : By using Responsive Display Ads, you can reduce your overhead for managing ad
portfolios within ad groups and campaigns and dedicate more time to performance
improvement.

Creative testing

Google does billions of creative A/B tests for your business. Google also leverages multiple machine
learning modules (asset selection, color extraction, auto-fitting, and more) to create the right
message to the right user across desktop, mobile, and apps.

3. Uploaded ads

Uploaded ads offer greater control over the way your ads looks and feel. You build your own ads
outside of Google Ads and simply upload them to your Display campaign.

An ad is displayed on a laptop, desktop, and mobile device.

What are image ads?

Created outside of Google Ads (in Google Web Designer, for example), image ads are uploadable as
a .zip file into Google Ads. Image ads only run-in banner-eligible slots, which has limited scale
relative to Responsive Display Ads.

Note : In order to qualify for as many auctions as possible, it’s possible, it’s recommended to have
both Responsive Display Ads and image ads in your Display campaign.

Key Benefit :
Complete creative control : You can develop these ads yourself using templates to decide how best
to combine your different images, text, and logos.

What are AMPHTML ads?

AMPTHTML ads enable marketers, publishers, and technology providers to deliver faster, and more
secure ad experience across all platforms by applying the principles of AMP to building and serving
ads.

Key Benefit :

- Faster ads drive better performance : AMPHTML ads are 6x faster than regular ads on AMP
pages, making them more viewable, more effective, and more likely to perform well.
- Lighter ads can lead to better ad experiences : AMPHTML ads are 3x lighter in load and
rendering than regular ads which may result in users having a more positive experience with
your brand.
- Safer ads build trust in you brand : AMPHTML ads need validation before they’re served,
reducing the risk of malware, and building trust in the brands users are engaging with.

4. Increase Conversions with Performance Planner

1. Why you should plan for performance with Performance Planner

Planning is the crucial first step to achieving success with Google ads

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, which helps businesses like yours connect with more
customers. By planning your Google Ads budgets on a monthly basis in advance, you can help
ensure that when people need products or information, your ads can meet them at the right time to
help maximize conversions and achieve your key performance indicators (KPIs).

By planning you Google Ads budgets in advance, you can :

a. Understand the future spend potential of current Google Ads campaigns to help drive
budget decisions
b. Take advantage of seasonality to capture incremental opportunities
c. Set optimal bids and budgets across your campaigns to help ensure that ROI performance is
maximized
d. Find new opportunities to grow your sales volumes with Google Ads

Questions to ask yourself :

- How will my campaigns perform next quarter?

- Is there a better way to distribute my current spend to drive increased conversions for
Google Ads investment ?
- How much budget do I need for my Google Ads to achieve key performance indicators
(KPIs)?
- How can I use Google Ads to drive more sales, while remaining profitable and further grow
my business?

Tip : Performance Planner is our newest tool in Google ads to help you answer the questions above
and determine the advertising budget required to help reach your marketing goals.
What’s the Google Ads Performance Planner?

Performance Planner is a new forecasting tool that uses machine learning to reveal the possibilities
for your Google Ads campaigns. With this tool, you can explore forecasts for your upcoming
monthly, quarterly, and annual budgets for current campaigns, while also helping to improve your
return on investment.

How does the Performance Planner work?

Performance Planner determines the optimal bids and average daily budget allocations across all of
your campaigns to help increase the number of conversions you can achieve for any future spend
scenario. It uses the following process :

 Performance Planner will generate a forecast of what your campaigns will achieve for a
future period, if you make no changes to your current campaigns.
 Using Google’s seasonality data and insights, Performance Planner will predict the results if
you use optimal bids and average daily budgets across your campaigns to maximize the
number of conversions for any future spend scenario.
 Performance Planner will improve your ROI by reallocating spend between campaigns
through adjusting bids and average daily budgets.

How does Performance Planner forecast campaign performance ?

Performance Planner uses a combination of account history and machine learning to power
forecasts. In Google Ads tools, forecasts must meet a certain level of accuracy. As a result, the
confidence interval of these forecasts is likely greater than that of other available forecast tools.

 Forecasting :

Google Search ad auctions – made up of billions of searches per week – powers our forecast engine.

 Simulation :

Our forecast engine simulates relevant ad auctions with query level variables, including seasonality,
clickthrough rate, competitors, landing page, and time of day.

 Machine Learning :

We use machine learning to fine tune forecasts and achieve a higher level of accuracy.

 Validation :

We perform forward and backward measurements of accuracy for thousands of campaign samples –
across one, seven, 30, and 90 day periods – to ensure we’re making valid recommendations.

Note : Performance Planner is different from the Recommendations page. On the Recommendations
page, you can apply optimization suggestions to help improve your campaigns. Whereas
Performance Planner is your go-to tool for deciding the budget required to help reach your
marketing goals.

Why use Performance Planner in Google Ads over traditional forecasting methods ?

Performance Planner highlights growth opportunities for your Google Ads always-on campaigns.
Having the optimal budgets and bids is crucial to making the most of your marketing budget and
growing your business with Google Ads.
 - Get accurate forecasts : Forecasts are based on Google data and your account’s historical
performance, and then validated using machine learning. That means Performance Planner
plans are more likely to hit KPIs than prior estimation methods.
- Get the benefits of machine learning : Performance Planner helps you discover the best bids
and budgets so you can drive the most conversions for any spend scenario.

2. How to use Performance Planner

a. Learn : create a new budget plan to learn the best bids and budgets for your campaigns to
drive incremental conversions.
b. Explore : explore further optimizations and forecast how you can grow your business with
Google Ads.
c. Do : Review and implement changes prescribed by your Performance Planner plan.
d. Repeat : ensure you react to external factors and optimize to the target metrics set. Use
Performance Planner on a monthly basis for the best results.

