Set up Dynamic Search Ads or Google Display Ads campaign vs. Performance Max experiments

This experiment can help you simulate potential uplift of shifting budget from a Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) or Google Display Ads (GDA) campaign to a comparable Performance Max campaign.

Here is the flow to create the experiment from the Experiments page:

1. Go to Experiments within the Campaigns menu .
2. To create a new experiment, click the plus button , and then select Campaign types.
3. Click Performance Max vs. Search, Shopping, or Display campaign. Select Campaign type (Search, Shopping, or Display) and Continue.
4. Alternatively, you can go to Performance Max experiments, and select the plus button . Select Test vs. campaign type (Search, Shopping, or Display).
5. Click Set up your control campaign.
6. Click Select campaign to choose an existing Search (DSA) or GDA campaign for the experiment.
   • Only campaigns that are eligible for upgrade, running and not in an existing experiment will be available to test.
   • Moreover, campaigns that meet the requirements to reach statistical significance based on historical campaign data, such as spend and conversions, are labeled as “Recommended”.
7. Define the traffic split percentage for "Control" (Search, Shopping, or GDA) and "Treatment" (Performance Max).
8. Set up your treatment campaign:
   • For upgrade eligible control campaigns, you can only Create new campaign, like build a new Performance Max campaign as the treatment arm.
     • You will be taken to a migration flow, where you need to review assets, budget and bidding.
     • Completing the previous step should enable the "Create experiment’" button at the bottom.
9. Click Next.
10. Click the “Start date” and “End date” drop-down to select the start date and end date accordingly.
11. Under the "Success metrics" section, the default metric will be chosen based on your experiment’s campaign. You can select an additional success metric from the “Optional” dropdown list.
12. In the “Auto-apply settings” section, toggle on to ”Apply experiment changes to your campaign if the treatment arm wins”.
    • Note: With auto-apply turned off, your treatment arm will be paused.
13. To rename your experiment, click on the “Experiment name” field.
14. Click Schedule.

Related links

• About the Experiments page (formerly Drafts and experiments)
• About Performance Max experiments
• Experiments FAQs