Performance Max: Google Ads Campaigns Built for Maximum Performance
One campaign that runs across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. We give the algorithm the right data and guardrails so it finds new customers instead of cannibalizing your brand.
- Funnel stageSales
- Setupfrom ₴24,000
- Managementfrom ₴12,000/mo
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Search -
YouTube - Display
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Gmail - Discover
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Maps - Shopping
Where your ads appear
Text ads for queries that don't have an identical keyword in an active Search campaign, as well as within search themes.
Product ads with a photo and price in Search, on the Shopping tab and in Images, if a Google Merchant Center feed is linked to the campaign.
Video ads before, during and next to videos, in Shorts and in YouTube search.
Responsive display ads on Google partner sites and apps, including ads that bring back visitors who didn't complete a purchase.
The recommendation feed in the Google app and on the mobile search page: ads appear between the content people scroll through.
Ads in the Promotions and Social tabs of the inbox, in a format that looks like a regular email.
Ads with your address and directions for people nearby, when your Google Business Profile is linked or location assets are added.
Performance Max explained in 40 seconds
Asset group
- Headlines & descriptions
- Images & logos
- Video
- Product feed
- Audience signals
Performance Max: the essentials
Performance Max is a campaign type in which Google decides who sees which ad and where, in order to hit your conversion goal. You provide assets (copy, images, videos, logos), a product feed, audience signals and a budget, and the system allocates impressions in real time across Search, Shopping, YouTube, the Display Network, Discover, Gmail and Maps.
PMax's strength is reach and automation; its weakness is that the algorithm optimizes for exactly what you've marked as a conversion. Without clean tracking, conversion values and guardrails, the campaign easily “earns” its results on brand queries and remarketing you would have gotten anyway. That's why we always run PMax as a package: enhanced conversions, negative keywords and brand exclusions, a new customer acquisition goal, and a weekly review of the channel and search terms reports.
How it works under the hood
- 01
Conversion goals and values
We choose what the campaign should deliver: a purchase, a qualified lead, a call or a store visit. We assign a value to each action. This is the only thing the algorithm knows about your business.
- 02
Assets, feed and signals
Asset groups contain copy, images, videos, search themes and audience signals, and the feed adds your products. Signals only suggest where to start looking; they don't limit reach.
- 03
Cross-channel allocation
In every auction, Google predicts the likelihood and value of a conversion and decides where and in which format to show up: in Search, Shopping, on YouTube or in Gmail.
- 04
Learning and adjustment
The campaign learns for several weeks. We analyze channels, search terms and asset groups, add negative keywords, replace weak assets and adjust targets.
When to use Performance Max
Online stores with a product feed
PMax with a Merchant Center feed is the core e-commerce tool: products show in Shopping, on YouTube, on the Display Network and in Gmail, and bids factor in the value of each order.
Businesses with a clear conversion value
When you know how much an order or lead is worth and pass that to Google Ads, PMax optimizes for revenue, not for the number of actions.
Scaling once Search is stable
Your Search campaigns already capture the core high-intent queries, and the budget is ready to grow. PMax finds additional demand in other Google channels.
New customer acquisition
With the new customer acquisition goal and Customer Match lists, the campaign bids higher for people who haven't bought from you yet, or shows ads only to them.
Local businesses with in-store visits
With a linked Google Business Profile and local action goals (directions, calls), PMax shows your address in Maps and Search to people nearby.
Lead generation with CRM data
For services and B2B, PMax works when deal statuses from your CRM flow back into Google Ads. Without that, the campaign quickly learns to collect cheap, unqualified leads.
Ad formats and their anatomy
Asset groups
A set of copy (headlines, long headlines, descriptions), images in multiple aspect ratios, logos and videos built around one theme, audience or product category. Google assembles ads from them for each channel.
Audience signals
Your data (website visitors, customers via Customer Match), custom segments based on search terms and websites, and interests. It's a starting point, not targeting: the campaign can also reach people outside the signals.
Search themes
Phrases that tell PMax which queries to show you for in Search. They have the same priority as phrase and broad match keywords in Search campaigns.
PMax with and without a feed
With a Merchant Center feed, the campaign shows products with prices and photos, which is the e-commerce option. Without a feed, PMax works as a multichannel campaign for leads, calls or visits, and success depends on copy, creatives and landing pages.
Video and auto-generation
If you don't upload your own video, Google may generate one from your images and copy. These videos are usually weak, so we add short horizontal and vertical videos for YouTube and Shorts.
Final URL expansion
Google can send traffic to other pages on your site if it considers them more relevant. We keep it on for broad catalogs but exclude utility, informational and irrelevant URLs.
What we set up in the campaign: 11 steps
No templates: we adapt every item to your niche, margins and goals. Here’s what our launch checklist looks like.
- 01 Conversion and value audit Enhanced conversions, Consent Mode v2, deduplication with GA4, and separating primary and secondary actions. For e-commerce, revenue from every order; for lead gen, offline conversion import from your CRM with deal value.
- 02 Campaign-level goals We keep only the conversion goals in PMax that truly mean money. Short calls, page views and add-to-carts have no business training the algorithm as primary actions.
- 03 Campaign and asset group structure We split by categories with different margins, by product segments via custom labels or by services. Each asset group targets its own audience with its own messaging, not a copy of another one with different images.
