A Feed-Only Performance Max Campaign (Shopping-Only Performance Max) is a type of campaign in Google Ads that focuses exclusively on product data from a merchant center feed. Unlike standard Performance Max (PMax) campaigns, which utilize a wide variety of assets such as images, videos, headlines, and descriptions to run across multiple Google networks (YouTube, Display, Search, etc.), feed-only campaigns rely solely on the product information provided in your Google Merchant Center feed. This setup is particularly useful for e-commerce businesses that want to run Shopping Ads without investing in creative assets like banners or videos.
Feed-only campaigns closely mimic how Smart Shopping Campaigns worked before Google introduced Performance Max. They allow advertisers to bypass non-product-focused ad formats and concentrate entirely on product listings and shopping ads, optimizing ad placements across Google’s shopping network.
Advertisers often choose feed-only setups when they either lack creative resources or when their primary focus is on driving conversions through Shopping Ads.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Feed-Only PMax Campaigns
Advantages of the Shopping-Only Performance Max Campaigns
-
Simplicity and Efficiency
Feed-Only PMax campaigns allow advertisers to focus exclusively on Google Shopping ads, bypassing the need for additional creative assets like images, videos, or headlines.
-
Lower Cost for Creative Production
Since you don’t need to produce any visual or textual creative assets beyond your product feed, Shopping-Only PMax campaigns reduce the costs associated with ad creation.
-
Better for E-Commerce Goals
These campaigns focus entirely on product listings and are great for driving conversions through Google’s shopping network. They can help ensure your ads are shown in formats that are most relevant for product-based searches and purchases.
Feed-only campaigns are optimal when the main goal is direct sales, making them ideal for e-commerce businesses.
Disadvantages of the Feed-Only Performance Max Campaigns
-
Limited Reach and Creative Flexibility
One of the major drawbacks of Feed-Only PMax campaigns is the limited use of non-shopping placements. Since these campaigns don’t utilize creative assets like videos, display ads, or YouTube ads, advertisers miss out on these high-impact channels.
If your goal is to increase brand awareness or target audiences outside of purely shopping-focused interactions, this might not be the right approach.
-
Potential for Reduced Performance in Some Placements
While Feed-Only campaigns perform well for Shopping Ads, they may not be as effective in placements like YouTube Shorts or Display Networks, where visual and creative content is more impactful. Recent changes mean that even in feed-only setups, Google might automatically generate creative assets like YouTube Shorts from your product feed, but these auto-generated placements might not perform as well as dedicated creative campaigns.
-
Lack of Control Over Creative Elements
Feed-Only PMax campaigns offer little control over the look and feel of your ads since all content is pulled from the product feed. If your feed is not well-optimized, your ads may suffer in quality, leading to lower performance.
-
Limited Audience Targeting and Data Insights
Another limitation is the reduced ability to apply audience targeting strategies compared to full PMax campaigns that include assets. While you can still use audience signals, these are often less effective in feed-only setups where creative diversity is limited.
You should consider running an A/B test by setting up a Feed-Only Performance Max campaign alongside a full Performance Max campaign with all assets included, to observe which campaign delivers better results.
Setting Up a Feed-Only Performance Max Campaign Step by Step
Step 1: Create a New Performance Max Campaign
- In your Google Ads dashboard, click on "New Campaign" and select Performance Max as the campaign type.
- Choose your goal (usually Sales for e-commerce).
- Then, select Merchant Center account.
- Name your campaign, choose bidding strategy and customer acquisition settings.
Step 2: Opt Out of Automatically Created Assets
- As you're setting up, make sure to opt out of the automatically created assets (images, videos, etc.). You want to keep the campaign focused only on your product feed.
- You can do this by deselecting text assets and removing the final URL in the "Automatically Created Assets" section. This ensures that the campaign relies solely on your product feed without additional text or URL inputs.
Don't forget to adjust location targeting by choosing "Presence" after completing the campaign creation so your ads show only to users within your target geographic area.
Step 3: Skip Asset Generation
- Don't let Google AI help you generate assets for creating feed-only performance max campaigns on this step. You will not see this section in Turkish language for now.
Step 4: Configure Your Asset Group
- In the "Asset Group" section, remove all pre-filled URLs, images, logos, business names and texts that Google might auto-populate.
