If you run Google Ads for a small or medium business, you’ve probably had a love-hate relationship with Performance Max. It can find customers across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover and Maps from a single campaign. But for years, it also felt like handing your budget to Google and hoping for the best.
That’s changed. Google has added far more reporting and control, including campaign-level negative keywords, a search terms report, a channel performance report, demographic controls and more room for search themes. So the real question as we head into 2027 isn’t whether to use automation; it’s which campaigns to hand over and which to manage manually.
What is Google Performance Max?
Google Performance Max is a goal-based Google Ads campaign that uses one budget and one conversion goal to show ads across all of Google’s channels. You supply the goal, budget, creative and audience signals. Google decides where, when and to whom your ads appear.
You can read Google’s official Performance Max overview for the full feature list.
In short: Google handles the delivery. You handle the inputs, the guardrails and the business judgement.
What to automate in Performance Max
Automate the tasks that need hundreds of small decisions a day: bidding, channel mix, ad combinations and audience expansion. No person can do these better by hand.
• Bidding: Let Smart Bidding set bids for every auction. Start with Maximise Conversions or Maximise Conversion Value, then add a target CPA or target ROAS once you have steady conversion volume.
• Channel mix: Let the campaign shift spend between Search, YouTube, Display and Shopping based on what’s converting.
• Ad combinations: Supply headlines, descriptions, images and videos, and let Google test and assemble them.
• Audience expansion: Your audience signals are a starting point, not a fence. Let the system find people who behave like your best customers.
This is where Google Ads automation earns its keep. Fighting it usually costs more than it saves.
What to control in Performance Max
Control everything that defines your business outcomes: which conversions count, budgets and targets, brand protection, negatives, exclusions, asset structure, creative and landing pages.
- Conversion tracking: Decide exactly what counts as a conversion. If a newsletter sign-up and a booked consultation are both marked as “primary” conversions, Google will chase the cheaper one. Use enhanced conversions and, for lead-gen businesses, import offline conversions so the campaign learns from real sales, not just form fills.
- Budget and targets: Change your daily budget and target CPA or ROAS in small steps so the campaign doesn’t have to relearn from scratch.
- Brand exclusions: Stop your Performance Max campaign from taking credit for people already searching for your business name. Brand exclusions apply to Search and Shopping inventory. Paid and organic brand traffic should work together (see our guide to combining SEO and Google Ads for better ROI).
- Negative keywords: Campaign-level negatives and shared negative keyword lists now apply to Search and Shopping inventory in Performance Max. Block searches such as “free”, “jobs”, “DIY” or “salary”.
- Placement and demographic exclusions: Use account-level placement exclusions to keep ads off sites or apps that don’t suit your brand, and demographic controls to exclude age groups you don’t serve.
- Ad schedule and location: Set an ad schedule if leads outside business hours go cold. Use “presence” location targeting if you only serve Australian customers.
- Asset group structure: Group assets by product line, service or audience, each with its own message and landing page.
- Creative quality: Google can mix and match, but it can’t invent your offer. Use clear headlines, real photos of your work and at least one video. Replace assets rated “Low”.
- Landing pages and URLs: Performance Max can’t fix a slow or confusing landing page (see our tips on improving landing page conversion rates). Review Final URL expansion to make sure traffic doesn’t land on careers or blog archive pages.
A practical example
Picture a Sydney plumbing business running one Performance Max campaign with every service in a single asset group. Leads are coming in, but many are job seekers and people looking for DIY advice. A sensible fix would be to:
- Split asset groups into emergency plumbing, hot water and blocked drains, each with its own landing page
- Add “jobs”, “apprenticeship”, “salary” and “DIY” as campaign-level negatives
- Make phone calls over 60 seconds and booked jobs the primary conversions, and downgrade form views
- Leave bidding and channel mix to Google
The automation stays in charge of the heavy lifting. The business stays in charge of what a good lead looks like.
