Performance Max Competitor Playbook: Reach Your Rival’s Shoppers (Without Breaking the Rules)

Can you “target people who visited a specific competitor website” in Google Ads? Not directly. But you can steer Performance Max to find shoppers who look a lot like your competitor’s visitors—using audience signals built from competitor keywords and URLs, plus tight creative and aligned landing pages.

Below is a Dubai-tuned playbook you can ship this week.

1) What You Can (and Can’t) Do

You can’t hard-target “visitors of example-competitor.com.” You can add audience signals—custom segments with competitor brand terms and URLs—so PMax hunts people with similar intent. Think of it as legal conquesting guided by signals, not a list of their users.

Action:

• Create a dedicated PMax: Competitor Capture campaign (goal = Sales/Leads).

2) Campaign Structure for the UAE

Separate your “Competitor Capture” from brand/generic to protect budgets and learnings.

Action:

• Campaign: PMax_Competitor_DXB_Sales

• Asset Groups:

  • AG_CompetitorA

  • AG_CompetitorB

  • (Optional) AG_CategoryAlternatives for “why switch” angles

• Budgets: Start modest (e.g., 20–30% of non-brand Search spend).

3) Audience Signals That Work

Signals don’t restrict; they guide. Keep them clean and themed.

Action:

• Custom segment (Keywords): competitor brand, brand + product, brand + Dubai (e.g., CompetitorName, CompetitorName cleaning, CompetitorName Dubai prices).

• Custom segment (URLs): competitor homepage, pricing, category URLs (add 5–15 top pages per competitor).

• First-party: your Customer Match lists and site remarketing (as extra signals).

• Demographics/affinity: only if they’re truly predictive (e.g., “Home Improvers” for cleaning).

4) Creative That Converts (and Stays Policy-Safe)

Conquesting clicks are skeptical. Win them with specific, comparison-friendly benefits—no trademark misuse or misleading claims.

Action (examples):

• Headlines: “Same-Day Cleaning in Dubai”, “Transparent AED Pricing”, “No Surprise Fees”

• Descriptions: “Book in 60s. 24/7 support. Vetted cleaners.”

• Extensions: Sitelinks (Pricing, Areas We Serve, Book Now, Reviews), Callouts (Same-Day, 24/7), Structured Snippets (Services: Deep, Move-In, Sofa)

5) Landing Pages: Message Match

Send traffic to pages that answer the switcher’s doubts immediately.

Action:

• Above the fold: your strongest reason to switch, social proof, AED pricing/offer.

• Keep pages fast (CWV) with visible WhatsApp/call actions.

• Ensure copy and offer align tightly with your ads (no auto-redirect surprises).

6) Final URL Expansion (Control It)

PMax can wander to other URLs. That’s powerful—but risky for conquesting.

Action:

• Start with Final URL expansion ON, but add URL Exclusions for pages you don’t want tested (blog, careers, low-intent).

• If it drifts, turn expansion OFF temporarily and whitelist only the best LPs.

7) Brand Exclusions & Negatives

Protect your brand budget and keep conquesting clean.

Action:

• Brand Exclusions: Add your own brand so PMax doesn’t cannibalize brand clicks inside this campaign.

• Account-level negatives: junk terms (free, jobs, pdf, how to, course).

• Competitor brand negatives? Not here—you’re trying to capture that intent.

8) Search Themes (Optional Nudge)

Give PMax extra hints on the search it should chase.

Action:

• Add 5–10 search themes per asset group: competitor brand + product/category.

• Keep themes aligned to your audience signals and creative.

9) Bidding & Budgets

Conquesting CPCs are higher. Let automation learn—but set guardrails.

Action:

• Start with Maximize Conversions/Value (no target) for 7–14 days.

• Add a tCPA/tROAS once you see stable CPAs/values.

• Use Value Rules for high-value Dubai leads (e.g., WhatsApp chats from UAE = +30%).

10) Measurement: Know If It’s Incremental

Don’t judge conquesting on CTR alone—judge it on net new leads/sales.

Action:

• Track micro-conversions (scroll, form start, WhatsApp clicks) but optimize to primary conversions.

• Use Segments/Reports: search categories, audience insights, asset group performance by competitor cluster.

• Compare against a generic PMax or non-brand Search baseline.

11) 4-Week Rollout Plan

Week 1 – Build

• Campaign + competitor-themed asset groups.

• Audience signals (keywords + URLs), search themes, brand exclusion, negatives.

• Best-match landing pages live.

Week 2 – Launch

• Bidding = Maximize Conversions/Value.

• Daily checks: placements, assets, search categories.

Week 3 – Optimise

• Pause weak asset groups; add fresh creatives.

• Tighten URL expansion or exclusions if quality drifts.

• Add sitelinks/extensions that echo “switch” benefits.

Week 4 – Scale

• Set tCPA/tROAS targets.

• Shift budget to the best competitor cluster.

• Test an offer (“Same-day + 10% off first clean”).

12) FAQs

Q1: Are we really targeting competitor site visitors?
No. You’re signaling similar intent via competitor keywords and URLs. PMax uses those signals to find lookalike intent at scale.

Q2: Is conquesting allowed?
Yes—if you respect trademarks and avoid misleading comparisons. Focus on your value, not their brand wording.

Q3: Should I split by competitor or keep one campaign?
If spend and messaging differ by competitor, create separate asset groups (or campaigns) per competitor. Otherwise, one campaign with clear asset-group clusters works well.

Q4: Broad vs Phrase—does it matter in PMax?
PMax doesn’t use match types like Search. Your control levers are audience signals, search themes, assets, and landing pages. Keep any Search conquesting in Phrase/Exact; let PMax handle discovery.

Final Thoughts: Smart Signals, Strong Creatives

Competitor conquesting in the UAE isn’t about stalking their visitors; it’s about meeting the same intent with sharper offers, clear message match, and faster pages. Feed PMax clean signals, protect your brand, and let the system find you switchers at a sane CPA.

Not sure where to start? I can build this as a ready-to-import setup with competitor audience signals, URL rules, and a 4-week test plan.