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Campaign overlap

Campaign overlap is a setup in which one product or search can be served by several of your campaigns or asset groups, which split its clicks and conversions.

How it works

Overlap appears when one product sits in two Performance Max campaigns, in two asset groups of one campaign, or in Performance Max and Standard Shopping. It can start with a listing group that still includes all products.

For each search, one campaign from your account enters the auction. A Search campaign with an exact-match keyword identical to the query goes ahead of Performance Max; otherwise the higher Ad Rank usually serves.

The cost of overlap is in the data. The product’s clicks and conversions are spread across campaigns, so each bid strategy learns from its share only and each campaign report shows part of its sales. Inside one campaign, overlapping asset groups blur the asset group report; Google recommends that each asset group target different products. Finding and removing overlap is covered in the same product in two Performance Max campaigns.

Where you see it

In the portal, the Structure section shows overlap as a share of spend: the part that goes to products serving from two or more campaigns of the same shop at once.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop has one frying pan in three places: the Performance Max campaigns “Cookware” and “Bestsellers”, and a Standard Shopping campaign. In a month the pan gets 18 orders, split 3, 5 and 10 between them. “Cookware” learns from 3 orders of a product that sold 18.

Not to be confused with

  • Product cannibalisation — a new product takes sales from an old one. It splits buyers; overlap splits data.
  • Channel cannibalisation — your site, marketplace listings or a second store compete for the same buyer. Overlap happens inside one ad account.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “Two campaigns with the same product push my cost per click up.” Right: one campaign from your account serves each search; the cost of overlap is split data.

Sources