TPE #108: Exposing why Search doesn't spend next to pMax

Read time: 3 minutes

Are you running Search alongside Performance Max campaigns? Then read today’s issue carefully.

Recently, a member of The PPC Hub (let’s call him Jack) asked why his Search campaigns hardly spend anything next to pMax:

Without looking into his account, I assumed Search Themes were causing issues (I explain why below).

And I was correct: after running Mike Rhodes’ pMax script, Jack found out his Performance Max spent 53% of the budget on the Search network (cannibalizing on his Search campaigns).

So I asked him to remove the Search Themes. As a result, this happened:

• pMax spend on the Shopping network increased (22% → 70%).
• pMax Spend on the Search network decreased (53% → 31%).
• Search campaigns started to run again with conversions.

In today’s issue, I will explain why Search Themes can be problematic for your account, and what to do about it instead.

Let’s dive right in!

Why is Search hardly spending next to pMax?

When you run Search and Performance Max campaigns together, this happens a lot:

• Search stops spending.
• Performance Max takes over most traffic.

This can be frustrating, especially when you want to control your traffic with well-structured Search campaigns.

I see many people struggle with this because they don’t deeply understand the ins and outs of Performance Max, its mechanics, and how internal matching works between campaign types.

Without any context of his account, I just knew Jack had issues with his pMax and Search campaigns because of Search Themes, and here’s why:

Search themes will have the same prioritization as your phrase match and broad match keywords in your Search campaigns and the one with the highest Ad Rank will be prioritized:

What this chart tells you:

• Search Themes in Performance Max campaigns will have the same prioritization as phrase and broad match keywords in Search campaigns.
• Exact match keywords in Search campaigns that are identical to the search queries will take priority in the auction.
• Phrase and broad match keywords that are identical to the search queries will be equally eligible to enter the auction.
• So phrase/broad match keywords will have the same value in the auction as Search Themes (if you don’t consider AdRank).
• If there is no identical match, the campaign/ad group that enters the auction is often determined by AdRank. Exceptions might apply if campaigns are limited by budget etc.

This is where it becomes a bit tricky and messy.

I’ve seen many accounts where Search Themes lead to cannibalization of Search campaigns (as was the case Jack above).

And as a result, Search hardly spends.

Search Themes seems like a great, harmless feature… But can actually cause damage to your account when cannibalization occurs (like we’ve seen in Jack’s example).

What do to about the cannibalization?

If you want to stop your pMax campaigns from cannibalizing on your Search campaigns, you can do two things:

1. Remove your Search Themes.
2. Use more Exact Match keywords.

Here’s why, according to Google’s official documentation:

• “𝘖𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘹 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘴.”
• “𝘌𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘬𝘦𝘺𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴.”

In other words: Search Themes compete in the same auction as Broad/Phrase keywords.

This only proves that it’s still very important to build out granular, well-structured Search campaigns (if you wish to take full control over this campaign type).

So don’t blindly use random Search Themes in Performance Max asset groups.

This could have a huge impact on cannibalization and internal mismatching between Search and pMax campaigns.

Once again, this proves it's absolutely crucial to DEEPLY understand how Google Ads works...

Otherwise you're gonna make many costly mistakes.

Are Search Themes always bad?

The short answer is: no…

The long answer is:

it depends on how you plan to use Performance Max.

• If you want to catch the majority of your traffic with pMax on all placement types (including Search), then please do use Search Themes.
• But if you want to catch your Search traffic in dedicated Search campaigns, don’t use Search Themes.

Today’s action point: check your spend allocation script.

Today’s call to action:

1. Check your spend allocation script to see how your pMax campaigns are spending across Search, Shopping, and upper-funnel placements.
2. Then, based on your goals, decide if you should remove your Search Themes to catch your traffic on Search, or keep them if you want to prioritize pMax in the auctions.

And keep in mind: in the auction, Google will give the same value to phrase and broad match keywords as it will give to your Search Themes (if you don’t consider AdRank).

I can’t decide for you what the best course of action is…

But I can give you the information so you can make the best informed decision for your specific goals and accounts.

Like Sam said so elegantly in The Lord of the Rings: "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!"

I hope this was useful.

I’ll catch you in next week’s issue of The PPC Edge!

Oh and if you want to take your Google Ads skills to the next level, consider joining The PPC Hub. Inside, you’ll find everything you need to deeply master Google Ads, and surround yourself with 1.300+ A-players who all learn & grow together. Click here for more info!

Cheers,

Miles (& Bob)