As an advertiser, budget management for campaigns can be a tricky task. Questions come up constantly: Should you increase spend to drive more conversions? Is your budget allocation optimal? Will your campaigns perform next quarter?
With its latest tool, the Performance Planner, Google aims to answer these recurring questions and guide your advertising investments toward better performance.
- What is the Performance Planner?
Also known as the Performance Planner by insiders, this free tool launched in 2019 combines Google's machine learning algorithm, internal data from billions of queries, competitor data, and your own Google Ads campaign history.
In practice, the Performance Planner lets you:
- View monthly and quarterly performance forecasts for your campaigns;
- Discover the potential results of your campaigns if their settings are adjusted;
- Assess opportunities tied to the seasonality of your business
- Take advantage of suggestions to improve campaign performance.
- How do you use the Performance Planner?
First, go to your Google Ads interface. Click the "Tools and settings" button in the banner at the top right of the page, then click "Performance Planner" under the Planning tab.
Next, create a plan and select the campaigns you want to include in the planner.
Choose a future time period. You can plan for the coming month, quarter, or even the full year ahead.
Now select your key metric. There are three options: clicks, conversions, or conversion value. You can also set a goal, such as a target number of conversions, a target spend, or a desired average CPA.
Once your plan is created, you can view the Performance Planner's forecasts.
The gray dot represents the forecasted performance based on your campaigns' current settings. The blue dot represents the forecasted performance if the planner's suggestions are applied.
You can also click on the curve to see the impact of different spending scenarios on your campaigns' potential performance.
Click "Improve plan" to see the impact of Google's recommendations on your campaign performance. These recommendations are designed to maximize conversions while respecting your target metrics (for example, staying within a specific CPA or ROAS).
Below the chart, you'll find a detailed table of forecasts for each campaign based on spend, conversions, or average CPA.
Hovering over the "Diff" column lets you see budget and bid adjustment recommendations for achieving those forecasted results.
Another useful feature is the "Compare" tab. You can directly compare the forecasted performance of your campaigns with current settings against recommended settings and against your historical campaign data.
Keep in mind that the Performance Planner works in an advisory capacity. No changes will be made without your input. It's up to you to decide whether to apply the recommendations, and you'll need to implement them in Google Ads yourself, or import them into Google Ads Editor by first downloading the file listing the suggested changes.
A few recommendations:
- Create separate plans for each marketing goal to get better results. (For example, group campaigns with the same conversion type or the same targeting.)
- Use an attribution model other than Last Click. This way, the planner will better account for campaigns that had an impact earlier in the conversion path. We recommend the "data-driven" model, or the "position-based" model if the first option isn't available.
- Check your plans regularly. Google recommends using the tool at least once a month for more accurate results.
- Refer to this page of Google's support documentation to learn about the eligibility requirements for campaigns to be included in the Performance Planner.
To summarize, the Performance Planner is a free tool designed to simplify the allocation of advertising budgets. Built on powerful machine learning and Google's internal resources, it lets you visualize the potential opportunities and future performance of your campaigns. Used well, the Performance Planner could become an ideal partner for your growth.
Want help with Google Ads, or with your broader digital marketing strategy? Don't hesitate to reach out!
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