Performance Max
Performance Max needs inputs, not faith.
Asset groups, audience signals, feeds and conversion data treated as controls. PMax is a channel you monitor, not a switch you flip and trust.
A channel with homework
PMax spends what you give it, including your mistakes.
Performance Max can find incremental volume when asset groups are specific, signals are honest, feeds are clean and the conversion action is trustworthy. It can also hide search terms, cannibalise brand and Shop, and optimise to junk events. The work is giving it inputs and reading what it does with them.
How PMax goes opaque
Automation without inputs is just spend.
- One asset group tries to sell every product and every service at once.
- Audience signals are leftover lists with no relationship to the offer.
- The feed is thin, so Shopping inventory inside PMax is guesswork.
- Conversion actions include newsletter signups and page views.
- Nobody reads search-term or placement reports because the UI makes it awkward.
- PMax is treated as a replacement for Search instead of a neighbour with rules.
When PMax earns a seat
Useful after the account already has a spine.
- A retailer with a working Shopping feed that wants additional inventory surfaces without turning Search off.
- A lead-gen account that already has clean conversion actions and enough creative to fill asset groups.
- A team that inherited a PMax campaign and needs to see what it is actually buying.
- A catalogue large enough that asset groups can be split by margin or category.
- A programme that must keep brand Search separate while PMax hunts non-brand demand.
What a controlled PMax build includes
Inputs you can name, and a way to watch them.
The campaign is designed so you can explain where spend went and whether it earned a place beside Search and Shopping.
01
Asset groups with a job
Creative, copy and audience inputs grouped by offer or catalogue slice, not one catch-all set.
02
Signals that mean something
Customer lists, custom segments and URL-based signals chosen because they describe real buyers, not because the field exists.
03
Feed and listing readiness
Product data checked so PMax is not inventing Shopping coverage from empty attributes.
04
Conversion data hygiene
Primary actions, values and brand exclusions agreed before the campaign is asked to scale.
05
Monitoring pack
A reading of search categories, placements, asset performance and overlap with Search and Shopping.
How PMax is introduced
Prove the inputs, then give it budget.
PMax is added when Search or Shopping already has a conversion story. It is not the first campaign in a noisy account.
01
Decide if PMax has a job
The brief states what Search and Shopping already cover, and what incremental surface PMax is allowed to buy.
02
Build asset groups from the offer
Each group gets a merchandising story, creative that can stand alone, and exclusions where brand must stay out.
03
Load signals and feed facts
Lists, custom segments and product attributes are cleaned before the algorithm is asked to learn.
04
Lock the conversion it may chase
Only actions with commercial weight are primary. Secondary events stay visible but do not drive bids.
05
Inspect overlap every cycle
Search terms, brand share and Shopping cannibalisation are reviewed on a cadence, not once at launch.
What we judge
PMax should be explainable.
Spend you can locate
Asset groups and reports show which offer the budget is serving.
Less silent cannibalisation
Brand and Shopping overlap is watched instead of discovered in a quarterly panic.
Learning aimed at real outcomes
The campaign optimises to conversions the business already believes.
A keep-or-cut decision
PMax stays only while it earns a job beside Search and Shopping.
Related work
PMax work is shown when the box can be opened.
We publish Performance Max notes when search-category evidence and client permission allow. The Work index holds what is already cleared.
Published case studies will appear here when they are cleared.
Related services
Work that usually sits beside this.
Questions
Buying questions, answered directly.
No. Search still shows you the query. PMax can add surfaces and volume, but it should sit beside a readable Search structure, not erase it.
Next move
Open the Performance Max box before you add budget.
Share the current asset groups, conversion actions and how PMax sits next to Search. We will say whether it should be rebuilt, constrained or paused.