What is Performance Max (PMax)? All-in-One Strategy for 2025

Google has influenced the marketing landscape for a long time now. For nearly a decade, new campaign structures, features, bidding strategies, etc., have been at the forefront of its advertising development. 

In September 2021, while phasing out smart campaigns, Google’s latest brainchild–Performance Max—came to light.

Performance Max was an automated campaign type that took the world by storm. 

Its purpose? 

To unify existing ad campaigns. And create a singular campaign type with a conversion-oriented mindset that integrates with Google’s finest AI and machine learning capabilities. 

But What is Performance Max? What are the benefits of using PMax over other campaigns? How do these campaigns fare against other campaign types, such as Search, Standard Shopping, etc.? 

To answer all these questions, we have come up with this detailed blog. 

So, if you are new to Performance Max or just want to understand how it compares, this guide will help!

What is PMax?

Performance Max is a campaign type in Google Ads, powered by Google AI’s automation, that allows you to advertise across all Google channels and surfaces from a unified setup. 

Performance Max placements (where your ads are placed and can appear) include: 

• The Shopping tab
• Google Search, right next to search results 
• Google Images
• Google Display Network 
• YouTube 
• Gmail 
• Demand Gen 
• Maps (with the help of local inventory ads) 

You must note that for Google PMax campaigns, you don’t need to and cannot decide placements manually. Rather, Google AI decides where your ads should appear based on your goals. All you need to do is provide assets for your PMax campaigns in the form of images, videos, headlines, etc., and signals such as Audience signals, and PMax Search themes. 

Based on these inputs, Google AI will display your ads to the most relevant audience and in the most ideal format (which will more likely bring in more conversions.)    

Note: While placements are automated, you do get the option of excluding placements for PMax campaigns.

With Performance Max, you can successfully lower the cost-per-acquisition (CPA) while simultaneously increasing the conversion rates for your ad campaigns. For example, using Performance Max campaigns, a brand named Rothy has seen a 59% growth in revenue and a 60% growth in conversions. 

What is CPA? CPA stands for Cost Per Acquisition. It shows how much you spend on average to get one conversion like a sale, lead, or sign-up.

To understand how these ads appear, you can refer to the image below which shares some PMax ad examples.

How Do Performance Max Campaigns Work?

Once you set relevant campaign goals and add effective assets, Google AI will handle the rest for your PMax campaign. You will not have to manage bidding, placements, and other aspects manually. Every campaign setting will be optimized by Google in real time. 

• Google AI will study user behavior and their intent to determine when and where to show your ads. 
• Then, your ads are going to be automatically adjusted in format and design. Remember, this is based on the Google platform will it will be displayed. 
• Smart bidding will help you get more conversions or maximize conversion value. 

While AI has a huge role in PMax and most campaign settings are automated, you can still guide Google AI to better deliver your ads. You can do this with the help of signals. These signals basically inform Google about the type of audience you want to target. You get the option of providing:

1. Search themes: These tell Google what your ideal customers might be searching for. This helps deliver your ads for relevant search intents.
2. Audience signals: These include audience suggestions that help Google AI better optimize your PMax campaign for your selected goals. 

The better your inputs (signals), the better your campaign can perform.

Additionally, PMax also supports data-driven attribution. In simple terms, this means that Google AI will consider all steps taken across the customer journey that lead to a conversion, and not just the last click. 

Pros and Cons of Performance Max Campaigns

Since Performance Max in Google Ads was launched, it has been met with both praise and criticism. Some advertisers are critical of Google AI’s extensive automation and lack of customization. On the other hand, many advertisers have shared how beneficial Performance Max campaigns can be.

We will understand both the pros and cons of PMax campaigns. Let’s explore the benefits of Performance Max campaigns first.

