Inside Google Ads podcast: Episode 122 - Launching with Maximize Conversions

Never start a campaign on Maximize Conversions. 

Always start a campaign on Maximize conversions. 

“Jyll, should I really use Maximize conversions? Even in a new campaign? What about in a brand new account?” 

I have been getting this question a lot recently in my YouTube comments, my LinkedIn comments, my Instagram comments. It's been a hot topic on PPC Chat. 

So, today I am answering you definitively once and for all. 

Should you use Maximize Conversions even in a brand new campaign, even in a brand new account? 

Yes, and let's get into it.

I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you. 

This is Inside Google Ads: Episode 122, Launching with Maximize Conversions. 

When you set up a Google Ads campaign, your bid strategy tells the algorithm what your objective is. If you use Maximize Conversions, you are telling Google to spend your budget in order to get you as many conversions as possible. So it stays singularly focused on finding that traffic that it thinks is most likely to convert, whatever a conversion means to you, aligning the campaign's goals with your actual business goals from the very beginning. 

So what's wrong with Manual CPC or Maximize Clicks? 

The reason I generally don't advise using these bid strategies is because they optimize for cheap clicks, not business results.

If your bid strategy is just focused on getting clicks, either by manually setting a maximum bid or by telling it to spend your budget to get you as many clicks as possible, the algorithm is not even looking at whether you get a conversion or not. 

Think about that. 

Any conversions that you get when using Manual CPC or Max Clicks are an accident. An accident! Because the campaign is not trying to get those for you. They are a side effect of the cheap clicks it's after.

Furthermore, cheap clicks are cheap for a reason. It's because nobody else wanted those clicks. So perhaps you're lucky enough to be in an industry with no competitors, but for most of us, those clicks are cheap because your competitors' Smart bidding algorithms didn't want them. 

Now, the most common objection I hear to using Smart bidding or Maximize Conversions bidding from day one is, “I don't have any conversion data, so how is it going to maximize conversions when it doesn't know what a conversion looks like yet?”

Valid.

However, keep in mind that Smart bidding doesn't only rely on historical conversion data. It also evaluates millions of contextual signals at auction time to set the right bid for each and every user, each and every time. So even with zero conversion history, Maximize Conversions is still doing things like analyzing their device, their language, the time of day, location, operating system, et cetera. 

And Maximize Conversion can look at the actual user query and optimize accordingly, whereas Manual CPC doesn't let you do that. If you're Manually setting bids, you're Manually setting bids at the keyword level. But we know that even with an Exact Match keyword, that single keyword can match to more than 100 different close variant queries. On Manual bidding, you are treating all those variants exactly the same. But Maximize Conversions is considering those actual queries and setting your bids accordingly. 

Furthermore, if you're just trying to gather data by starting on Manual CPC or Max Clicks, just to switch to Max Conversions later - when you switch to Maximize Conversions, you're going to trigger a whole new learning period. And as I've shared in Episode 114, a learning period itself is not a bad thing. 

But think about that. When you switch from click-based bidding to conversion-based bidding, your campaign was never trying to get conversions before. And now, all of a sudden, it's starting from scratch to try to figure out what a converting user looks like.

In comparison, if you just start with Maximize Conversions, this is feeding the machine the right data from day one. So as it gets those first couple of conversions, it'll learn from them right away what makes a converting user. And as it gets some more, it will adjust what it learns. It's going to leverage Google's really powerful AI to make real-time bidding decisions using auction time signals that Manual bidding can't access to train your algorithm on your actual business goals from day one. And this is going to help you reach those conversion thresholds that you need to eventually scale with Target CPA or Target ROAS. 

Now, another objection I hear is about the high CPCs. Yes, you will likely see higher cost-per-click initially when you're using Maximize Conversions. But this is a feature, not a flaw, because you're entering more competitive auctions to try to get higher quality traffic. 

My mantra that I will keep repeating, is that high CPCs are not the enemy low quality traffic is. 

