Which of these configurations do you need prior to launching a Performance Max campaign?
Correct Answer
Product feed in Merchant Center
Key takeaways
A Merchant Center product feed, linked to the ads account, is the prerequisite.
Performance Max has no keywords.
Enhanced conversions are recommended but not required to launch.
Why is this the correct answer?
For a retail Performance Max campaign the prerequisite is a product feed in Merchant Center, linked to the ads account. Without it there are no products for the campaign to advertise, so nothing can serve. Assets matter too, but the feed is the configuration that has to exist beforehand — and keywords never do, because Performance Max has none.
Why are the other options wrong?
Assets
Assets are supplied as part of building the campaign rather than configured beforehand, and a retail campaign can run on feed data.
Keywords
Performance Max has no keywords at all. Matching comes from the feed, your assets and audience signals.
Enable enhanced conversions
Enhanced conversions improve measurement accuracy and are strongly recommended, but they are not a precondition for launching.
Frequently asked questions about this topic
What else should be in place before launch?
Conversion tracking with values, since the campaign optimises towards conversion value, and audience signals to give the automation a starting point. Neither is strictly mandatory, but launching without them means the campaign learns from scratch and more slowly.
Official documentation: https://support.google.com/merchants/answer/12446595
Topics in this question
About the Shopping Ads Certification
The Shopping Ads Certification checks that you can run retail campaigns end to end: product data in Merchant Center, linking it to Google Ads, and choosing between Standard Shopping and Performance Max to drive sales and value.
Exam guide and all 407 Google Ads Shopping questions →Related Google Ads Shopping questions
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