In today’s competitive digital marketplace, effective advertising strategies are essential for driving growth. Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns have become a vital tool for marketers seeking scale, but many businesses fail to realise their full potential due to recurring mistakes. Neil Kettleborough, a board member at Trader AI, explains that the most common issues include overreliance on branded traffic, poorly structured campaigns, limited focus on cold audiences, and weak creative assets. “These errors,” Neil notes, “can quickly drain budgets while delivering little long-term value.” This guide, developed under Neil Kettleborough’s expertise, outlines the steps every business should take to design and manage PMax campaigns that deliver sustainable results. The Pitfalls of Ineffective Campaigns When auditing Google Ads accounts, Trader AI often finds:
Overreliance on branded traffic, inflating results but limiting new customer acquisition.
Lack of campaign structure, creating inefficiencies in spend.
Minimal cold audience targeting, which restricts scalable growth.
Weak assets, reducing the impact of creativity.
These pitfalls highlight why a disciplined, strategic approach is required.
Step One: Build a Strong Bidding Strategy
Choosing the right bidding strategy is the first step toward a successful campaign. Businesses must decide to prioritize conversions, conversion value, or return on ad spend.
Neil Kettleborough said, “One of the quickest ways to waste advertising spend is to set the wrong bidding strategy.” At Trader AI, our strategy is to start slowing and refine bidding rules as the amount of data we have increases, to keep things stable during the learning phase of Google’s system.
Step Two: Structure for Clarity and Scale
Poorly organised campaigns obscure results and reduce control. Neil recommends a tiered structure, segmenting by product lines, objectives, or audiences. This clarity makes optimisation easier and budgets more effective.
Step Three: Create Targeted Asset Groups
The creative engine of PMax campaigns is comprised of assets, including videos, images, and ad copy, which consist of strong creative in this context. Asset groups are strategically aligned at Trader AI with the correct audience signals to ensure relevance and enhanced engagement.
Neil states that “strong creative needs to be well designed, be visually pleasing, and have a strategic tie to the customer journey.”
Step Four: Exclude Branded Traffic
Branded searches can often lead to quick wins, but they can also obscure inefficiencies.
According to Neil Kettleborough, one of the best options is to simply exclude branded keywords altogether so campaigns can focus on net-new customers.
This will allow advertisers to have a more accurate picture of success and avoid unnecessary and inflated metrics.
Step Five: Use Audience Signals Wisely
Automation from Google excels when assessed with quality data. Trader AI utilizes first-party data, remarketing audiences, and custom intent signals to help inform the algorithm. The more relevant signals, the quicker the profitable patterns will be found.
Step Six: Monitor with Scripts and Analysis
Campaigns need constant supervision. At Trader AI, customized content, scripts, and tools track anomalies and wasted ad spend to ensure budgets are working effectively. "Automation is powerful, but there will still be a need for human stewardship to maintain a strategic oversight position,” says Neil Kettleborough.
Laying Strong Foundations
While advanced optimization is important, core aspects – like tracking accuracy, attribution clarity, and creative quality – are also crucial to success.
Neil frequently tells his clients that “without strong fundamentals, even the most sophisticated strategies will struggle to perform."
Conclusion: A Proven Framework for Growth
When executed correctly, Performance Max campaigns can yield fantastic results.
Trader AI's framework - strong bidding strategies, structured campaigns, specific assets, quality audience signals, and ongoing performance tracking - can help businesses turn the PMax campaign into a real driver of growth.
Neil Kettleborough said it best; "Digital advertising is not a success story by chance, but through disciplined planning, structured execution, and relentless optimisation."