Think about it like this. Smart bidding is not perfect, okay? And it will make some bizarre, seemingly stupid bidding choices while it learns. It's like self-driving cars. Self-driving cars on the whole are much better drivers than humans. But when a self-driving car gets into an accident, it makes headline news, people panic. Understandably, any accident is an accident too many. But on the whole, statistically, self-driving cars get into way fewer accidents than human drivers. So we notice those few outliers, which are devastating when it is a car accident, not as devastating when it's a Google Ads CPC accident. And then we think, “It's all terrible,” when those are the anomaly, not the norm. 

On the whole, Smart bidding is going to make better conversion-focused bidding decisions than you can, because it has access to so much more data, it can process so much more, and see things you can't. So don't let the few dumb choices it makes let you write off the whole thing when you're not seeing and not noticing all the amazingly smart decisions it made. I assure you that even if you did have access to all the auction time signals that Smart bidding did, you would make way more dumb mistakes than it does. 

Because I know you might still be skeptical, I'm going to share two case studies with you of how a switch to Maximize Conversions drove CPCs way up high, but ultimately drove much better results for two different Google Ads coaching clients. And then I'll share some exceptions to the rule where maybe it doesn't make sense to use Maximize Conversions. 

So this first story is one that I actually shared in Episode 68 of this podcast, but that was a long time ago. This is a home services client using Manual bidding. Their CPCs were $1.77 on average, and they had a 1.7% conversion rate. The cost per lead was $121 per lead with 6 leads per month. 

Now we switched to Maximize conversions, and in the first two weeks, CPCs skyrocketed to $10. However, the conversion rate also skyrocketed to 15%. That means that our cost per lead actually dropped from $121 per lead to just $68 per lead, in spite of skyrocketing CPCs, because those more expensive clicks were getting converted at a 10 times higher rate.

And lead volume increased. They used to get about 6 leads per month on average because remember, manual CPC bidding is not trying to get leads, it's just trying to get cheap clicks. Those 6 leads a month were an accident. But now, in just two weeks of Maximize Conversions, we got 24 leads. And that makes sense because now, Maximize Conversions is actually trying to get leads. 

And this is not an anomaly. I've done more than 700 coaching calls in the last five years. Let me share the story of Hannah with you.

So Hannah, another service provider, had CPCs of about $1 and she was getting more than a 100 conversions a month. Which sounds great, right? And she was using Maximize Conversions. 

However, the conversion tracking wasn't set up correctly. Every single website page view was counted as a conversion. So she was effectively using Maximize Clicks, because every ad click (for the most part) turns into a page view, which then registered as a conversion. 

So we cleaned things up in her account. I actually shared this full story in my newsletter recently. I'll include that link in the episode description. And then the next month her average CPC jumped from $1 to $27 per click. And she only got 4 conversions that month. However, those 4 conversions were 4 real leads. That's 4 more leads than she had gotten when her average CPCs were $1. And when a lead converts, her business earns at least $10,000 and on average $40,000, so she can afford $27 CPCs. 

This shows you that Maximize Conversions is only as strong as your data foundation. So if you need some help fixing your conversion tracking so that Smart bidding like Max Conversions can work, I recommend checking out Episode 115 of this podcast, link in the episode description as well. These are just two of my Google Ads Coaching client stories of the many I've had that illustrate that high CPCs are not the enemy, low quality traffic is. 

Maximize Conversions with solid conversion tracking is the way to get your campaigns up and running effectively, so you can then work on transitioning to Target CPA and start scaling your campaigns to the max. 

But it's true, it depends, there are exceptions. So here are three scenarios where it may not make sense for you to start your Google Ads campaigns on Maximize Conversions. 

1. Standard shopping. 

You actually can't choose Maximize Conversions for a Standard Shopping campaign. I recommend starting with Maximize Clicks with no bid limits or if you're feeling very tentative, Manual CPC, but the goal is to get to Target ROAS bidding as quickly as possible.

Generally, I will recommend using micro-conversions to achieve this so you can get that conversion data much faster. Episode 39 of this podcast is all about micro-conversions and in Episode 40, I share a story of how we got a low volume Shopping campaign to use Target ROAS effectively. The links to both of those in the episode description. Definitely check it out if you're launching Standard Shopping on a budget. 

2. Limited Search volume exception.

If you're in a really niche industry or targeting a pretty small location, a new Maximize Conversions campaign may fail to launch for two reasons. Either it'll just not start serving any impressions at all, even after a week, or it will serve, you won't get a lot of traffic, and you'll have really, really high CPCs that are not converting. 

