After running Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns for Dudla Farms for several months, the team decided in the February 25, 2026 weekly call to begin migrating key product campaigns from PMAX to dedicated Search campaigns. The rationale: PMAX is useful for gathering data early, but once sufficient signal exists, Search campaigns offer more control and less wasted spend.
This migration is part of a broader effort to improve Google Ads efficiency for Dudla Farms, alongside a [1] and new [2] ad initiatives.
At the time of the decision, Dudla Farms' Google Ads setup consisted of:
Performance trends were positive — 59 conversions in January, steadily increasing month-over-month — but the campaigns were flagged as "Limited by Target" (CPA target too low relative to actual CPA), and overall spend was running ~$900 under the monthly budget. Website sales in February were flat MoM (~$8.6k) despite being up 90% YoY, suggesting a growth ceiling under the current structure.
"These PMAX, they're nice to figure stuff out. But once you figure it out, there's a lot of waste in a PMAX ad."
— Mark Hope, 2026-02-25 call
PMAX campaigns are intentionally broad: they allocate budget across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps simultaneously. This breadth is valuable during the data-gathering phase but introduces inefficiency once you know which placements and queries convert. Migrating to Search campaigns allows:
The team noted that Shopping ads had been attempted previously but underperformed due to insufficient data and low impressions. With more historical data now available, Search campaigns are considered viable where Shopping was not.
| Product | Campaign Type | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Popcorn | Search (new) | Planned — Gilbert to build |
| Black Beans | Search (new) | Planned — Gilbert to build |
| Cornmeal | Search (new) | Planned — Gilbert to build |
Gilbert indicated he would start with popcorn first, then build out black beans and cornmeal.
Once Search campaigns are live and accumulating data, the corresponding PMAX campaigns are to be paused (not deleted, to preserve historical data). The remarketing campaign is to be left running — it is cheap, generates impressions, and serves a brand recall function even without strong direct conversion numbers.
During the call, Google flagged the Black Beans PMAX campaign as limited by its $16.98 CPA target and recommended raising it to $21. The team explicitly rejected this:
"That sounds crazy to me… $21, I mean, that's the price of the product, right? Your ad cost would be equal to the revenue."
— Mark Hope
This is an important guardrail: CPA targets must be evaluated against product margin, not just Google's algorithmic recommendations. A CPA at or near the product's retail price leaves no room for COGS, fulfillment, or overhead.
This migration reflects a broader best practice in paid search: use PMAX to discover, use Search to scale. PMAX is an effective tool for generating signal when you don't yet know which queries, audiences, or placements convert. Once that data exists (typically 3–9 months in), migrating proven product lines to Search campaigns reduces waste and improves margin efficiency. The Dudla Farms case is a concrete example of this lifecycle in action.