Performance Max campaigns that work for you, not just for Google

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max (PMax) is a Google Ads campaign type that runs across all of Google's channels from one campaign: Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. Instead of choosing keywords and placements yourself, you give Google your goals, budget, creative assets and signals, and its AI decides where, when and to whom to show your ads.

How do Performance Max campaigns work?

You create asset groups: sets of headlines, descriptions, images, videos and logos, plus a product feed for ecommerce. Google mixes these into ads for each channel. Smart bidding then sets a bid for every auction to get the most conversions or conversion value within your budget and targets.

Google automatically optimises bids, placements, audiences and the combination of assets shown. What it cannot optimise for you is the quality of what you give it: the conversion data, the assets and the signals.

Does Performance Max use keywords?

Not in the usual way. Performance Max has no keyword lists. Instead you can add search themes to each asset group, which tell Google what your customers search for. Google treats them as guidance, alongside your landing pages, assets and feed. You can also apply negative keywords and brand exclusions to stop ads showing for searches you do not want.

How to add audience signals to Performance Max

Audience signals are suggestions that help Google find the right people faster. In each asset group, add:

• Your data: customer lists and website visitors. These are the strongest signals.
• Custom segments: people who searched for terms related to your business or visited similar websites.
• Interests and demographics: where they clearly match your customers.

Signals are not hard targeting. Google can show ads to people outside them if it predicts they will convert, which is why accurate conversion tracking matters so much.

How to optimize Performance Max campaigns

• Fix conversion goals first. Optimise for real leads or purchases with values, not page views.
• Structure asset groups by theme or product category, each with matching assets and landing pages.
• Provide every asset type, including your own video. Otherwise Google may create one automatically.
• Review insights: search term categories, asset performance, placements and channel reports.
• Exclude your brand where Search already covers it, so results reflect new demand.
• Give it time and budget. Frequent big changes reset learning.

When Performance Max works best

• Ecommerce stores with a healthy Merchant Center feed.
• Lead generation accounts with enough conversions and good lead quality tracking.
• Accounts where Search is already working and you want more reach.

It works less well with weak tracking, very small budgets or poor creative, because the automation has little to learn from.

Performance Max and Search together

Performance Max can show on searches your Search campaigns already cover. When a search exactly matches a keyword in a Search campaign, Search is preferred. We use Search for your most important keywords, where control matters, and Performance Max to find extra demand.

What we monitor

Conversions and value by asset group, search term categories, placement reports, asset performance and the share of results from new customers.