Pros of PMax Campaigns

• All-in-One Campaign: Performance Max in Google Ads is an all-in-one campaign. It simplifies the management of multiple ad formats and lets your ads reach Google’s entire search network without too much hassle. Its reach on YouTube, maps, discovery, shopping, search, and Gmail has given it a boost in expanding the reach of advertisers efficiently.
• Smart Bidding: Smart Bidding in Performance Max uses Google AI to set the right bid for each auction in real time. This is called auction-time bidding. It looks at many signals like device, location, time, and more to predict which clicks are most likely to convert. You can set clear goals like Target CPA or Target ROAS, and Smart Bidding will adjust bids to meet those goals. It saves time, removes guesswork, and helps get better results with your set budget.
• AI-Powered Optimization: Google has integrated ad campaigns with AI-powered optimization to allow advertisers to decrease their workloads while still controlling their ads.
  Performance Max uses AI to adjust bids, creatives, and ad placements and even optimize the CTAs based on user behaviors and search results.
  AI optimization also means your PMax campaign can be optimized in real-time.
• Improved Reach & New Audience Segments: Performance Max targets audiences that are actively using search terms about your brand and those whose search terms are related to your brand.
  This increases the potential for welcoming newer audiences. This is a huge benefit for advertisers who are just starting out or for those whose traditional campaigns might miss out on users who are not actively seeking their brand.
• Faster Scaling: Another perk that comes with an increased reach is that Performance Max campaigns allow you to scale various platforms faster. It provides you with an extended reach across multiple platforms enabling you to bring in audiences from not just search or display ads, but local audiences from Maps or unique audiences from Youtube as well.

Cons of Pmax Campaign

As mentioned above, many advertisers have been skeptical about Performance Max campaigns due to a myriad of factors.

Here are the cons of a Performance Max campaign:

• Not Ideal for Small Budgets: Performance Max may not work well if your budget is limited. Since it shows ads across many Google channels, your spend can get spread too thin. This might lead to fewer results or higher costs. In such cases, focused search campaigns usually provide better control and more cost-effective outcomes.
• Less control: Performance Max campaigns offer limited control over most campaign settings. For example, you can’t choose placements manually (although you can exclude poor placements), and asset combinations are handled by Google AI. This can make it harder to fine-tune campaigns or understand exactly what’s working, especially for experienced advertisers who prefer manual settings.

Who Should Use Performance Max?

PMax campaigns may not always be the right fit for every business. Here is a clear view of who can benefit the most from using Performance Max and who might need to be cautious.

When Performance Max is a Good Fit

• Clear conversion goals in place: If your business focuses on actions like online purchases, sign-ups, or store visits, then Performance Max is a strong choice. It’s designed to meet specific goals, and the clearer those goals are, the better the campaign can perform.
• Need to advertise across multiple platforms: Managing many separate campaigns can take time and effort. With Performance Max, everything runs from a single setup, and your ads can appear across all Google properties without the extra work.
• Selling online with a product feed: Online stores that use Google Merchant Center tend to do really well with this campaign type. Did you know that, you can run a PMax campaign using product feed alone without assets? This campaign is known as Performance Max feed-only. A well-structured product feed gives the AI more to work with, which often leads to better results.
• Already collecting useful data and getting regular conversions: Campaigns with at least thirty conversions per month give the AI what it needs to learn and improve. A decent budget also helps the system run more tests and get to what works faster.
• Willing to rely on automation for asset generation optimization: Performance Max automatically mixes headlines, descriptions, images, and videos to create the best possible ad for each situation. 

You won’t get full control over how each ad looks or where it shows up. Instead, the system tests different asset combinations to see what performs best. This works well if you’re okay trusting the AI to make those creative decisions based on performance data. 

When Performance Max May Not Be a Good Choice

• Just starting out or lacking historical data: Brand new accounts usually don’t give the AI enough to work with. Without a baseline, it can’t learn what’s likely to convert, and that can lead to weak performance early on.
• Very small budget or too few conversions: If your conversions are under thirty per month or budgets are tight, results can be inconsistent. The system won’t get enough signals to make smart decisions quickly.
• Strict creative or placement requirements: In industries like law or finance, where every word and placement matters, this campaign might not be ideal. Performance Max mixes assets automatically and offers limited control over where and how ads appear.

How To Set Up A Performance Max Campaign?

Note: To go through the step-by-step process of creating PMax campaigns in detail along with Google Ads interface screenshots, refer to our blog on ‘How to Set Up Performance Max Campaigns?’. For this blog, we have shared the process briefly.

1. In Google Ads, go to Campaign within the Campaign Menu. 
2. Select an objective. For example, you can create a Performance Max campaign for store goals or website traffic. 
3. Select campaign type as PMax. 
4. If you are interested in advertising products, or creating a feed only PMax campaign, then select a Merchant Center account in the next step. 

Note: Learn more about the difference between a feed only and PMax campaign with assets in this blog.

5. You will then reach your PMax campaign settings. 
6. Configure bidding and review campaign settings.  
7. Add signals. 
8. Generate assets. It is at this stage where you can also disable automatically created assets such as Final URL expansion. 

