Digital Darts
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[subtitle-meta] lang=en auto=False
If you only have a Performance Max
campaign for your ecommerce store,
you’re missing sales. After 20 years managing
and teaching Google Ads, this is the right way
to run Performance Max that’s working great for my
Shopify clients. So in this video, I’ll show you
this simple strategy that consistently performs
better, and it only takes a few minutes to do.
People see Performance Max and say, “ooh,
I can Reach audiences across all of Google
with a single campaign! Sounds great!”
And to be fair, that’s exactly why so
many smart store owners buy into it.
But this leads to lazy thinking and poor results.
You see, Performance Max distributes your
budget evenly, like your Year 2 PE teacher,
giving everyone a participation
medal whether you did well or not.
This happens in all campaigns, but I
see it chronically in Performance Max.
When you make this mistake, you donate
Google your profits on a silver platter.
And the frustrating part is,
it usually doesn’t look broken.
We had a client with this exact issue. Within
a couple of months of us coming on board,
they started hitting targets
again with uncapped budgets.
The surprising thing here is that
established stores can fall into
the same mistake. The store I just
mentioned had a decade worth of data.
And that’s important, because this isn’t a
lack-of-data problem. It’s a setup problem.
The good news is there’s a
simple fix that’s fast to do.
The key change is separating high-intent
searches from low-intent searches.
But keep watching until the end because
there’s a tricky gotcha to avoid.
You see, high-intent searches—like
your brand name, the brands you stock,
or specific product attributes that
have historically performed well—are
bottom of funnel searches. That
means they’re close or ready to buy.
So they need to be in their
own dedicated campaign.
By doing this, you can control spend
for these higher-value searches.
And this is the key point: high-intent and
low-intent searches should not be competing
inside the same budget, because
they’re not doing the same job.
That’s the structural mistake
I mentioned at the start.
So now let me show you exactly
how to fix this without creating
overlap or starving the wrong campaign.
Step 1.
Review all search terms from all your campaigns,
live and paused, and identify any that drove
conversions from high-intent searches. You can
eye-ball this data yourself or use a Google Ads
script to extract the data. Take note of the Conv.
value/cost these high-intent searches achieved.
This gives you the list of queries that have
already proven they deserve special treatment.
Step 2.
Add these terms to a negative keyword list
named “High Intent.” Wrap the searches in square
brackets so they're an exact match. That exact
match detail matters, because then you’re
only including the high converting searches.
Step 3.
Assuming you’ve only been running one
Performance Max or Shopping campaign,
create a second Shopping campaign. I recommend
standard shopping. And yes, there’s a reason I’m
bringing Standard Shopping into a Performance Max
strategy in 2026—this is where it earns its place.
Step 4.
Review all search terms from your original
campaign that’s been running both low and
high intent. Filter out all the high intent
terms. Save the low intent terms to a new
negative keyword list, exact match,
and name it “Low Intent Queries #1.”
At this point, you’ve effectively separated the
two intent buckets. Now we need to make
sure Google treats them differently.
Step 5.
Set the bidding
strategy as Target ROAS for both campaigns. Make
your original campaign the High Intent campaign
and set it at the historical Conv.
value/cost achieved by those high
intent searches. For the Low Intent
campaign, set it slightly below that.
That way, your strongest searches are held to
the standard they’ve already shown they can hit,
while the lower-intent traffic has room to
explore without dragging everything down.
Step 6.
Set campaign priorities: High
Intent = low priority; Low Intent = high priority.
This is one of those counterintuitive settings
that makes more sense once you see
how the next step directs the traffic.
Step 7.
Apply the negative keyword lists correctly.
To do this, apply the “Branded/High
Intent” list to the Low Intent campaign.
Apply the “Low Intent Queries #1”
list to the High Intent campaign.
Get this part right and you’ve
funneled traffic to the right places.
Get it wrong and the traffic
will leak across campaigns.
Step 8.
Apply a shared budget across both campaigns.
And this is the gotcha I mentioned earlier.
A common mistake is trying to “game” the
setup by giving the Low Intent campaign a
smaller or separate budget. When that
budget runs out, low intent searches,
not yet added as negatives, can
spill into your High Intent campaign.
