Hi there,
Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your situation with Google Ads and Facebook. It’s a common enough problem you're facing, especially with how PMax has been behaving lately. A lot of people are in the same boat, so don't worry, there's definitely a path forward.
Here’s a breakdown of my thoughts based on what you've described.
We'll need to look at that PMax brand exclusion...
Right, so you've excluded your brand terms at the account level because PMax was basically cheating and gobbling up all the easy brand conversions. I get the logic completely. It's a bold move, and honestly, it's sometimes the only way to force the system to actually go out and find genuinely new customers, which is what you want for proper scaling.
The problem is, PMax is built to be an efficiency machine. It hunts for the lowest-hanging fruit, and brand searches are pretty much lying on the ground waiting to be picked up. By taking that away completely at an account level, you've removed its safety net. The immediate effect you'll almost certainly see is a drop in your overall conversion volume and a worse-looking ROAS. This can be a bit of a shock to the system. I remember one campaign we worked on for a subscription box company, their PMax was doing the exact same thing. When we tried to steer it away from brand, the initial results looked terrible for a couple of weeks before it started to find its feet with cold traffic. You have to be prepared to weather that initial storm and give the algorithm time to learn and adjust. It's not going to happen overnight.
But was it the right move? From a pure 'new customer acquisition' perspective, possibly. But I'd probably have gone about it a bit differently. A better approach, and what we usually implement, is to run a separate, standard Search campaign that *only* bids on your brand keywords. Set a modest budget for it. This does two things:
1. It lets you capture all that super high-intent traffic from people already looking for you, and you get it at a very low cost-per-click. It's a defensive move to stop competitors bidding on your name.
2. It 'ringfences' your brand traffic inside a campaign you control, which can then be properly excluded from PMax. You tell PMax to ignore your brand list, and because there's another campaign actively serving ads for those terms, it's much more likely to listen.
By excluding at the account level without this safety net, you risk losing that valuable brand traffic altogether, or paying way over the odds for it if PMax eventually finds it again through some wierd loophole. It's a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. So, my first peice of advice would be to re-evaluate that. You want to control your brand traffic, not ignore it.
I'd say you need to think about Google vs Facebook differently...
This is the classic question. It's not really about one being "better" than the other; they just do completely different jobs. Thinking about it this way will help you make sense of why one might be failing while the other could be your next growth channel.
Google Ads is about capturing intent. People go to Google with a problem or a need. They are actively searching for a solution, whether that's "emergency electrician near me" or "handcrafted leather wallet". If your product is the answer to their search, you can put an ad right in front of them at the exact moment they're ready to buy. This is incredibly powerful and usually leads to higher conversion rates from the get-go, because the demand is already there. You're just fulfilling it.
Facebook (Meta) Ads is about creating demand. Nobody goes on Instagram hoping to see an ad for a new accounting software or a cleaning product. You are interrupting their scrolling with something you *think* they might be interested in based on their data. It's about discovery and impulse. It can be massively effective, especially for visual products or things people don't know they need yet. I remember one campaign we ran for a women's apparel brand generated a 691% return. We also saw an 8x return for a maps company. But it's more fickle. When it goes cold, like it has for you, it can be brutal.
Your experience of Facebook going dead since March isn't unique. Lots of advertisers have seen volatility. It could be creative fatigue (your audience has seen your ads too many times), audience saturation (you've exhausted the effective pockets of your target market), or just algorithmic shifts. Trying to scale with Google Ads is a very sensible next step. You're moving from a channel that creates demand to one that captures it. For many businesses, especially as they mature, this is a natural progression. You're tapping into a different part of the customer journey. You just need to have a product that people are actually searching for, otherwise there's no intent to capture.
You probably should have a proper funnel structure...
Just switching channels isn't a magic bullet. If you want to scale effectively on Google, and maybe even revive Facebook later, you need a solid structure. Just turning on PMax and hoping for the best isn't a strategy, as you've discovered. Here's how I'd approach it, thinking about the whole customer journey.