Automate vs control at a glance
| Area | Automate | Control |
| Bidding | Auction-by-auction bids | Budget, target CPA/ROAS |
| Audiences | Expansion beyond signals | First-party audience signals, demographic exclusions |
| Creative | Combinations and testing | Messaging, images, video |
| Search traffic | Query matching | Negatives, brand exclusions, search themes |
| Placements | Channel mix | Placement exclusions, ad schedule |
| Measurement | Attribution modelling | Which conversions count, offline imports |
Performance Max and your Search campaigns
Can you run Performance Max alongside Search campaigns? Yes. Google gives priority to a Search campaign when the search matches one of its exact match keywords. Keep your most valuable, high-intent keywords in Search for full control, and let Performance Max find the extra demand around them.
Measurement and testing
Build a simple weekly and monthly review routine, and use experiments for bigger changes.
Weekly:
- Check the search terms report and add negatives for anything irrelevant.
- Replace assets rated “Low”.
- Watch cost per conversion against your target, but don’t react to a single bad day.
Monthly:
- Review the channel performance report to see how spend is split across Search, YouTube, Display and Shopping.
- Compare new versus returning customers if you use the new customer acquisition goal.
- Check lead quality with your sales team or CRM, not just the conversion count in Google Ads.
To test a new bid strategy or asset group structure, use a campaign experiment rather than editing the live campaign. And give changes time – Bid strategies need a learning period, so judge results over weeks, not days. If you’re unsure what’s realistic, read how long it takes to see results from Google Ads.
Common Performance Max pitfalls
Most underperforming campaigns aren’t let down by automation. They’re let down by setup.
- Tracking the wrong conversions, such as page views or button clicks.
- Setting a target the budget can’t support, so the campaign never exits learning.
- Cramming every product and service into one asset group.
- Leaving brand traffic unprotected, which inflates results.
- Making big edits every few days and resetting the learning period.
For more account-level traps, see common Google Ads mistakes and how to fix them.
Is Performance Max worth it?
Yes, for most businesses with reliable conversion tracking, a reasonable budget and good creative. It opens up channels like YouTube and Display that are hard to manage well by hand. It’s a weaker fit if you get very few conversions or can’t track leads properly. In those cases, a tightly managed Search campaign is often a safer first step.
Your Performance Max checklist
Before launch:
- Primary conversions reflect real business value
- Enhanced conversions switched on
- Brand exclusions and negative keyword list applied
- Placement and demographic exclusions reviewed
- Location set to presence in your target area
- Asset groups split by product, service or audience, each with video
- Audience signals built from customer lists and website visitors
After launch:
- Weekly search terms and asset review
- Monthly channel and lead-quality review
- Budget and target changes in small steps
- Experiments for any major change
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Performance Max and Search campaigns?
A Search campaign shows text ads on Google Search for keywords you choose. A Performance Max campaign uses your goals, assets and audience signals to show ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover and Maps from one budget.
Can you add negative keywords to Performance Max?
Yes. Campaign-level negative keywords and shared negative keyword lists are available in Performance Max. They apply to Search and Shopping inventory, not to YouTube or Display placements.
Can you see search terms in Performance Max?
Yes. Performance Max now includes a search terms report, so you can see which searches triggered your ads and add negatives from it.
Can you stop Performance Max showing ads on your brand name?
Yes. Add a brand exclusion list in the campaign settings. It stops your ads appearing on searches for your brand across Search and Shopping inventory, so Performance Max doesn’t claim credit for customers who were already looking for you.
Do you need video for Performance Max?
It’s strongly recommended. If you don’t add your own video, Google may create one automatically from your images and text, and it may not match your brand. A short, simple video filmed on a phone is usually better than none.
Does Performance Max work for lead generation?
Yes, as long as you measure lead quality, not just form fills. Import offline conversions or mark only qualified actions, such as booked appointments, as primary conversions so the campaign learns what a good lead looks like.
How much budget does Performance Max need?
There’s no fixed minimum, but the budget needs to produce regular conversions at your target cost. If it only funds a handful of conversions a month, the campaign will struggle to learn, and results will fluctuate.
How long does Performance Max take to learn?
It usually needs a few weeks of steady data after launch or a major change. Avoid big edits during this period so the bid strategy can settle.
Next steps
Performance Max in 2026 rewards a simple split: let Google do the heavy lifting on bids, placements and ad combinations, and keep tight control of your goals, data, brand and creative. Get those inputs right and automation works for you, not against you.
Want a second set of eyes on your account? Our Google Ads agency can audit your Performance Max setup and show you where to tighten control. Or book a free discovery session to talk it through.
