Paid search advertisers are increasingly shifting their budgets from Search campaigns to PMax and Shopping ads. Analysis of over €2 billion in ad spend reveals:
Key Trends
Search Campaigns:
- Declined from 39% to 21% share of ad spend.
- Average quarterly growth rate: -0.85%, or -3.8% year-over-year.
PMax and Shopping Ads:
- Growing prominence, indicating high demand for product listing ads.
- PMax's growth has plateaued against Shopping in recent quarters, suggesting strong loyalty to Shopping ads.
Challenges and Insights
- PMax saw a resurgence after Google introduced brand controls and search term reporting.
- Future adoption of PMax may require Google to offer additional feature concessions.
- According to "The State of PPC 2024":
- Two-thirds of respondents find lack of control in PMax a challenge.
- More than half struggle with improving performance in PMax.
These insights suggest a dynamic shift in paid search advertising, with a growing preference for product listing ads and ongoing challenges in optimizing PMax performance.