Why can either of these things happen? 

Well, if there's not a lot of data and Maximize Conversions is looking for conversions and just doesn't think it can get conversions, it may just not serve. It's rare, but I have seen this happen quite a few times. So if that happens, I recommend switching to Maximize Clicks where the job is just to get clicks. And then you'll see if there's another problem that might be there. Like if you switch to Maximize Clicks and it's still not spending the budget, then you have another issue going on. Whereas, if you switch to Max Clicks, it starts actually getting clicks, okay - you've given the campaign the kick in the butt it needs to get started. Now we can switch back to Max Conversions. 

But you may have the other issue where it is spending, but you're barely getting any volume and your CPCs are just way, way higher than Keyword Planner suggests they can be. 

If this happens to you, check your Search Impression Share. It is likely very high, meaning like 60% or higher. And if that's the case, Maximize Conversions is doing exactly what it's supposed to do, doing whatever it can to spend your budget in order to get as many conversions as possible, it's just having the opposite of intended effect because there's just not that much volume to have in the first place. So it's basically serving wherever it possibly can.

To fix this, you might actually need to lower your budget, or you need to expand your keyword set while staying on Max Conversions. And if this is happening because you're in a really small area or a niche without a lot of Search volume, you're probably going to need to launch a Demand Gen campaign alongside Search, because Search alone just won't give you enough volume to reach your business goals. 

3. And my third exception when you shouldn't switch to Maximize Conversions or start with Maximize Conversions is my “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” rule. 

And this actually applies to everything in Google Ads. I once had a client who we will call Gary. He had $0.20 CPCs and he was using Manual CPC. And when I first saw that, you know, red flag! But I dove in and the campaign was working really well. It was a money-making machine. Gary was doing great. So no, I did not recommend that Gary switched to Maximize Conversions because it's “best practice” or “it should be better.” If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 

If what you're doing is working well, keep letting it work well. 

Now, before we wrap up, there's a really important thing you need to remember about Maximize Conversions bidding that not enough people realize. And that is that Maximize Conversions campaigns can't be limited by budget. 

When you use a Maximize bid strategy in Google Ads, you are telling Google to spend your budget in full and then achieve your desired results, whether that's clicks, conversions, or conversion value. Because the primary objective is spending your budget, by definition, you can't be limited by budget. In a way, your campaign is always limited by its budget. 

So if you do see a “Limited by Budget” warning on a Max Conversions campaign, it will always be a yellow warning, which means it's a recommendation, rather than a red warning, which means it's a performance issue.

This also means that when you're using a Maximize bid strategy, the difference between Search Impression Share lost due to rank and Search Impression Share lost due to budget is not meaningful. According to Google's own documentation, and I'm quoting here, “We don't recommend using the Impression Share Lost budget column in Google Ads with Maximize conversions because the column is incompatible with the bid strategy. Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion value bid strategies are designed to spend the full daily budget and are limited by budget by design as campaigns are considered constrained by the budget you set." 

Plus, with the Maximize bid strategy, giving the campaign more budget allows it to increase your bids. So your budget and your bids increase together, or decrease together, which is another reason why lost due to rank and lost due to budget isn't meaningful.

This is why, by the way, we like to use Maximize bid strategies as a way station on the way to getting to Target bid strategies, because once you're using target CPA or Target ROAS, you can now control your budget and bids independently of each other. And that's the unlock we need in order to scale performance in Google Ads. 

At the end of the day, Google Ads is not about winning a beauty contest for the lowest CPC. It's about winning the race for actual business growth. High CPCs are not the enemy, low quality traffic is. If you have your conversion tracking locked down, trust the machine to find the users who matter. Use Maximize Conversions, feed the algorithms the right data, and let it start working for you. 

If you missed last week's episode, by the way, I went in depth on everything you need to know from Google Marketing Live. This is Google's annual event where they announced the major changes coming to Google Ads this year, and I was fortunate enough to report on the whole thing live from Google's global headquarters in Mountain View, California. So whether you're watching or listening right now, be sure you're up to date with the latest Google Ads updates by checking out Episode 121. 

I’m Jyll Saskin Gales, and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.