Google Ads has opened self-serve Conversion Lift for Search and Performance Max campaigns. Until now, running this test on Search or PMax meant going through a Google rep. Now you can set it up right in your account. Search Engine Land reported the change on October 7 after Google updated its help docs.
Conversion Lift in plain English
It answers the question every Google advertiser wonders about: are my ads actually driving conversions, or just taking credit for people who would have converted anyway?
Here's how it works. Your audience is split into two groups. One sees your ads, the other, the holdout, doesn't. Then Google compares how many conversions each group made. The difference is the real impact of your ads, also called incrementality. If there's barely any difference, the campaign is mostly claiming sales that would have happened anyway: branded searches, remarketing, people who were already ready to buy.
Who can run a test
- At least 1,000 conversions in the account. Only observed conversions count, not ones based on supplementary data.
- A campaign budget of $5,000 or more. That's the budget of the campaigns in the test, not your account balance, despite what some recaps say.
- At least one supported conversion action, such as a purchase, a lead or on-site activity.
Search and PMax now sit alongside Display, Video, Demand Gen and App campaigns. iOS App campaigns and Travel Ads aren't supported. Campaigns in alpha or beta still require a Google rep, and Google notes the tool isn't available to every account yet.
Does it matter for affiliates?
If you're running traffic to a CPA offer, you get paid for every conversion, so whether the user "would have bought anyway" isn't really your problem. On top of that, the 1,000-conversion and $5,000 thresholds rule out most test campaigns.
It's worth a look if you're one of these:
- Teams with their own product, such as e-commerce, apps or services. You need to know whether ads bring in new customers or just eat into organic traffic.
- Anyone scaling Performance Max. PMax loves to grab branded and remarketing traffic, which makes reports look better than reality. A lift test shows you the real picture.
- Agencies and advertisers who need to prove to a client or management that the budget is working.
One catch: during the test, part of your audience doesn't see your ads, so you're knowingly giving up some conversions. A bigger holdout gives you a more accurate result but makes the experiment more expensive. Running it at the peak of the season, or on your last dollars, is a bad idea.