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PERFORMANCE MAX · パフォーマンスマックス
Google's algorithm in Japan responds to Japanese-language creative, properly engineered Shopping product titles, and YouTube Japan audience signals. Campaigns built in English and localised superficially do not perform at the same level as campaigns built natively in Japanese from the asset group up.
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/ This is for you if
International Brands Entering the Japanese Market
Japanese E-commerce and Retail Businesses
Japanese Advertisers with High YouTube Japan Exposure
/ What's broken
Google's algorithm in Japan is trained on Japanese-language signals. Asset groups with English headlines and descriptions underperform against Japanese-native creative in auction against local competitors. The language of your asset groups is not a cosmetic choice — it affects how the algorithm scores and distributes your ads across placements.
The Shopping component of PMax in Japan relies heavily on product title relevance for matching. Japanese product titles need to be engineered with the appropriate noun-first structures, kanji and kana balance, and category terminology that Japanese shoppers use in search queries. Direct translation of English product titles frequently misses these conventions and reduces match quality.
PMax will attempt to run on YouTube Japan even without dedicated video assets, using auto-generated creatives from your image and text assets. These auto-generated videos underperform against purposefully produced Japanese-language video. Without native-language video assets, your campaign is missing a large share of Japan's highest-reach digital channel.
The same structural problems that affect PMax globally apply equally in Japan: no brand exclusions means the campaign measures its own brand searches as conversions, and default audience signals mean the algorithm explores broadly rather than focusing on your verified buyer profile. For Japan specifically, audience signals should incorporate Japanese user behaviour data, not just globally averaged interest categories.
/ What we engineer
Each workstream is built by the team that audits it, and wired into the rest of your growth system.
We audit every conversion event in your account: Google Ads tags, GA4 imports, and any server-side configurations. For Japanese e-commerce, we specifically check that purchase value is being passed correctly in JPY without currency formatting errors that corrupt the data. The audit is completed within five days and documented in full before any rebuild begins.
We build asset groups with native Japanese headlines and descriptions — not translated from English but written by Japanese-language copywriters for the specific product category or service line. Each asset group is structured around a distinct audience and intent cluster, with separate groups for Japanese-language and any secondary English-language targeting where relevant.
We re-engineer your product feed titles for the Japanese market, applying noun-structure conventions, appropriate kanji/kana usage, and category-specific terminology. This is a distinct deliverable from the asset group build — the Shopping feed and the asset group creative are separate inputs that both need to be correct for the Shopping component of PMax to perform.
We build audience signals that reflect Japanese user behaviour patterns, incorporating CRM customer match data and category-level interest segments relevant to the Japanese market. Where video assets exist, we review them for Japanese-language and cultural alignment. Where they do not exist, we advise on the minimum viable video production brief.
We implement brand exclusion lists, structure any separate Search campaigns to protect branded Japanese-language queries, and build a reporting framework that separates PMax's new-customer contribution from brand and retargeting activity. All reporting documentation is provided in both English and Japanese.
/ What changes
/ Common questions
Straight answers on scope, timelines and cost. Anything else, ask us directly.
Ask us directlyYes. Japanese-language asset groups should be built as separate campaigns or asset groups from other market campaigns, not as an additional language layer within a global campaign. Mixing Japanese and English asset groups within a single campaign dilutes the language signal the algorithm uses for auction matching in Japan. The Google Shopping component also requires a dedicated Japanese-language product feed.
YouTube reach in Japan is among the highest of any market globally — a significant share of the Japanese population uses YouTube regularly. PMax campaigns that include well-produced Japanese-language video assets consistently outperform those that rely on auto-generated video creatives in this market. If you are running PMax in Japan without native video assets, you are effectively absent from one of the highest-reach placements in the campaign.
Japanese product titles for Google Shopping need to follow noun-first sentence structures, use appropriate kanji and hiragana combinations that match how Japanese shoppers actually search, and include the correct category-specific terminology for your product type. Titles that are direct translations of English originals frequently miss these conventions. The result is a lower match rate between your listings and Japanese search queries, which reduces the Shopping component's contribution to overall PMax performance.
Audience signals in Japan work the same way as in other markets — they are uploaded as customer match lists or interest-based segments that tell the algorithm what your buyers look like. The important Japan-specific consideration is that these signals should be built from Japanese market data, not from a global customer list. Japanese buyer behaviour, purchase cycle length, and category affinities can differ significantly from other markets, and the signals should reflect your actual Japan-market customers.
PMax requires a minimum volume of weekly conversions to exit the learning phase and stabilise. As a general guide, campaigns targeting Japan should aim for at least 30–50 conversions per week for the algorithm to operate predictably. Below this threshold, performance tends to be erratic and the campaign takes significantly longer to learn. Budget requirements vary by category and CPA, and we assess this during the audit to give you a specific recommendation for your account.
Start here
Japanese-language asset groups, engineered Shopping product titles, and YouTube Japan audience signals are not optional additions to a standard PMax build — they are the foundation of a campaign that can perform in this market. The five-day audit identifies exactly what is missing and produces a concrete rebuild plan. There is no retainer and no obligation beyond the audit.
5-day turnaround · PMax audit + signal review · No retainer requiredIgnited Nepal
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