Solved: Google Ads Campaigns Stopped - How to Determine Max Bid?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Google Ads Performance Max and Shopping campaigns. I understand you're experiencing issues with your campaigns suddenly stopping and struggling to get impressions, despite a promising start. Let's see if we can get this sorted for you.

We'll need to look at traffic quality and your website...

First thing's first, let's delve a little deeper into where your customers drop off. I’d definitely check your performance metrics closely as a first step.

Some Key Questions:

• Do you have really low CTRs (click-through rates) and high CPCs (cost-per-click)?
• Are people getting to your start page but only a small percentage are viewing product pages?
• Are you getting lots of product page views but no adds to cart?

If your CTRs and CPCs are poor, this usually suggests your ad copy and/or product images aren't resonating with your target audience. They likely need work. If you're seeing low product page views, it could mean you're attracting the wrong type of traffic, and that you’ll have to re-examine your ad targeting and/or keywords. It could also mean your product features aren't a great fit for the people who are clicking your ads. And if you're racking up product page views but not seeing those all-important 'adds to cart', your product photos, descriptions or even pricing might need some attention. Maybe a special offer could help nudge potential customers in the right direction. Also, maybe people aren't ready to buy just now and need long-term retargeting to stay on their radar.

Another good step is to have a look at your website analytics. Where are potential customers dropping off? What's the typical journey of someone who *does* end up making a purchase? Comparing these paths can often reveal where the sticking points are.

To summarise these first key actions into an actionable overview:

I'd say you need to give it more time...

Now, regarding your Performance Max campaign, it’s not unusual for performance to fluctuate. It's possible that the initial boost you saw was a temporary result of the algorithm exploring different audiences and placements. When you made the manual CPC changes, it might have disrupted the learning phase.

I understand you increased your max bid on the shopping campaign, but it's important to allow Google's algorithm time to adjust. It can take a few days, or even a week or two, for things to stabilise after a significant bid change. I wouldn't keep making constant large bid adjustments, it could take some time for the system to re-optimise itself after each change.

If your Performance Max campaign was performing well initially, I'd be inclined to let it run for longer, even if it means a temporary dip in sales. I know that's easier said than done when you're trying to run a business, but patience can pay off.

There are a few other things to rule out, as well, as these could also be contributing to the issue:

• Check your product eligibility and ad disapprovals in Google Merchant Center. It's possible that some of your products have been flagged for policy violations or have missing information.
• Review your targeting settings. Are you targeting a very narrow audience? If so, you might simply be exhausting the available impressions.
• Look at your search terms report to see which search queries are triggering your ads. Are they relevant to your products? If not, you might need to refine your keyword targeting.

Your store might not be looking all that trustworthy yet...

One thing to also consider is the overall impression of your store. In my experience, potential customers need to trust you before they'll part with their money. This is especially true for smaller businesses where brand recognition isn't as established. To help improve your customer's confidence, here are a few things you can look at:

• Trust badges: Reviews and testimonials from customers
• Links to Etsy, Amazon and other places where you sell your products
• Social profiles
• Publications you've been featured in
• Your address and maybe more ways to contact you

These badges can help to increase your site’s authority, and give that all important impression that you are a legitimate business.

I’d start with these tests...

In terms of getting your ads running again, I'd recommend the following:

1. Double-check product eligibility and fix any issues in Google Merchant Center.
2. Review targeting settings and consider broadening your audience if necessary.
3. Analyse your search terms report and refine keyword targeting.
4. Let the Performance Max campaign run for longer, even if initial results are not as good as you’d hoped.
5. Make incremental bid adjustments to your shopping campaign and monitor performance closely.
6. Optimise your store to increase trust and credibility.

Does it make sense to work with someone with expertise in scaling eCommerce campaigns?

Implementing these steps can be time-consuming and require a good understanding of Google Ads and eCommerce best practices. You might want to think about working with someone with specialist knowledge in scaling eCommerce campaigns.

It's worth noting that we've worked with a number of eCommerce businesses to help them improve their Google Ads performance. For example, we worked with a subscription box company and saw a 1000% return on ad spend and achieved a 633% return, 190 % increase in revenue for a Cleaning Products eCommerce store. So we have a good understanding of what it takes to succeed in this space.

If you'd like to chat more about your specific situation and explore how we could help, feel free to book in a free consultation. I’m happy to explore your unique situation and see how we can help.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh