• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, September 18, 2024

Negative keywords are coming to Google Performance Max campaigns, along with new insights and reporting. Google also plans to strengthen brand controls on Broad Match, expand AI features and much more.

The announcements -- made at DMEXCO in Europe to bring more controls and insights -- should improve advertising performance across Google’s AI-powered products, but also squash an ongoing complaint from advertisers that the company doesn’t do enough to support transparency.

Advertisers want more controls across AI-powered campaigns that can provide more insights into how campaigns run.

Google today announced the launch of campaign-level negative keywords in Performance Max that will start rolling out by the end of the year. The idea is to ensure ads align with specific brand and audience needs in Search inventory.

New optimization levers are also coming to Demand Gen campaigns. Omnichannel bidding will be available in beta in the coming months to help maximize online and in-store conversions.

In October, Google plans to roll out support for buying Demand Gen campaigns in Display & Video 360, providing greater flexibility and reach within existing workflows.

Among the announcements made Wednesday, visibility into campaign performance will likely strike the strongest chord. It begins with an overhaul of performance insights without having to dig through multiple reports.

Google combined insights, explanations and recommendations into one view to help advertisers understand and address campaign fluctuations.

Target pacing insights allow advertisers to track progress against cost per acquisitions (CPAs) and return on ad spend (ROAS) goals to help explain if a campaign is on track with expected bid targets.

If not, Brendon Kraham, vice president of search and commerce, Global Ads Solutions, writes: “integration with explanations reveals the contributing factors — whether it's bid strategies adjusting to recent market shifts or budget limitations influencing results,” then recommendations will provide ways to improve the campaign.

Impression share reporting is coming to Performance Max for the first time, Kraham explains in the post, to enable advertises to see how they serve up for text and Shopping ads on Search results pages.