Smarter Ecommerce (smec)

𝗡𝗼 𝗥𝗢𝗔𝗦 𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁, 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀... 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀? Some call it bold. Others call it reckless (or plain dumb). Removing Target ROAS in Performance Max can drive more conversion value—but at what cost? Higher spend? Lower efficiency? A terrifying CPA bill? We break it all down in this episode of ROASted. 🔥

The latest shockwave of 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 bring more levers to pull, but let’s be clear: These updates are first and foremost about 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞'𝐝 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 So, what’s actually changing—and what’s still frustrating? ✅ 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲’𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜. You still need to actively manage segmentation to avoid self-competition. ✅ 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠. Google’s AI ultimately decides who sees your ads. ✅ 𝐇𝐲𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝 𝐏𝐌𝐚𝐱 + 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞—𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐲. The bid war risk is real, and Google is keeping tight control over priority conflicts. ✅ 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝-𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐬. 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐏𝐌𝐚𝐱? Google still hasn’t made a compelling case for why full-asset is necessary. ✅ 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬—𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝? The 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲? Google isn’t taking control away—it already did! These updates just refine how we work within the system. The smartest advertisers in 2025 will focus on 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐏𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬. 📢 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲? Mike Ryan released an extensive 𝐏𝐌𝐚𝐱 2025 𝐐&𝐀, breaking down the nitty-gritty of your most pressing PMax questions. 👉 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/dTgxEtkJ

For International Women’s Day, our team spent the day at Haus Kim—a Caritas Frauenhaus in Vienna that provides a safe space for LGBTIQ+ women. We got together to lend a hand to those who need it most. We prepped a meal for about 30 women, and honestly? It was a great reminder that sometimes, the simplest things—like sharing food—can make all the difference. We strongly believe in giving back to the community that surrounds us. For that reason, this wasn’t just a social team event, but a chance to stand in support of those who need it most. Because inclusion, respect, and support aren’t just values we talk about; they’re values we live. Big thanks to Haus Kim for the work they do every day and to our team for jumping in, chopping, stirring, and making sure no one is left hungry. #InternationalWomensDay #IWD2025 #CookingForCommunity #GivingBack #HausKim #Caritas

Ever wondered what'll happen if you uncap your Google Ads budget? Congrats—you've entered the PPC danger zone. 🚨 Unlimited budgets can fuel growth—but only if you’re steering the ship. Otherwise, Performance Max will dump your ad spend into easy wins (hello, best-sellers!) while ignoring what actually matters: profitability, strategic products, and long-term business growth. 💡 So before you go all-in, ask yourself: • Are your ROAS targets set up to keep spend in check? • Are you segmenting products strategically, or just funding Google's black box? • Do you actually have control over what PMax prioritizes—or are you just hoping for the best? 'Cause if you’re not making the rules, Google will—at your expense. Learn how to stay in control in this episode #1 of ROASted!

Winning in Performance Max 𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 like winning the Super Bowl. No, seriously! You don’t win by just showing up—you need a solid game plan. But too many advertisers let Google’s AI run wild, and that’s where things go sideways: ⚠️ Best-sellers eat up the budget while new & high-margin products get ignored. ⚠️ ROAS might look pretty neat, just sucks you don't make any profits. ⚠️ Seasonal trends and inventory levels? PMax doesn’t adjust for them unless you step in. So how can you win big with Performance Max? Check out our latest edition of smec Insights and find out! 👇

Peformance Max campaigns are the ultimate black box, right? ...Right? No, as Mike Ryan explains below, the ultimate black box was actually Smart Shopping. PMax has numerous more features to support control and reporting. Doomsayers might not like to hear this, but Mike argues that Smart Shopping was the low point of Goolge Ads – and things are actually getting better rather than worse! This content is just a tiny sneak preview of our upcoming State of PMax report. Make sure to follow Smarter Ecommerce (smec) so you don't miss a thing!

