Smart Shopping and Local Campaigns upgrading to Performance Max

Starting July 2022, existing and future Smart Shopping campaigns (SSC) will begin automatic upgrades to Performance Max campaigns. Local campaigns (LC) will begin automatic upgrades starting August 2022. If you manage and/or report on SSC and/or LC, you should implement Performance Max campaign features as early as possible in order to avoid loss of functionality. Closer to July, we will provide more details and precise timing.

We recommend you begin to build integrations now to ensure adequate preparation for migration.

New retail and local campaigns

Performance Max has been available in the Google Ads API since v9. We recommend you use Performance Max today for any new campaigns with online, offline or omnichannel sales goals.

SSC can be created without conversion tracking. While Performance Max campaigns, including retail, do not require conversion tracking, it is highly recommended.

Ways to upgrade

Here are the ways you will be able to upgrade existing campaigns to Performance Max:

• [Recommended] Self-upgrade through API recommendations. In an upcoming Google Ads API release later this year, a new recommendation type will be available for per-campaign or bulk upgrades. You can use this to control the sequence of campaign upgrades or apply all recommendations at one time. There will be equivalent upgrade options available in the Google Ads UI. Self- and auto-upgraded campaigns will carry forward some learnings from the legacy campaign to help ensure continuity.
• Auto-upgrade. Starting July 2022, SSC will be auto-upgraded to Performance Max on a rolling basis. Starting August 2022, LC will be auto-upgraded on a rolling basis.
• Create a new Performance Max campaign through the API. This would involve creating a new Performance Max campaign with the same attributes and properties as an existing SSC or LC. Should you choose to create a new Performance Max campaign, the new campaign may not utilize the learnings of the existing SSC or LC to the same extent.

Upgrade impact on existing campaigns

An upgraded campaign, whether by self-upgrade or auto-upgrade, will:

• Preserve budgets, assets, and settings of the existing SSC and LC
• Mark the legacy campaign as REMOVED status (metrics will continue to be available in the legacy campaign for historical purposes)
• Contain a mapping from the previous campaign ID to the new campaign ID

Upgraded campaigns will function like your previous campaigns and use existing assets to run on additional inventory that drives your conversion goals. We recommend adding additional assets to get the most value out of Performance Max.

Timeline

Date	Event
Now	Start implementing Performance Max in your application. When possible, start new campaigns with Performance Max instead of SSC or LC.
April 27, 2022	Sunset of AdWords API
April 2022	Self-upgrade period begins in the UI
April / May 2022	Self-upgrade period begins with the API's new recommendation type
July 2022	Start of SSC auto-upgrade
August 2022	Start of LC auto-upgrade
September 30, 2022	Completion of most SSC and LC auto-upgrades

Guidance for AdWords API developers

The AdWords API will sunset on April 27, 2022. Developers using SSC via the AdWords API should migrate to the Google Ads API using SSC as early as possible. The self-migration by the Google Ads API will only be available after the sunset of the AdWords API.

Additional information

For additional information, see the Google blog post about this upgrade.
If you have any questions or need additional help, contact us via the forum.

David Wihl, Google Ads API Team