Doubling your ad budget should be a moment for celebration, not a cause for panic. But for my Google Ads coaching client, Hunter, doubling his spend made everything go "wonky."
Hunter runs a specialized counseling practice and had seen a great ROI from Google Ads for years. Naturally, he decided to scale. He doubled his budget and added a Performance Max campaign, thinking it would help him "diversify" his reach. (Can you tell where this is going?)
Instead, his cost-per-lead skyrocketed to $200, and his inbox was flooded with spam. He felt like he had "broken" a good thing.
When we sat down to troubleshoot, we found something troubling...
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By using the Channel Performance Report, we discovered that over 75% of his PMax budget was actually being spent on Search.
Specifically, PMax was going after the exact same terms - like "couples counseling" - that his standalone Search campaign was already targeting.
The impact on his results was devastatingly inefficient:
- Higher Costs: In PMax, Hunter was paying nearly $9 for a "couples therapy" click, while his Search campaign was getting clicks on the exact same search term for just $4.35.
- Lower Engagement: Hunter's Search campaign had a 10% click-through rate, while PMax struggled at 3% for the same search intent.
- Split Learning: Because the two campaigns were "competing" for the same searches, his data and budget were split in half, making it take twice as long for Google's AI to learn what actually works - while Hunter paid the price.
Hunter wasn't diversifying; he was duplicating.
If you’re worried that your campaigns are fighting each other, like Hunter's, here’s how to check right now:
- Check your Channel Performance Report: Go to Insights and Reports > Channel Performance, and then scroll past the colourful graph (it's misleading!) to the data table below. Check the "Cost" and "Conversions" columns to see where your PMax is investing, and where you're getting results. If 60%+ PMax "Cost" is coming from Search, you may have a serious duplication issue. Next...
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Compare Search Terms: Go to Insights and Reports > Search terms in your PMax campaign and in your Search campaign to check for overlap. I recommend sorting descending by "Impressions" and eyeballing your top 10 search terms in each campaign. If most of them are the same or similar, then that's already telling.
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Consolidate to Grow: Choose a lane. Either stick with the "controlled" approach of Search or go all-in on PMax, but don't keep running both if they're simply going after the same queries.
Don't let "diversification" become a drain on your profits. Book a call with me and we'll ensure you're truly growing your Google Ads account.
P.S. Search, Shopping and PMax duplication is such a common issue that I asked Optmyzr CEO Fred Vallaeys to create a Google Ads script to solve it. This script provides a level of transparency that Google simply doesn't offer out of the box. I’ve made this script (and instructions on how to use it) available to all members of my Inside Google Ads course. You can learn more and join now at learn.jyll.ca
