r/PPC

This shit is eating me alive, something I am missing here?!?!

Before August 17, we ran Shopping with a 300% tROAS target while actually achieving 3,000–4,000% ROAS.

It sounds backwards, but it worked extremely well. The low target allowed Google to bid aggressively, giving us great Shopping rankings and high volume while, paradoxically, actual ROAS stayed 10x+ above the target.

300% target → aggressive bidding + high volume → 3,000–4,000% actual ROAS.

After August 17, everything changed. Sales dropped significantly, rankings got worse and competitors we previously outranked started appearing above us.
Our Google rep suggested moving tROAS closer to our actual 3,000–4,000% ROAS.

We never tested that because I can’t see how a 4,000% target could possibly behave anything like a 300% target. Surely it would make Google much more conservative, reduce auction participation and kill volume.

We instead tested Maximize Conversion Value without a target, but it didn’t seem aggressive enough.

We’re now testing Maximize Conversions, segmented more heavily by product margins. This definitely seems more aggressive than Max Conversion Value, but CPC and Shopping visibility are still below what we had before August 17.

So here’s what I’m trying to understand:

Could the solution simply be going back to 300% tROAS, but giving the campaign enough budget so it’s NOT limited by budget?

Would that allow tROAS to bid aggressively again while still optimizing toward value?

Or has something fundamentally changed in how tROAS behaves, meaning the old 300% target → 3,000–4,000% actual ROAS setup simply can’t be recreated anymore?
And if that’s the case, what are people using instead – Max Conversions, Manual CPC, Maximize Clicks?

Our goal isn’t to force Google to maintain 4,000% ROAS.

We want to recreate the aggressive bidding, Shopping visibility and volume that produced that 4,000% ROAS in the first place.

Anyone who massively overperformed a low tROAS target before August 17 figured this out?

I run a small home decor/gift store with a physical shop and ecommerce site. I have around 3,000 SKUs, but inventory is usually pretty shallow and the assortment changes a lot seasonally. Most of what I sell is branded product from other companies.
I’ve run Google Ads for years, but I’m starting to realize I probably haven’t been doing it as well as I could.
For a store like mine, is PMax actually a good fit? Would you run the whole catalog or narrow it down to certain products/categories first?

Also curious what people think is a realistic starting daily budget to actually give it enough data to learn.
I’ve also seen people recommend running PMax for larger catalogs with basically just the product feed and no added headlines, descriptions, images, etc. I understand the logic if you mainly want Shopping traffic, but I’m not totally sold on it.
Has anyone tested feed-only/minimal asset PMax vs a fully built out PMax on a store like this? Curious what actually worked for you.

Been learning about PPC for a month. And I am about to take over someone's amazon FBA PPC.
Their business isn't really successful with their spending on advertising like it hardly leaves a margin for them so obviously the objective is try to lower the ACOS.
But since this is practical now no more theory I just want the advice from the pros here regarding
1: things I should be careful with
2: things I should focus on regarding the objective I discussed above.
3: how do I not fuck this up

From 16 December, interactions with Meta’s gen-AI features feed content and ad recommendations.

Alongside that, Business AI (an agent for SMB sales guidance on ads, messaging, and sites) and an Ads Manager assistant are rolling out in the U.S. Privacy and creative teams should treat AI chat logs as a new signal, not just a creative tool.

Very interesting change . What do you think ? Should ads be customised depending upon how the brands interact with AI?