Analyze PMax with Google Ads & GA4 PPC Landing Page Reports

This post will guide you through creating custom reports in Google Ads and Google Analytics 4, focusing on landing page performance. By using this data to make informed decisions, you can significantly improve the ROI of your Google Ads campaigns.

Google’s Performance Max campaigns can sometimes feel like a black box, with limited data on where your budget is being spent and how well your campaigns are performing.

We don’t have much control over the spending, but at least we should create custom reports to better overview the campaign’s performances and know where the budget is going.

In many cases, Performance Max campaigns generate sales through branded campaigns or remarketing audiences, leaving merchants in the dark about the specifics of clicks and spend distribution.

Together we will:

• Understand which landing pages we spent the most on budget
• Find the ones that perform the best and worst using a Google Ads custom report
• Analyze the user engagement metrics on Google Analytics (PPC-filtered only).
• Structure your campaigns better with these insights.

Before we get started, check out: How Analyzify Helps Shopify Merchants with Google Ads Tracking & Performance.

Let’s get started!

How to create Performance Max Landing Page reports in Google Ads?

We will create a custom report to show the landing pages to which your Performance Max campaigns brought traffic.

In this way, we can detect the winning and losing landing pages. Later, you can use this data to exclude these losing landing pages from the campaigns or create a specific campaign for the winning ones to have more budget.

Step 1: Visit Google Ads > Reports > Create Custom Report
Sign in to your Google Ads account. Click on ‘Reports’ in the upper right corner. Select ‘Custom’ under ‘Report types.’. Click the blue ‘+’ button to create a new custom report.

Step 2: Name the report & choose dimensions and metrics
Name the report as: “PMax Landing Page.” From the right side of the screen, start adding the following rows & columns to the table.

Rows:

• Campaign Type
• Campaign
• Landing Page

Columns:

• Cost
• Clicks
• Cost/Conversion
• Conversions
• Impressions
• CTR
• Avg. CPC

Step 3: Filter & Save & Run
To focus on Performance Max campaigns, Click Campaign Type from the ROWs and apply the “Performance Max” campaign type filter. Once you do this, save the report and run it. Screenshot

Step 4: Analyze the data
Now you have the table. You can find some winners that have low cost/conversion just like below:

You can also find low-performing landing pages using Cost/Conversion or any other metric you like.

You can exclude the low-performing & high-spending landing pages from the PMax campaigns so that winners can get more clicks.

Additionally, you can create separate campaigns for the winning landing pages (product & collection pages) to make sure to give enough budget to those.

Please note to have enough data to make decisions. You shouldn’t exclude a landing page that got only 200 clicks. Make your decisions carefully; use these reports to feed your decisions with data.

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How to create PPC Landing Page reports in Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provides us with more in-depth reporting, especially including user engagement metrics such as time spent on the page, bounce rate, conversion rate, and many others. It would be wise to use both Google Ads & Google Analytics reports before making big decisions.

For example, if your landing page gets significantly less engagement time (visible in Google Analytics), you might consider checking that page before making a decision. Something could be wrong with the page rather than the performance of the Google Ads.

Step 1: Visit the GA4 Landing Page report
Click “Reports” from the left menu. Find “Landing Page” under Engagement.

Step 2: Filter & segment the report
Click “All Users” from the top of the screen. That’ll open a sliding section on the right side.

Step 3: Filter by Google CPC
3.1 Right under “ “ Click “Dimension” and choose “First user source / medium”.
3.2 Choose “Google / CPC” from “Dimension Values” and hit “OK”. The section should look like below.

Step 4: Analyze the PPC landing data in GA4
Make sure the “Paid” filter is applied. The report should look like below. You can find here some low-engagement pages. Remember these come from paid clicks – so you actually pay for each click. You don’t want to have low engagement or revenue pages.

Be careful while making decisions here; make sure to check these pages. There might be a problem with product images, pricing, description, etc.

Here are some additional best practices to follow:

Save and share the reports with your team: Ensure that everyone involved in your marketing efforts has access to these reports, so they can use the data to make informed decisions.

Check the reports often and adjust your account structure accordingly: Keep an eye on the performance of your landing pages, and make the necessary adjustments. Some best practices include excluding losing landing pages from Performance Max campaigns and creating new campaigns for winning landing pages.

Ensure your conversion tracking and Google Ads Tags are set up correctly: Performance Max campaigns won’t work well if your conversion tracking and Google Ads setup are not functioning correctly. Double-check your account settings and make any necessary changes.

Further your knowledge: Check out our comprehensive Google Ads Conversion Tracking Health Check course on YouTube. This resource can help you dive deeper into optimizing your Google Ads account and improving the performance of your campaigns.