Google Ads campaign types and Performance Max reporting

Which campaign types you can report on

DashThis supports every Google Ads campaign type (Advertising Channel): Demand Gen (formerly Discovery), Display, Hotel, Local, Local Services, Multi-Channel (App campaigns), Performance Max, Search, Shopping, Smart (legacy Smart campaigns), Travel, and Video.

To focus a widget on one campaign type, add a Campaign Advertising Channel filter and pick the type you want. Without a filter, every campaign type appears.

To compare campaign types side by side, break your widget down by the Campaign Type dimension instead. Each campaign type gets its own row.

Local Services Ads

Local Services as a Google Ads advertising channel: if your Google Ads account runs Local Services campaigns, that data comes in through the Google Ads integration like any other channel, with the usual metrics such as impressions, clicks, cost, and conversions. This is available in DashThis.
To see only your Local Services campaigns and ads, add a Campaign Advertising Channel filter and pick Local Services.
Reporting on your Local Services leads: DashThis also reads your Local Services leads directly, with their own metrics (Leads, Charged Leads, Phone Leads, Message Leads and Conversations) and their own dimensions (Lead Type, Service Category and Charge Status). You will find them grouped under Leads in the widget editor.
Lead widgets accept four breakdowns. Use a lead metric on its own as a single total, or break it down by Date, Lead Type, Service Category or Charge Status. Any other dimension returns an error.
Conversations needs its own widget. It comes from a different Google Ads report again, so it works only as a single total. It cannot be broken down by any dimension, and it cannot sit in the same widget as the other lead metrics.

Reporting on Performance Max campaigns

At the moment, DashThis does not report on the video assets inside a Performance Max campaign on their own. You can report on a Performance Max campaign as a whole, and break it down by Asset Group, by Performance Max Search Term, or with the Performance Max Placement dimensions, which show where your ads appeared, such as YouTube channels.

Asset Group

The Asset Group filter only works on widgets that use the Asset Group dimension. If you add it to a widget with another dimension, or with no dimension, Google Ads rejects the request and the widget shows an error. To compare asset groups, for example two asset groups in the same campaign, create a widget with Asset Group as its dimension: each asset group gets its own row. Then use the Asset Group filter to keep only the asset groups you want to show.

The Asset Group Ad Strength dimension groups your asset groups by their Ad Strength rating, such as Excellent, Good or Poor. Google only returns today's rating, so past periods are grouped under the rating your asset groups have now, not the one they had at the time.

Performance Max Search Term

The Performance Max Search Term dimension shows the searches that triggered your Performance Max ads. Google hides search terms with low volume, so the total of its rows can be lower than the campaign's total. It works with campaign, device, ad network and conversion filters. Other filters, such as Ad Group, Keyword or Label, cannot be used with it: the widget shows a message saying the metrics, dimension and filters cannot be used together.

What is not available

Video assets: the Video advertising channel in DashThis reports on standalone Video campaigns, such as YouTube, not on the video assets running inside a Performance Max campaign.
Demographics: Google does not return age or gender demographics for Performance Max campaigns.

DashThis is expanding its Performance Max reporting, and more detailed data on these campaigns is coming. This article will be updated as new breakdowns become available.

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