With paid ads, I often find people focus only on the ad itself and forget the rest of the funnel. You need to diagnose where things are breaking. Look at your metrics:
-> Are your CTRs (Click-Through Rates) really low? If so, your ad copy, headlines, or product images in Shopping probably need serious work. They aren't compelling enough for people to even bother clicking.
-> Are you getting lots of clicks but very few 'Add to Carts'? The problem isn't the ad, it's your landing page. The traffic is interested, but your product page, your pricing, your photos, or your descriptions are letting you down. People are losing confidence or interest once they arrive.
-> Are you getting lots of 'Add to Carts' but few purchases? The issue is likely in your checkout process. Is it too complicated? Are there unexpected shipping costs? Is it trustworthy?
For Facebook, we use a very clear audience prioritisation. It looks something like this:
BoFu (Bottom of Funnel): These are your hottest audiences. People who added to cart, initiated checkout, etc. in the last 7-30 days. You retarget them aggressively with offers to get them over the line. This is usually your most profitable campaign.
MoFu (Middle of Funnel): People who have visited your website, watched your videos, or engaged with your page. They know who you are. You retarget them to bring them back and move them towards the BoFu stage.
ToFu (Top of Funnel): This is your cold traffic. People who have never heard of you. Here you use lookalike audiences (e.g., a lookalike of your past purchasers is gold) and detailed interest targeting.
When Facebook performance tanks, it's often because the ToFu part has stopped working or the BoFu/MoFu retargeting isn't set up properly. Without a solid retargeting system in place, you're just wasting most of your cold traffic spend. A lot of agencies just focus on ToFu because it looks good to say "we reached 1 million people", but the real money is made in converting the people you've already paid to reach.
You'll need an actionable plan...
So, what does this all mean for you, right now? It's not just theory. If you want to scale, you need a clear, methodical plan of action. Dabbling won't cut it. You have to be deliberate and test things properly. I recall we had a client in the medical recruitment space and their cost per user was over £100. By implementing a structured testing plan and optimising the funnel using Google Ads and Meta Ads, we got it down to just £7. That's the kind of change that happens with a proper strategy, not just by flicking a switch.
This is the main advice I have for you:
| Area | Recommended Action | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Google Brand Traffic | Pause the account-level exclusion. Create a new, standard Search campaign dedicated *only* to your brand terms. | This lets you capture your highest-intent traffic cheaply, defend against competitors, and gives you a reliable way to exclude brand from PMax without losing the traffic. |
| Google Scaling Strategy | Run PMax alongside standard Search and Shopping campaigns. Use PMax for broad reach but control your core, non-brand keywords with a standard Search campaign. | This gives you a 'best of both worlds' approach. You get the control and data from standard campaigns and the algorithmic reach of PMax, preventing it from cannibalising everything. |
| Facebook Ads Revival | Don't abandon it. Restructure into a ToFu/MoFu/BoFu funnel. Prioritise building robust retargeting (BoFu/MoFu) campaigns first. | Performance issues are often structural. A proper funnel ensures you're efficiently converting the interest you generate. Your most profitable audience is often people who have already interacted with you. |
| Overall Analysis | Analyse your entire funnel, from ad impression to purchase. Identify the biggest drop-off point (CTR, Landing Page CVR, Checkout CVR). | You can't scale if your bucket is leaky. Fixing a poor converting landing page will have a much bigger impact on your profitability than finding a slightly cheaper click. |
Putting a plan like this into action takes time and a fair bit of expertise. It involves constant testing, analysing data, and understanding the nuances of each platform, which can feel like a full-time job in itself. This is often where businesses decide to bring in an expert or an agency.
An experienced eye can spot the issues in your funnel quickly, build out these complex campaign structures methodically, and manage the day-to-day optimisation needed to make them profitable. It's about applying a proven process rather than just reacting to daily performance swings. If you'd like to have a more detailed chat about how we could apply a strategy like this to your specific business, feel free to book in a free consultation call from my bio. We could have a proper look at your accounts together and map out a concrete plan for scaling.
Hope this helps give you some clarity.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
