Google trials automatically created assets for Performance Max

Google has started testing its automatically created assets feature on Performance Max campaigns after announcing plans to do so at Google Marketing Live last month. Advertisers have reported seeing the scheme, which is available to all marketers as an open beta on Google Ads, replace the ‘Final URL expansion’ tab.

Why we care: Advertisers struggling to write engaging ad assets for Performance Max campaigns no longer need to worry about creative fatigue because Google can help do this job for them, saving marketers some time and effort.

How it works: Google can generate copy for Performance Max listings by analysing the content on a brand’s landing pages, domain and ads.

What have digital marketers said? While the thought of never having to write ad assets again will appeal to many advertisers, some industry insiders have warned that there are potential risks.

• “Had mixed results with automatically created assets, callouts tend to work alright, but ad copy definitely needs to be checked,” PPC consultant Paul Rooney tweeted.

What has Google said? Brands that have opted to use its automatically created assets feature for headlines and descriptions have seen enhanced performance with on average a 2% increase in conversions, Google said. Other benefits, according to Google, include:

• Improved relevance – Automatically created assets can provide a consistent user experience across query, ad copy and landing pages.
• Better productivity – Automatically created assets can reduce the amount of manual work to create relevant ad copy.

A Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

• “[Advertisers can] expand the reach of your brand campaigns with new brand restrictions for broad match. Broad match gives you the most relevant reach and conversions within your performance goals.”
• “In the past, it may have been difficult to use broad match in campaigns with specific brand needs. That’s why we’re rolling out brand restrictions. This new feature will help you get the additional reach of broad match, while ensuring it is only matching to relevant brand traffic that you’ve specified.”

Is there a catch? The main concern raised by advertisers around automatically generated assets is a reduction in creative control. Sometimes, the content created by Google doesn’t accurately fit a product’s brand, can be inaccurate or doesn’t make sense. These issues have deterred some marketers from using the feature.

Go deeper: You can read more about Automatically Created Assets here and more Performance Max here.