PMax Store Visits: How Your Ecommerce Business Can Dominate Local Ads
Introduction
Looking to dominate local ad listings for your business? Performance Max campaigns have become a primary campaign for many businesses large and small.
A big reason for this is the strong results they are able to generate, and the range of advertising capabilities they offer. But like many Ad products Google offers there are a dizzying amount of options available to advertisers.
What I shall discuss today is the value of Performance Max store visits campaigns for small/medium-sized ecommerce businesses with a handful of brick-and-mortar locations, how they work, and how to structure them effectively for your business.
1. What is a Google Ads Performance Max Store Visits Campaign?
Definition: A campaign type designed to drive foot traffic and sales to physical store locations using Google’s machine learning capabilities
Key features:
- Utilizes all Google platforms (Search, YouTube, Maps, Display, Gmail, etc.) for ad delivery.
- Focuses on offline goals like store visits, calls, and direction clicks.
- Combines ad assets dynamically for optimal performance.
2. How Does It Work?
Setup Process:

- Select “Performance Max” as the campaign type and define store visit goals.
- Link business locations via Google Business Profile or affiliate location extensions.
- Set budget, bidding strategy (e.g., maximize conversions or target ROAS), and ad assets.
Optimization:
- Google AI determines optimal bids, placements, and audience targeting based on inputs.
- For new businesses store visit conversion data value won’t be available right away. Give Google around 4 weeks to calculate this value. In the meantime you can set store visit conversion value:
- Calculation: multiply the in-store purchase rate (the percent of people who buy something when they come in store) by the average order value (the average amount customers spend).
- Important: Ensure that you select dynamic radius targeting around store locations to ensure ads reach nearby users likely to visit. If you select locations manually you will get a warning notification.


3. Campaign Structures to Consider Based on Business Needs
A. Single Location Businesses
- Use one campaign targeting the store’s immediate vicinity.
- Focus on maximizing local foot traffic with a smaller radius targeting strategy.
B. Multi-location Businesses (Up to 5 Locations)
There are two different options available here which should be considered based on existing budget and traffic volume.
Separate Campaigns per Location (High budget/traffic):
- Create individual campaigns for each store.
- Customize ad creatives based on each location’s demographics and competition.
- Radius targeting will be dynamic based on GMB listing, see optimization setup process above.
Unified Campaign for All Locations (Efficiency/lower traffic):
- Combine all locations into one campaign.
- Use asset groups to segment ads by location while maintaining a unified budget.
4. Geographic Targeting Considerations
Dynamic Radius Targeting
Automatically adjusts based on population density, competition, and user behavior.
Presence vs. Interest Targeting
Focus on “Presence: People in or regularly in your included locations” to ensure ads target users physically near the stores rather than those merely interested in the area.
Exclusion Options
Exclude irrelevant areas or zip codes to avoid wasted ad spend and increase relevance, this is recommended size targeting is set at a dynamic level. Always good to monitor where ads are being shown. Add (User location) columns when generating reports inside Google Ads platform.
5. Benefits for Small/Medium-Sized Ecommerce Businesses
Since this is relatively new technology many existing small/medium sized business won’t have adopted these practices yet. Leaving space for you to gain the first mover advantage.
Given the often tighter budgets of smaller businesses this is an efficient use of limited budgets since you are effectively targeting high-intent local users. Where brand awareness is less of an issue.
Simplified management with AI-driven optimization. Due to the automated nature of Performance Max enhanced visibility across multiple Google platforms is achieved with minimal manual input.
6. Best Practices
Upon launch start with “Maximize Conversions” bidding for new accounts to gather data before switching to tCPA or tROAS goals. Always ensure to actively monitor and limit the daily budget first to ensure no overspending occurs.
As well as monitoring spend also regularly review key performance metrics (e.g. store visits, call clicks).
Avoid adding additional or broader geo-targeting layers that could limit reach or dilute campaign focus.

Conclusion
Performance Max campaigns offer businesses a powerful way to optimize local advertising efforts. By leveraging Google’s advanced targeting capabilities and multi-format ad options, these campaigns provide a comprehensive approach to reaching potential customers across Search, Display, YouTube, and Maps.
With Google’s recent improvements to controls and reporting, now is an ideal time to explore Performance Max and unlock its potential for driving store visits and local engagement. Start testing these campaigns today and discover how they can transform your local marketing strategy.
Relevant TSR Posts
- How To Make Google’s Performance Max Work For Ecommerce Brands
- Performance Max for Marketplaces
- Performance Max Campaigns: How To Get Started