Paid Search
Performance Max
Performance Max is a goal-based Google Ads campaign type that serves across all of Google's inventory, including Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps, from a single campaign using automation.
You provide assets, audiences, and a goal, and Google optimises placement and bidding toward conversions. It can expand reach efficiently but offers less granular control and visibility than manual campaigns. It works best with strong conversion data and quality creative assets.
Reporting visibility has improved but remains thinner than standard campaigns, so a few controls matter more than they otherwise would. Brand exclusions prevent the campaign from claiming credit for searches that would have converted anyway. Asset group structure should reflect real product or service divisions. One group holding everything averages performance across offers with very different margins. Audience signals are a starting hint, not targeting, and treating them as targeting leads to disappointment. The search terms report, limited as it is, still shows enough to catch a campaign drifting into irrelevant queries.
Example
A retailer's PMax reports 6x ROAS. Search-term insight shows 41% of conversions came from queries containing the brand name: demand that existing brand campaigns already captured for less. After adding the brand as an account-level negative, PMax resets to 3.1x, its honest contribution, and budget decisions stop being made on credit the campaign was taking for arrivals already inbound.
Frequently asked questions
- Should I use Performance Max?
- It works well when you already have reliable conversion tracking and enough volume for the algorithm to learn, particularly for e-commerce with a product feed. Launching it on a new account with weak tracking usually just spends budget while the system guesses.
- How do I stop Performance Max cannibalising my brand search?
- Add brand terms as account-level negatives on the Performance Max campaign where your account allows it, and keep a dedicated brand Search campaign. Otherwise Performance Max absorbs cheap brand clicks and reports them as its own success.
Related terms
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