Google just gave us better ad data – here’s why that matters

View transcript below

Explore our AI video series

What AI means for your digital marketing strategy In this video series, our team explains the role of AI can play in your digital strategy, starting with Iain Scott, Director of Growth at exceptional™.

Using AI to measure your marketing success Anna Corbett explains how we use AI to boost campaign performance, from analytics to client conversations – without losing the human touch.

AI is changing Search Marketing. Are you changing your strategy? Google’s search experience is changing – fast. Iain Scott explains how AI Overviews and AI Mode are reshaping search, and what your business needs to do to stay visible in this new AI-powered landscape.

Is your marketing missing Google Search’s shift to video? Charlie Stewart shares how video content can connect with your audience at the exact moment they’re searching – and why it’s time to treat video as a vital search asset, not just a creative one.

How AI can support your content strategy Senior Content Strategist Charlie Stewart shares how exceptional™ uses AI to streamline research and content audits – while keeping strategy, creativity, and quality in human hands.

Explore our AI video series

Transcript

Let’s talk about Google’s Performance Max – or PMax – and why recent updates make it more useful than ever.

In short, Performance Max is Google’s “all-in-one” ad campaign type. You give Google your creative assets – your headlines, images, and videos – and their AI decides when and where to show your ads across Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and more.

This format is designed to maximise performance across all Google platforms automatically. But until recently, it was hard to know what was actually working. Google’s reporting didn’t tell you which channels were driving results – only the total outcome.

That’s now changed.

Google has introduced channel-level reporting for Performance Max campaigns. That means we can finally see whether your conversions came from YouTube, from Search, or somewhere else entirely.

That’s a big improvement. Because now, instead of guessing, we can use real data to make better decisions:

• Where should we increase your ad budget?
• What creative is working best on each channel?
• Which parts of your ad campaign need refining?

At exceptional™, we’re already building this into how we manage and report on campaigns. Because when we understand the full picture, we can make your campaigns work harder – and make your marketing spend go further.

This kind of visibility is essential – especially in a digital world that’s changing fast. When AI is making more decisions behind the scenes, you need clarity on what’s driving your results.