Microsoft Advertising is rolling out a solution that allows advertisers to duplicate their Google Ads Performance Max campaigns. The new import capability will allow advertisers to import their campaigns as Microsoft Smart Shopping Campaigns or Local Inventory Ads.
More information about the import tool, how import mapping works, and how to set it up can be found here: Google Ads Performance Max to Microsoft Smart Shopping Campaigns works like this:
- Campaign: Campaign settings will be imported as-is from Performance Max campaigns to Smart Shopping Campaigns.
- Ad group name: Asset group names will be mapped to ad group names; however, text and image assets won’t be imported.
- Product group: Listing groups from Performance Max campaigns will be mapped as-is to the product groups in Smart Shopping Campaigns/Local Inventory Ad campaigns.
Microsoft offers a checklist to follow for those looking to import Google Ads Performance Max campaigns as Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns. The process begins by completing setting up a Merchant Center store within Microsoft and setting a realistic target return on ad spend (ROAS) goal. It is also important that Universal Event Tracking (UET) and conversion tracking are accurately set up. If targeting multiple countries, ensure there’s a feed for each market used by the campaigns (country/region of sale setting). Finally, activate any paused campaigns that were intentionally imported and check feed rejections and promptly remedy formatting issues with the feed and product rejections. You can find more details about the import process in Microsoft’s full blog post.
If you're not seeing a return on your PPC investment, it's not necessarily because you're losing money - chances are, you're just wasting it.
In a recent post on the WordStream blog, Chuck Price discusses the difference between losing money on PPC and wasting money on PPC, and offers some tips for how to avoid the latter.
Price defines "losing money" as spending more on PPC than you're making in revenue, while "wasting money" is defined as spending needlessly on PPC without seeing any return. He argues that most businesses are actually doing the latter rather than the former.
There are a number of reasons why businesses might be wasting money on PPC without realizing it, including:
Not tracking conversions: If you're not tracking conversions, you can't know for sure whether or not your PPC campaigns are actually resulting in sales or leads. Make sure you have conversion tracking set up in Google Analytics or another platform so you can see how many leads or sales your PPC campaigns are generating.
Not using negative keywords: Negative keywords help to ensure that your ads only show up for relevant searches. If you're not using them, you could be wasting money by having your ads show up for irrelevant searches that will never convert.
Bidding too low: Bidding too low can result in your ads being buried on the search results page where they're less likely to be seen by potential customers. Make sure you're bidding enough to stay competitive but not so much that you're overspending.
Not optimizing for mobile: With more and more people using mobile devices to search the web, it's important to make sure your ads are optimized for mobile devices. If they're not, you could be missing out on a lot of potential customers.
Not A/B testing: A/B testing is essential for finding out what works and what doesn't when it comes to PPC campaigns. Without A/B testing, you could be wasting money on ineffective campaigns without even realizing it.
By following these tips, you can make sure you're not needlessly wasting money on your PPC campaigns - and increase your chances of seeing a return on your investment.