Using a shared budget early ensures High
Intent traffic isn’t diluted. Later,
as you refine negatives and performance
stabilises, you can split budgets.
So early on, don’t optimise for
control at the cost of clean
traffic separation. Protect the structure first.
Once live, refine negatives as searches
come in and monitor results. Even strong
accounts take time to ramp up. How do you refine
negatives? Use the method from the first step.
That’s what keeps the system
getting smarter over time:
you’re continuously teaching
each campaign what belongs where.
And once you’ve done this, Performance Max
stops acting like a black box and starts
behaving more like a controlled growth channel.
Now you’re using Performance Max the right way,
splitting out the high intent from low
intent keywords. But there’s still dozens
of other ways Google Ads can chew up
your budget without you realizing it.
And that’s the bigger
picture—this is only one leak.
So to fix that, I made this video to
show you the biggest and most common
Google Ads budget drainers and how
to plug the leaks. Watch that here.
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WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.360 If you only have a Performance Max campaign for your ecommerce store, 00:00:03.360 --> 00:00:07.920 you’re missing sales. After 20 years managing and teaching Google Ads, this is the right way 00:00:07.920 --> 00:00:12.800 to run Performance Max that’s working great for my Shopify clients. So in this video, I’ll show you 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.480 this simple strategy that consistently performs better, and it only takes a few minutes to do. 00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:19.680 People see Performance Max and say, “ooh, 00:00:19.680 --> 00:00:24.960 I can Reach audiences across all of Google with a single campaign! Sounds great!” 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:29.800 And to be fair, that’s exactly why so many smart store owners buy into it. 00:00:29.800 --> 00:00:33.160 But this leads to lazy thinking and poor results. 00:00:33.160 --> 00:00:38.760 You see, Performance Max distributes your budget evenly, like your Year 2 PE teacher, 00:00:38.760 --> 00:00:42.560 giving everyone a participation medal whether you did well or not. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:46.920 This happens in all campaigns, but I see it chronically in Performance Max. 00:00:46.920 --> 00:00:51.400 When you make this mistake, you donate Google your profits on a silver platter. 00:00:51.400 --> 00:00:55.040 And the frustrating part is, it usually doesn’t look broken. 00:00:55.040 --> 00:00:59.280 We had a client with this exact issue. Within a couple of months of us coming on board, 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.840 they started hitting targets again with uncapped budgets. 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:06.720 The surprising thing here is that established stores can fall into 00:01:06.720 --> 00:01:11.200 the same mistake. The store I just mentioned had a decade worth of data. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:16.200 And that’s important, because this isn’t a lack-of-data problem. It’s a setup problem. 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.000 The good news is there’s a simple fix that’s fast to do. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:24.200 The key change is separating high-intent searches from low-intent searches. 00:01:24.200 --> 00:01:28.240 But keep watching until the end because there’s a tricky gotcha to avoid. 00:01:28.240 --> 00:01:32.640 You see, high-intent searches—like your brand name, the brands you stock, 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.640 or specific product attributes that have historically performed well—are 00:01:36.640 --> 00:01:41.280 bottom of funnel searches. That means they’re close or ready to buy. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:44.240 So they need to be in their own dedicated campaign. 00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:48.000 By doing this, you can control spend for these higher-value searches. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:53.440 And this is the key point: high-intent and low-intent searches should not be competing 00:01:53.440 --> 00:01:56.840 inside the same budget, because they’re not doing the same job. 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.000 That’s the structural mistake I mentioned at the start. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:03.720 So now let me show you exactly how to fix this without creating 00:02:03.720 --> 00:02:06.200 overlap or starving the wrong campaign. 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:06.840 Step 1. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:12.680 Review all search terms from all your campaigns, live and paused, and identify any that drove 00:02:12.680 --> 00:02:17.760 conversions from high-intent searches. You can eye-ball this data yourself or use a Google Ads 00:02:17.760 --> 00:02:26.800 script to extract the data. Take note of the Conv. value/cost these high-intent searches achieved. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:30.920 This gives you the list of queries that have already proven they deserve special treatment. 