In 2025, 𝐏𝐌𝐚𝐱 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤! 💅 So, where are your profits at? 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐯𝐬. 𝐁𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐦𝐚 Google’s algorithms reward what gets clicked, but what if the product getting clicked isn’t what’s filling up the cart? Shoppers are out here clicking on entry-level items, then splurging on premium upgrades. And guess what? Your ad data probably isn’t capturing that journey. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 > 𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐒 ROAS is a volume metric – it tells you what’s selling, but not what’s working. Optimizing for profit means focusing on what matters most: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐬: Not all sales are created equal. 𝐁𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬 & 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬: Those unclicked items that quietly crush it in carts. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐠𝐨𝐚𝐥𝐬: Long-term growth over short-term wins. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐧 2025? 💡 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Use offline conversion imports to sync ad clicks with full cart data. This unlocks a profit-first view of performance. 💡 𝐒𝐞𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫: Focus on product profitability, not just clicks. 💡 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Are you boosting top sellers that cannibalize profit or promoting hidden champions with better margins? 2025 is the year to flip the script on “volume at all costs” and dress your campaigns for profitability success. Check out our latest blog and find out how to turn your revenue-frown upside-down: https://bit.ly/4ijdouA #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #Ecommerce #Profitability #DigitalMarketing

Much ado about nothing? Experts debate whether PMax campaigns need assets. However, on a cost basis, PMax is 𝟵𝟬% feed-based ads. And that isn't changing. What does this mean and why does it matter? Let's discuss. 𝗣𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘀𝘀(𝗲𝘁) Google's central claim for Performance Max is that AI can optimize this single campaign type across a wide range of ad placements, resulting in better outcomes than separately managed campaigns. Assets are required to fill all those various ad placements. However, critics claim that assets unlock a lot of low-quality ad inventory plus additional remarketing and brand traffic. The warm traffic looks good in platform, but does not actually generate new customers and camouflages junk traffic. That's the theory. We won't solve that debate, but based on thousands of Performance Max campaigns, we calculated the median feed-based cost share for every month since PMax's full rollout in September 2022. Feed-based ads are typically either Shopping ads or dynamic remarketing ads. "𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱" That median feed-based cost share was never lower than 88.7% and never higher than 91.6%. In other words: a very tight range of 3 percentage points. Furthermore, there was no trend to this movement. This defies an early expectation of ours that Google would gradually start shifting PMax costs to other asset-based inventory (love it or hate it). Supporters will embrace the typical 10% asset-based costs as relatively minor, and a good way to reach additional revenue and customers. Critics will say it's tacked-on fluff. The true answer likely depends on your business model, product offering, audience, and the assets themselves. Regardless: the current picture is stable. Google is NOT pushing PMax toward assets over time. 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 Instead, it's possible that Google's introduction of Demand Gen campaigns has stepped in to fulfill this cost capture at the account level. Demand Gen has an increasing degree of overlap with PMax assets, especially as Demand Gen begins serving on Google Display. One area of PMax asset traffic not addressed by Demand Gen are classic Search ads. Here it's possible that, rather than bringing more Search ads to PMax... Google is bringing PMax to Search ads. We'll leave that deliberately cryptic for now, but keep it in mind this year. Additionally, Google has also worked (rather secretively) to serve more placements from the feed. An example of this are special ads known as "MC Image Shorts," which are built using only your product feed. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 The debate around PMax assets continues, but the numbers are clear: feed-based ads dominate costs, and Google isn’t pushing for change—at least, not within PMax itself. Google is comfortable letting PMax serve as a Shopping-focused tool while experimenting with new inventory models through Demand Gen and perhaps a new Search technology.

𝗪𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘅 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸? Then do these 6 things right now! We’ve worked with over 4,000 Performance Max campaigns. Here's what actually moves the needle: • Take control of your brand traffic • Identify budget bleeders • Structure campaigns around business objectives, not just product categories • Try Feed-only PMax for more control without the noice • Fix your conversion tracking • Skip your high ROAS addiction and seek actual profitability 👉 PMax can be a beast, but with the right inputs and strategic steering, you can turn it from a budget-hogging enigma into a real driver of business growth. What’s working (or not) in your PMax setup? Let us know in the comments below!

That’s a wrap on Day 1 at E-commerce Berlin Expo, and wow—what a day! Big shoutout to everyone who joined Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmüller for their PMax masterclass. Plenty of eye-opening moments on how to take back control from Google’s black box. And to everyone who swung by our booth to spill even more PPC tea—your PPC hot takes made it one for the books. We loved every convo! Day 2, let’s go! Who’s ready for more? 💥 #EBE2024 #PPC #PerformanceMax #GoogleAds