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How to Deploy Google Vehicle Listing Ads (VLAs) with the PMax Playbook.

Deploy the PMax VLA playbook to serve a client's Vehicle Listing Ads from their inventory feed.

For automotive, Performance Max is how Vehicle Listing Ads (VLAs) are delivered. VLA is the ad format, PMax is the campaign type that serves it. Right now there is one PMax playbook, the PMax VLA playbook, which runs off the client's inventory feed. This guide walks the deploy. For the big picture on Google in BuyerBridge, start with the Google Tools 101 hub.

💡 Note: The PMax VLA playbook is feed-driven and runs asset-light, so it serves your inventory listings without headlines or descriptions to write. Additional PMax playbooks for specific model lines are planned for the future.

Quick Links

🚧 Before You Get Started

PMax runs on inventory, so a few things must be in place first:

  • The client's Google channel is onboarded, with Google Ads and Merchant Center connected. See How to Onboard a Client's Google Channel.
  • The client's vehicle feed is approved in Merchant Center. PMax will not serve inventory until the feed is approved.
  • A square business logo is on the account. Google requires a logo to run ads, so a PMax campaign will not deploy without one. Logos are set during onboarding.

‼️ The Merchant Center gate: If the feed is not approved yet, the campaign deploys paused and shows an awaiting-approval status. Do not turn it live until inventory is approved.

Step 1: Open the Playbook and Start Deployment

  1. Go to the Google channel for the client.
  2. Select the PMax VLA Playbook.
  3. Click Deploy, then select Google as the platform.

You will move through the deployment as a set of steps shown on the left.

 

Step 2: Set the Budget

Enter a daily budget for the campaign. Keep it high enough to clear Google's learning phase, since very low daily budgets starve a PMax campaign of the data it needs to optimize.

 

Step 3: Name the Campaign

BuyerBridge fills in a default name. Change it if you want it to read a certain way in the client's account.

Step 4: Set the Destination URL

Enter the URL where you want traffic to land. For an inventory campaign, this is usually the dealer's inventory search page.

Step 5: Choose the Product Set

The product set controls which vehicles from the feed this campaign serves. Select the product set you want, for example all inventory, or a narrower set. This is what points the VLAs at the right cars.

 

Step 6: Set Location Targeting

Set where the ads run. You can target by radius around the dealership, and by address, DMA, zip code, or county, and select more than one.

 

Step 7: Review Search Themes and Audiences

BuyerBridge auto-generates the search themes and audience segments for the campaign based on the product set you chose, so you do not have to build them by hand. Review what was generated, then continue.

 

Step 8: Review and Deploy

Do a final check of the budget, campaign name, destination URL, product set, and location, then click Deploy. The campaign deploys paused.

 

What Happens After You Deploy

The campaign sits paused until it is turned live. If the feed is still pending in Merchant Center, it stays paused with an awaiting-approval status rather than going active.

Once it is live, check within a day or two that:

  • Vehicles are approved and serving in Merchant Center
  • The campaign is eligible, not limited
  • Impressions are starting to populate

💡 Note: If vehicles are not showing, check Merchant Center. The most common causes are a feed still pending approval, or vehicles disapproved for missing images or for stock or AI-generated photos that do not represent the actual vehicle.

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