Note: You must note that Google has defined guidelines and specifications for PMax ads. For example, your headlines shouldn’t exceed 30 characters.  Ensure that you follow all the PMax ad specifications and guidelines in order to avoid any kind of disapproval.

9. In the next step, decide on a daily budget for your campaign. 
10. View the summary of campaign details and publish your campaign! 

As a pro tip, we recommend you to use PMax Experiments. With those tools you can easily A/B test campaign features, settings, and much more. It will help you understand how to improve your campaign to get better results for your business. 

Differences Between PMax, Search, Demand Gen, and Standard Shopping Campaigns 

Let’s understand how these campaign types differ from each other by going through the table below:

Parameter	Search	Performance Max	Demand Gen	Standard Shopping
Objective	Search campaigns are helpful for maximizing performance across Google Search	Reach more users and maximize performance across all major Google properties	Generate demand and spark curiosity with the help of engaging ads across Google’s visual-first channels	Helpful for promoting your local or online inventory across the Shopping tab, Google Images, and other selected channels.
Where Ads Appear	Google Search and Search Partners	All Google channels and inventory, which include Shopping tab, Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, Maps, etc.	YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Google Display Network	Shopping tab, Google Search (next to results), Google Images, Maps, and Search Partner websites (if opted)
Bidding	– Conversions- Conversion Value- Impression Share- Clicks	– Conversions- Conversion Value	– Clicks- Conversions- Conversion Value	Manual or automated (Target ROAS, Maximize Clicks, Manual CPC)
Audience Targeting	Combines 1P data with Google signals for objectives	Uses NCA goals, value rules, and signals (no direct targeting)	Allows you to select custom segments, interests, or lookalikes manually	Location and device-based targeting are available.
Creative Assets	Text-only search ads	Needs image, logo, videos, feed data, and headlines	Requires visual creatives: headlines, images, videos	Auto-generated from the Merchant Center product feed
Reporting	Keyword and ad-level reporting with performance suggestions	Asset group and asset-level insights; product-level reporting for GMC	Insights for each asset format, with Brand Lift, Search Lift, Conversion Lift	Reports available for ad groups, product groups, etc.

For a detailed comparison between PMax and different campaign types individually, we recommend reading these blogs: 

• Performance Max vs Smart Shopping
• Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping  
• Demand Gen vs. Performance Max
• Performance Max vs. Search Campaigns

Should I stop running other ad campaigns?

Absolutely not!

Running only Performance Max campaigns is a high-risk, low-reward strategy. Performance Max offers innumerable benefits and can even bring in new leads and customers. However, it is important to remember that Pmax offers limited customization and can be limiting for advertisers who have never used it before, since it also runs on data collected during past campaigns.

Using a Performance Max campaign in conjunction with other campaigns can complement them. It can easily cover the customer journey and advertise similar content across different platforms.

Additionally, running other campaigns can help advertisers leverage the potential benefits of all campaign types while lowering the disadvantages of singular campaigns.

When used in tandem with your Search, Demand Gen, Display, Shopping, and other campaigns, Performance Max can yield incredible results.

Best Practices for Running Successful PMax Campaigns

Let’s take a look at some Performance Max best practices to help you optimize your Google campaign for effective results.

Creative Assets

• Your assets can make or break your campaigns.
• Ensure that you update them frequently and use high-quality content. Also, it’s recommended that you don’t remove any assets, but replace the low-performing ones with fresh groups.
• Try to upload a higher number of assets to each campaign, as it allows Google to have different options to create ads from.
• Follow the best practices for uploading and creating these assets to ensure that you do not violate any of Google’s policies.

Monitoring & Adjustments

• Pmax may be largely automated, but it still necessary to keep a vigilant eye on the performance of your campaign.
• Consistency in monitoring your campaign and frequent adjustments will enhance the performance of your campaign tenfold.
• Optimize your creative assets, adjust audience signals, and thoroughly check various aspects to ensure the smooth functioning of your campaign.

Conversion Tracking

• Conversion tracking involves using a pixel (which you can manage with Google Tag Manager) or an API to accurately track how a customer has interacted with your ad. This tracking method can track different events, such as ‘Add to Cart’ or ‘Make a Purchase’ or others.
• It is important to install Conversion tracking software, as it is the #1 source of data collection. Ensure all data collection points are active and accurate.
• Pmax heavily relies on the data collected from conversion tracking software to optimize targeting.

