Google expands Performance Max to online marketplaces

With no need for a website or merchant center, you can now use Performance Max to drive traffic to your marketplace.

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Google expanded Performance Max to help merchants drive sales directly through online marketplaces, such as Amazon.

The big picture. Performance Max for Marketplaces allows sellers to create Google ad campaigns that send traffic to their product listings on third-party ecommerce platforms, without needing a website or Merchant Center account.

Why we care. For marketers with established marketplace sales, this represents a potentially big new piece of their Google Ads strategy. With no need for a site or merchant center, the cost is much lower than most other types of Google Ads tactics (i.e., a massive opportunity for small businesses with a limited budget).

How it works. After connecting your Google Ads account to a supported marketplace, merchants can launch fully-automated Performance Max campaigns promoting their marketplace product catalog across Google’s advertising channels.

Key benefits. Google shared three:

  • Use existing marketplace product data like images, descriptions and pricing in ads.
  • Detailed reporting on campaign performance within Google Ads.
  • Uses Google’s AI automation to optimize across Search, Shopping and more.

Conversion tracking. This is handled by the marketplaces themselves. Only sales for the merchant’s own products count – not purchases from other sellers.

Availability. Performance Max for Marketplaces is limited to “select marketplaces.” Google said it’s “working to add more marketplace platforms.” 

Update. “Performance Max for Marketplaces has launched in beta with a few select partners and is still in its early stages at this time. We’re actively gathering feedback on how the experience is working for our customers” Google spokesperson


About the author

Anu Adegbola
Staff
Anu Adegbola has been Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land since 2024. She covers paid search, paid social, retail media, video and more.

In 2008, Anu's career started with
 delivering digital marketing campaigns (mostly but not exclusively Paid Search) by building strategies, maximising ROI, automating repetitive processes and bringing efficiency from every part of marketing departments through inspiring leadership both on agency, client and marketing tech side.
 
Outside editing Search Engine Land article she is the founder of PPC networking event - PPC Live, host of weekly podcast PPCChat Roundup, and brand evangelist at ClickTech. 
 
She is also an international speaker with some of the stages she has presented on being SMX (US), SMX (Munich), Friends of Search (Amsterdam), brightonSEO, The Marketing Meetup, HeroConf (PPC Hero), SearchLove, BiddableWorld, SESLondon, PPC Chat Live, AdWorld Experience (Bologna) and more.

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