Google expands Performance Max to online marketplaces

Google expanded Performance Max to help merchants drive sales directly through online marketplaces, such as Amazon.

The big picture. Performance Max for Marketplaces allows sellers to create Google ad campaigns that send traffic to their product listings on third-party ecommerce platforms, without needing a website or Merchant Center account.

Why we care. For marketers with established marketplace sales, this represents a potentially big new piece of their Google Ads strategy. With no need for a site or merchant center, the cost is much lower than most other types of Google Ads tactics (i.e., a massive opportunity for small businesses with a limited budget).

How it works. After connecting your Google Ads account to a supported marketplace, merchants can launch fully-automated Performance Max campaigns promoting their marketplace product catalog across Google’s advertising channels.

Key benefits. Google shared three:

• Use existing marketplace product data like images, descriptions and pricing in ads.
• Detailed reporting on campaign performance within Google Ads.
• Uses Google’s AI automation to optimize across Search, Shopping and more.

Conversion tracking. This is handled by the marketplaces themselves. Only sales for the merchant’s own products count – not purchases from other sellers.

Availability. Performance Max for Marketplaces is limited to “select marketplaces.” Google said it’s “working to add more marketplace platforms.” 

Update. “Performance Max for Marketplaces has launched in beta with a few select partners and is still in its early stages at this time. We’re actively gathering feedback on how the experience is working for our customers” Google spokesperson