Audience Signals

• Audience Signals are a suggestion that you can give to Google’s Performance Max campaign. When you start campaigning, ensure you add a ‘High-intent’ audience signal.
• High-intent audiences are those that are more likely to convert and can help PMax figure out exactly which audiences you wish to target.
• High-intent audiences include first-party customer data, website visitors, in-market audiences, etc.

Negative Keywords

• Use negative keywords in PMax to prevent your ads from showing on unwanted Search and Shopping queries. This helps avoid wasting budget on low-quality traffic.
• Add negative keywords directly to each campaign or at the account level, since PMax doesn’t support negative keyword lists.

Pro Tip: If you don’t want your campaign to serve for branded queries, you can also exclude your brand from PMax campaigns.

Conclusion

Google’s Performance Max Campaigns are an effective way to boost your reach, simplify ad management, and use AI in your campaigns. It customizes ads based on user behavior to maximize conversions.

Using Performance Max campaigns alongside Google’s traditional campaigns might bring the best results you’ll ever see!

FAQs

What is Performance Max (PMax)?

Performance Max or PMax is an automated Google Ads campaign type that aims to maximize conversions. It uses AI and machine learning to optimize Performance Max campaigns and displays ads across all Google platforms.

Performance Max in Google Ads simplifies ad management by eliminating the process of ad creation for different platforms.

How does Performance Max use AI?

Performance Max uses Google AI to manage bidding, budget, targeting, and creatives in real time. It studies user behavior and intent to serve the best ad on the right channel. With inputs like audience signals, creative assets, and conversion goals, the AI finds high-potential customers. It also uses Smart Bidding and data-driven attribution to decide which touchpoints matter most in driving conversions.

What are the benefits of using PMax?

Performance Max campaigns offer several advantages, such as cross-platform reach, automated bidding, and simplified campaign management. Additionally, Performance Max can help advertisers reach new audience segments. PMax is conversion-oriented and even reduces cost per acquisition (CPA) through smart bidding strategies.

Who should use PMax campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns can be incredibly beneficial for advertisers looking to simplify management while showcasing ads across multiple Google platforms. Additionally, advertisers that have flexible budgets can highly benefit from a PMax campaign.

Should I stop running other search campaigns?

No, you should not stop Search campaigns when using Performance Max. Search campaigns give more control with keyword targeting, while PMax helps reach a wider audience using automation. Running both together is a recommended strategy, as it often leads to better reach, higher conversions, and stronger overall performance.

How do you set up a PMax campaign?

To set up a PMax campaign, you require an active Google Ads account, a Google Merchant Center account (which is optional if you want to promote your online or offline inventory), and high-quality creative assets.

You can start by creating a new campaign on Google Ads and selecting conversion-related campaign objectives to get access to a Performance Max campaign type.

Can PMax campaigns impact other Google Ads campaigns?

Yes, Performance Max campaigns can overlap with other campaigns if they target the same goals or inventory. However, only the campaign with the highest Ad Rank will serve an ad. For Search, exact match keywords in Search campaigns are prioritized over PMax in those cases.

Does Performance Max use keywords?

No. Performance Max does not use keywords. However, it offers the option to add negative keywords, audience signals, and search themes to direct traffic towards the intended audiences.

What are the limitations of PMax campaigns?

Performance Max campaigns are mostly automated, meaning advertisers have limited control over key settings like bidding, targeting, and creative combinations. You cannot choose which Google channel your ads should appear on, as the system decides that automatically.

Additionally, you cannot manually control which headlines, descriptions, or images appear together in a specific ad, which limits creative control.

How can I optimize my PMax campaigns?

For optimizing, Google recommends running PMax campaigns for at least six weeks so the machine learning system has enough data to perform well. During this period, use audience signals like remarketing lists and Customer Match to guide the AI. 

Also, include a wide range of text, image, and video assets to help the system test different combinations and improve performance faster.

Should I switch from Dynamic Search Ads to Performance Max?

It depends on your goals and current campaign performance. Google is encouraging advertisers to upgrade their DSAs to PMax, but the switch may involve trade-offs in control and stability. You should assess whether the benefits outweigh the risks.

Check Out These Related Articles:

• Feed-Only vs All Assets 
• Performance Max Reporting
• Google Ads Auction Insights
• AI Max for Search Campaign
• Top 36+ Google Ads Errors and How to Fix Them