Step 5: Audience Signals (Optional)
- Although optional, you can add audience signals to refine who sees your product ads. However, consider doing this after the campaign is live to avoid errors during setup.
Once completed, launch your campaign and monitor the performance, ensuring everything runs through your product feed.
Who Should Use Feed-Only PMax Campaigns?
Feed-Only Performance Max campaigns are ideal for e-commerce businesses that primarily rely on product sales through Shopping Ads and don’t need branding or creative assets.
These campaigns work best for:
-
Advertisers with limited creative resources who prefer a simple, automated solution based solely on their product feed.
-
Businesses focused on product-driven conversions that want to leverage Google's automation to optimize shopping placements without investing in display or video ads.
-
Retailers with large inventories, where managing creative for every product is impractical and the focus is on maximizing ROAS through product ads.
Performance Optimization Strategies for Feed-Only Performance Max Campaigns
To get the best results from your Feed-Only Performance Max campaigns, consider these optimization strategies:
-
Segment Products by Performance
Use custom labels in your product feed to segment products into categories like top-sellers, potential products, low-performers, and zombie products. This allows you to allocate more budget and lower ROAS targets for top-performing products while giving zombie products a chance to succeed.
By using Optifeed, you can dynamically add custom labels to your product feed based on sales data from Google Analytics 4.
For example, you can add a "popular products" label to items with more than 100 orders in the last 30 days, a view-to-purchase rate of over 3% in the last 14 days, and an increase in order volume of over 20% in the past 7 days. Then, you can launch a feed-only Performance Max campaign targeting products labeled as "popular products."
You can also segment your products by adding multiple labels, ensuring that they are dynamically tagged based on GA4 data.
Start using Optifeed today by filling out the form: https://www.optifeed.co/contact
-
Optimize Your Product Feed
The quality of your feed is crucial. Ensure product titles, descriptions, and images are fully optimized with relevant keywords. A well-structured feed directly influences ad quality and relevance.
-
Test Bid Strategies
Start with Maximize Conversion Value or Target ROAS and monitor results closely. Adjust based on performance, and don’t hesitate to test different bidding strategies depending on your sales goals.
-
Leverage Audience Signals Carefully
While Feed-Only PMax campaigns focus on product ads, you can still add audience signals to refine targeting. However, avoid adding too many at the start to ensure the algorithm has space to optimize.
-
Monitor and Adjust Budget Allocation
Regularly review campaign performance, and shift your budget towards better-performing product types, especially during peak sales periods.
Impact of Feed Quality on Campaign Success
The success of a Feed-Only Performance Max campaign heavily relies on the quality of your product feed and feed optimization rules. Since this type of campaign uses only your product data without supplementary creative assets, ensuring your feed is well-optimized becomes crucial.
If you're using Optifeed for feed optimization, the Feed Guard by Optifeed feature ensures the accuracy and timeliness of your product data by continuously monitoring your feed for errors. It instantly alerts you to any issues, helping you maintain high feed quality, which ultimately maximizes your ad performance.
The Future of Feed-Only Campaigns
As automation and AI continue to evolve within Google Ads, the future of Feed-Only campaigns is uncertain. Google’s push towards automation and dynamic ad placements, such as YouTube Shorts, may lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of Feed-Only campaigns. Google has already started integrating dynamic assets generated from product feeds, potentially diminishing the ability to run pure feed-based campaigns without visual or creative elements.
Additionally, the growing importance of cross-network advertising—where campaigns appear on YouTube, Display, and other channels—may push advertisers toward utilizing more diverse asset types to fully capitalize on Performance Max’s capabilities.
However, as long as businesses focus primarily on e-commerce sales and don’t require broader brand awareness, Feed-Only campaigns will remain a valuable tool, allowing for lower costs and simpler management while still delivering targeted Shopping Ads.
Conclusion
Feed-Only Performance Max campaigns offer a streamlined, product-focused advertising solution for e-commerce businesses. By ensuring your product feed is fully optimized, you can leverage Google’s automation to drive conversions with minimal creative effort.
However, with the increasing focus on cross-channel ad placements and dynamic asset generation, the future of purely feed-based campaigns may face challenges. As such, advertisers should stay flexible, test feed-only campaigns alongside fully-asset campaigns, and monitor how Google’s automation evolves to maintain a competitive edge.