00:02:30.920 --> 00:02:34.160 Step 2. Add these terms to a negative keyword list 00:02:34.160 --> 00:02:40.040 named “High Intent.” Wrap the searches in square brackets so they're an exact match. That exact 00:02:40.040 --> 00:02:45.240 match detail matters, because then you’re only including the high converting searches. 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:45.800 Step 3. 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:49.440 Assuming you’ve only been running one Performance Max or Shopping campaign, 00:02:49.440 --> 00:02:55.560 create a second Shopping campaign. I recommend standard shopping. And yes, there’s a reason I’m 00:02:55.560 --> 00:03:01.160 bringing Standard Shopping into a Performance Max strategy in 2026—this is where it earns its place. 00:03:01.160 --> 00:03:01.800 Step 4. 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:07.200 Review all search terms from your original campaign that’s been running both low and 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:12.440 high intent. Filter out all the high intent terms. Save the low intent terms to a new 00:03:12.440 --> 00:03:17.200 negative keyword list, exact match, and name it “Low Intent Queries #1.” 00:03:17.200 --> 00:03:19.480 At this point, you’ve effectively separated the 00:03:19.480 --> 00:03:24.320 two intent buckets. Now we need to make sure Google treats them differently. 00:03:24.320 --> 00:03:25.920 Step 5. Set the bidding 00:03:25.920 --> 00:03:32.280 strategy as Target ROAS for both campaigns. Make your original campaign the High Intent campaign 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:36.744 and set it at the historical Conv. value/cost achieved by those high 00:03:36.744 --> 00:03:40.960 intent searches. For the Low Intent campaign, set it slightly below that. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:45.760 That way, your strongest searches are held to the standard they’ve already shown they can hit, 00:03:45.760 --> 00:03:50.520 while the lower-intent traffic has room to explore without dragging everything down. 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:53.520 Step 6. Set campaign priorities: High 00:03:53.520 --> 00:04:00.160 Intent = low priority; Low Intent = high priority. This is one of those counterintuitive settings 00:04:00.160 --> 00:04:03.920 that makes more sense once you see how the next step directs the traffic. 00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:06.720 Step 7. Apply the negative keyword lists correctly. 00:04:06.720 --> 00:04:11.560 To do this, apply the “Branded/High Intent” list to the Low Intent campaign. 00:04:11.560 --> 00:04:16.280 Apply the “Low Intent Queries #1” list to the High Intent campaign. 00:04:16.280 --> 00:04:20.040 Get this part right and you’ve funneled traffic to the right places. 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:23.040 Get it wrong and the traffic will leak across campaigns. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:26.520 Step 8. Apply a shared budget across both campaigns. 00:04:26.520 --> 00:04:28.640 And this is the gotcha I mentioned earlier. 00:04:28.640 --> 00:04:32.520 A common mistake is trying to “game” the setup by giving the Low Intent campaign a 00:04:32.520 --> 00:04:36.800 smaller or separate budget. When that budget runs out, low intent searches, 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.120 not yet added as negatives, can spill into your High Intent campaign. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.920 Using a shared budget early ensures High Intent traffic isn’t diluted. Later, 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:49.120 as you refine negatives and performance stabilises, you can split budgets. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:53.360 So early on, don’t optimise for control at the cost of clean 00:04:53.360 --> 00:04:55.920 traffic separation. Protect the structure first. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:05:00.800 Once live, refine negatives as searches come in and monitor results. Even strong 00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:05.760 accounts take time to ramp up. How do you refine negatives? Use the method from the first step. 00:05:05.760 --> 00:05:08.880 That’s what keeps the system getting smarter over time: 00:05:08.880 --> 00:05:12.760 you’re continuously teaching each campaign what belongs where. 00:05:12.760 --> 00:05:16.840 And once you’ve done this, Performance Max stops acting like a black box and starts 00:05:16.840 --> 00:05:22.720 behaving more like a controlled growth channel. Now you’re using Performance Max the right way, 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:26.800 splitting out the high intent from low intent keywords. But there’s still dozens 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:30.520 of other ways Google Ads can chew up your budget without you realizing it. 00:05:30.520 --> 00:05:33.680 And that’s the bigger picture—this is only one leak. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:37.440 So to fix that, I made this video to show you the biggest and most common 00:05:37.440 --> 00:05:41.320 Google Ads budget drainers and how to plug the leaks. Watch that here.