- 04 Audience signals We build custom segments from search terms and competitor websites, Customer Match lists and visitors to key pages. Signals set the direction, not the limits.
- 05 Search themes We add the phrases the campaign should use to find your customers in Search, especially new and long-tail queries not covered by your Search campaigns.
- 06 Campaign-level negative keywords We attach shared negative keyword lists: “free,” “jobs,” “used” and irrelevant categories. They apply to Search and Shopping inventory within PMax.
- 07 Brand exclusions We exclude your own brand from PMax when a separate Search campaign covers it, so PMax doesn't take credit for brand sales.
- 08 Final URL expansion and exclusions We decide whether to enable final URL expansion. If we do, we exclude the blog, careers, cart, account area, contact page and other pages that shouldn't receive ad traffic.
- 09 Creatives for every channel Images in landscape, square and portrait formats, logos, and original videos for YouTube and Shorts. We write copy with distinct arguments, not variations of the same sentence.
- 10 New customer acquisition goal We upload your customer list via Customer Match and choose the mode: bid higher for new customers or show ads only to new customers, depending on your budget and business model.
- 11 Brand safety We set up account-level placement and content exclusions so ads don't appear in low-quality apps or next to unwanted content.
The mistakes we find most often
If your ads are already running, let’s start with an audit. Here’s what usually eats up the budget in this campaign type.
PMax cannibalizes your brand
Without brand exclusions, some PMax “conversions” are brand queries and returning customers. ROAS looks great, but there are no new sales. We exclude the brand and hand brand queries to an exact match Search campaign.
Optimizing for the wrong conversions
The campaign's goals use a phone number click, a contact page view or an add-to-cart as the primary action. The algorithm finds the cheapest way to get them, and that's rarely buyers.
One asset group for the entire catalog
All products and audiences sit in one group with generic copy. The algorithm spends the budget on a few bestsellers, and the rest of the catalog barely gets impressions.
Treating audience signals as targeting
Expecting that only people from the signals will see the ads. In reality, signals are a starting point; reach is controlled by negative keywords, brand and URL exclusions and well-chosen goals.
Nobody looks at the channel and search terms reports
The channel performance report shows where the budget goes (Search, Shopping, YouTube or Display), and the search terms report shows what people find you for. Without them, PMax is a black box.
Auto-generated video and weak creatives
Without your own videos and quality images, Google generates videos itself, and your YouTube ads look cheap. That hurts both performance and brand perception.
What we track
- ROAS and conversion value For e-commerce, what matters most is how much revenue each hryvnia of ad spend brings in. We set the return target with margin in mind, not just revenue.
- New customer share The new customer acquisition report shows how many purchases came from new people, not from those who would have bought from you without ads.
- Performance by channel Spend, conversions and value across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps show what's actually driving results.
- Search terms and brand share We analyze the search terms report and search category insights: how much traffic is branded, how much is new and which queries should become negative keywords.
- Asset group and asset performance We compare asset groups against each other and replace copy, images and videos that consistently underperform.
- Spend on products with no sales In feed-based campaigns, we track which products spend budget without generating sales and move them into separate segments with a different target.
Bid strategies
Where this campaign type works especially well
Full-service Performance Max: what it costs
You pay the ad budget directly to Google. Our fee is fixed — no percentage of spend below the Scale plan.
Questions and answers: Performance Max
Didn’t find your answer? Ask us directly — we’ll advise for free.
Does Performance Max compete with our Search campaigns?
It can. If a query is identical to an exact match keyword in an active Search campaign, the Search campaign takes priority. PMax search themes have the same priority as phrase and broad match, and in all other cases Google compares Ad Rank. That's why we separate their roles: brand and core queries go to Search, while PMax expands reach.
Can we add negative keywords to Performance Max?
Yes. PMax supports campaign-level negative keywords, shared negative keyword lists and brand exclusions. They apply to Search and Shopping inventory. For YouTube and Display, we use account-level placement and content exclusions.
How long does Performance Max take to learn?
In the first weeks, the campaign tests channels, audiences and assets, and results may fluctuate. It should be evaluated once it has accumulated conversions, taking the length of your sales cycle into account. During this period, we avoid sharp changes to budgets and targets so we don't restart the learning.
Is Performance Max a good fit for services rather than products?
Yes, in the version without a feed: for calls, leads and visits. But here it's critical to pass lead quality back to Google Ads, with CRM statuses imported as offline conversions. Otherwise, the campaign will learn to bring in lots of cheap leads that never become customers.
How does the new customer acquisition goal work?
It's a setting that makes PMax bid higher for people who haven't bought from you yet, or show ads only to them. To tell new customers from existing ones, Google uses Customer Match lists and tag data. It makes sense when the goal is growing your customer base, not repeat sales.
Can we see where PMax ads are shown?
Far more than when this campaign type first launched. There's a channel performance report, a search terms report, and data by asset group, individual asset and placement. We review this data weekly and show you exactly where the budget goes.
We’ll launch your campaign right from day one
Leave your contact — a specialist will review your ads or website and prepare a short breakdown with concrete next steps. No obligations, no hard selling.
- 01 A short call or chat We clarify your niche, goals and what you’ve already tried.
- 02 Ads and website review We check the account (read-only access), tracking and landing pages.
- 03 Action plan You get a list of issues and priorities — even if you don’t work with us.
We reply within 1 business day