Optimal budgets and bids are crucial to getting the most of your marketing budget

Here’s how Performance Planner can drive more conversions at different spend scenarios.

a. The additional conversions you can generate at the same spend using Performance Planner.
b. The incremental number of conversions you can achieve and maximum amount you can
spend without diminishing returns (maintain your current CPA).
c. The incremental number of conversions you can achieve and maximum amount you can
spend at your desired target CPA goal (in order to remain profitable).
d. Additional spend and resulting conversion scenarios at higher target CPA goals (reduce
profitability to increase total conversion volume).

Conversions are  represented on the y-axis. Spend  is represented on the x-axis.

Performance Planner helps improve return on investment so you can drive more conversions within
your target CPA. The following is an example of the plans you can build by using Performance
Planner in the scenarios above.
 Cost Conversions CPA Efficiency
Current $7.7M 96K $81
Option 1 $11.2M 142K $79 Improve CPA
by $2
Option 2 $7.7M 128K $60 Improve CPA
by $21
Option 3 $13.2M 160K $82 CPA increase
by $1

Tip : Based on 250 random Google Ads Customer IDs*, Performance Planner highlighted how to find
an average 43% increase in conversions – for the same investment – by reallocating bids and udgets
between campaigns. It’s also been seen to highlight how to grow conversions by 80% for the same
CPA (no diminishing returns).
*Source : Internal Performance Planner pipeline date

Why should I use Performance Planner every month?

Seasonality, fluctuating auctions, and competitors mean that Google Ads campaigns should be
planned and optimized on at least a monthly basis.

Using Performance Planner every month lets you optimize your budgets and bids so you can drive
more conversions for the same investment.

Best practices

 Create separate plans for each marketing objective

Don’t add all brand and generic campaigns into the same plan. That’s because different
campaigns often have different marketing objectives. Incremental conversions are achieved
by creating separate plans for each marketing objective.

 Set bids and budgets using non-last click conversions

By default, Performance Planner will forecast conversions base on what’s included in the
Conversions column in your Google Ads front end. To allocate budgets that drive
incremental conversions, set bids and budgets using non-last click conversions in your
Conversions column.

 Regularly check your plan

Forecasts improve when plans are generated closer to the actual run date. Make sure to
regularly check back on your plan before implementing it.
 3. Take action with Performance Planner

What changes will Performance Planner recommend?

Once you use Performance Planner to create a plan with the target date, campaigns, budget, target
conversion volume, and target cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for upcoming periods the tool will provide
one of the recommendations below. These recommendations are campaign settings forecasted to
help drive maximum conversions and the most efficient return on your investment for your targeted
budget.

 Search Manual cost-per-click (CPC) or Enhanced CPC campaigns :

Recommended average daily budget and campaign bid scaling (1.5 scaling means + 50% bid
scaling)

 Search Maximize Clicks or Maximize Conversions campaigns :

Recommended average daily budget

 Search Target CPA or Target return on ad spend (ROAS) campaigns :

Recommended average daily budget, Campaign-level Target CPA, or Campaign-level Target

ROAS

Note : Performance Planner is a planning tool and does not optimize in the Google Ads front end
toward forecasted KPIs. Unpredictable external factors in a dynamic auction environment can mean
Performance Planner forecasts may have discrepancies, so it’s important to continually monitor
performance and optimize toward performance targets.

How do I see and implement these recommended changes ?

Performance Planner provides a CSV download with the recommended bid scaling, Target CPA,
Target ROAS, and average daily budget amounts.

You can manually apply these suggestions through the Google Ads campaign management interface,
or you can download and Google Ads Editor file and upload to Google Ads Editor to see and action
the recommended changes.

Performance Planner Best Practices

 Use non-last click attribution conversions

Performance Planner forecasts for conversion types that are activated for the Include in
Conversions setting in the Conversions column. To allocate budgets that drive incremental
conversions, include non-last click attribution conversions in the include in conversions
column.

 Create multiple plans for campaigns that have different marketing objectives

It's a best practice to separate campaigns with different marketing objectives into different
Performance Planner plans, so that spend isn't reallocated between two different marketing
objectives. Instead, consider grouping campaigns by marketing goal or budget. 
For example, you could split consideration and intent-focused campaigns by separating
generic search campaigns (such as a campaign containing keyword "suv sale") and brand
search campaigns (such as a campaign containing keyword "buy Landriver suv") into
separate plans.
  Use the performance targets feature

Unpredictable external factors in a dynamic auction environment mean that Performance

Planner forecasts may have discrepancies. As a result, it’s important to continually track and
optimize performance. Use the performance targets feature to monitor targets set in
Performance Planner and receive alerts and recommendations when a campaign isn’t on
track.

 Use optimization score in the Recommendations page to improve your campaigns

Performance Planner is used for forecasting future periods and recommendations in

Performance Planner can be used as guidance to ensure seasonality and budget reallocation
are accounted for the future periods so you can prevent your campaigns from becoming
“Limited by Budget”.

Here are some additional factors that you should check while budget planning :

Repeat the planning process monthly to find growth opportunities in Google Ads and optimize for
your target metrics.

 Seasonality : Take advantage of seasonal trends throughout the year.

 Market Share : Get ahead of fluctuating auctions due to activity from other businesses and
other external factors.
 Growth : Use Performance Planner to compare previous periods and see a forecast of the
growth possibilities you can drive using Google Ads.