Why should campaigns with different marketing objectives be separated into different Performance Planner plans?

|

Bhupati Barman

Flat-style digital illustration showing a multiple-choice quiz question about separating campaigns in Google Ads Performance Planner, with one correct answer selected.

I was going through some Performance Planner questions (still enjoying chai in my home office ☕), and this one caught my eye. It’s easy to skip, but knowing it helps you predict ad results better. I recently passed my Google Ads certification with a 98%, and now I’m studying each topic with clear explanations.

Question

Why should campaigns with different marketing objectives be separated into different Performance Planner plans?

  • So that seasonal trends can be better identified for each individual marketing objective
  • To avoid any potential keyword duplicates between different marketing objectives
  • To prevent campaigns from becoming “Limited by Budget”
  • So that spend is not reallocated between two different marketing objectives ✅

Correct Answer:

So that spend is not reallocated between two different marketing objectives ✅

If you’re interested, you can take the exam here: Google Ads Display Certification via Skillshop.

Why This Is Correct:

When using Google Ads Performance Planner, the tool tries to maximize results by reallocating budget to the campaigns that are expected to perform best. If you include campaigns with different goals (like one focused on conversions and another on awareness) in the same plan, Google might shift the budget from one to another.

That’s bad news if you want to protect your specific goals.

📌 Separating campaigns by objective helps:

  • Maintain each campaign’s focus
  • Prevent unwanted budget shifts
  • Get more accurate, goal-based forecasts
  • Improve performance consistency

Visual Chart:

OptionCorrect?Explanation
Seasonal trends can be better identified❌Trends are already included in forecasts automatically
Avoid keyword duplicates❌Performance Planner doesn’t optimize based on keyword overlap
Prevent “Limited by Budget”❌Budget caps are managed in individual campaign settings
Spend is not reallocated between objectives✅Ensures budgets stay aligned with specific goals

Why the Other Options Are Incorrect:

Horizontal bar chart showing four possible reasons for separating campaigns in Google Ads Performance Planner, with only one marked as correct.
This chart illustrates that the correct reason to separate campaigns in Performance Planner is to avoid budget reallocation between different marketing objectives.

❌ Seasonal trends can be better identified for each individual marketing objective

At first glance, this sounds logical — after all, different products or services may behave differently during seasonal peaks. But Performance Planner already includes seasonality adjustments in its forecasting algorithm. It uses historical campaign performance data, market trends, and industry behavior to factor in seasonal variations — whether your campaigns are grouped or not.

👉 Bottom Line:
Splitting campaigns doesn’t make seasonal trends more visible — Google handles this automatically in the background.

❌ To avoid any potential keyword duplicates between different marketing objectives

This is a common misunderstanding. Keyword duplication is more of a concern when managing targeting and quality score, not when planning budget allocation with Performance Planner.

Performance Planner is not affected by keyword overlap. It doesn’t make decisions based on keyword similarity — it optimizes based on:

  • Spend
  • Forecasted conversions or other results
  • Bid strategy
  • Budget reallocation potential

👉 Bottom Line:
Keyword duplicates aren’t relevant to why you’d separate campaigns in Planner.

❌ To prevent campaigns from becoming “Limited by Budget”

“Limited by budget” is a campaign-level status that happens when your daily budget is too low to show your ads as often as you’d like. This issue has nothing to do with whether your campaigns are in the same Performance Planner plan or not.

You can have a “Limited by Budget” warning whether a campaign is in a separate plan or grouped with others. What helps solve this is:

👉 Bottom Line:
Separating plans doesn’t solve budget limitations. That’s a budgeting and bidding issue.

Real-World Example:

Sarah runs two campaigns:

  • One for holiday gift sales (focused on conversions)
  • Another for brand awareness during the festive season

If she puts both in the same Performance Planner plan, the tool might move budget toward the conversions campaign — even though her CEO wants to build brand visibility, too. By splitting them, Sarah ensures both get the focus and budget they need.

Helpful Resources:

FAQs

Q1: Can I use one plan for all my campaigns?

You can, but it’s not advised if the campaigns serve different marketing goals.

Q2: What kinds of objectives should be separated?

Separate campaigns for conversions, awareness, lead gen, and traffic to avoid misaligned recommendations.

Q3: Will separating plans affect recommendations?

Yes — each plan will provide more accurate, tailored forecasts without shifting budget between goals.

Q4: Does Performance Planner shift budget automatically?

Yes. It aims to allocate budget where performance is predicted to be best unless campaigns are separated.

Q5: Will separating campaigns improve CPA or ROAS?

It can! Because the recommendations will now be aligned to the campaign’s specific optimization goal.

Q6: Is this only for large accounts?

No — even small accounts benefit from separating plans when objectives differ.

Q7: Does it help with reporting?

Yes, keeping objectives separate helps you analyze what’s working without mixed signals.

Q8: What happens if I forget to split campaigns?

You might end up overfunding one campaign at the expense of another, reducing total effectiveness.

Conclusion

If you want cleaner forecasts, smarter budget allocation, and better control over each campaign’s purpose, always separate campaigns with different marketing objectives in Performance Planner.

This keeps each plan laser-focused, so your brand awareness campaign doesn’t steal from your sales campaign — and vice versa.

Now, if you are ready, you can take the Google Skillshop test for the Google Ads Display Exam. Want more real exam questions with easy answers like this? Follow along — I’ll be breaking down more Google Ads Display Measurement Certification Free examples in the next posts.