Performance Max, with the controls switched on
Performance Max can be your best campaign or your most expensive blind spot. Google reports up to +27% conversions at a similar CPA, but only a disciplined setup earns that. We run PMax and Shopping with brand exclusions, feed health, and search-term review, so spend follows real intent instead of your own brand traffic.
What keeps Performance Max honest
PMax serves across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Maps, and Discover from one asset set. The controls below decide whether that breadth works for you or against you.
Brand exclusions
We exclude brand terms so PMax stops buying searches you would win for free, and the conversion lift it reports reflects new demand rather than recycled brand clicks.
Feed health
Titles, product types, GTINs, and images get audited before bidding. For Shopping and PMax the feed is the campaign, and clean inputs drive most of the early gains.
Search-term insights
We read the search-term insights and channel reporting Google added in 2024 and 2025, then layer account negatives where the spend is drifting off intent.
Asset-group structure
Products get grouped by margin and intent, each with its own asset group and audience signals, so reporting is legible and budget follows the winners.
We set a ROAS target from your margin, not a myth
The 4:1 ROAS rule of thumb[Upcounting] gets quoted everywhere, but it is only useful against your unit economics. Average ecommerce ROAS sat near 2.87:1 in 2025, and a healthy target for one store is a loss-maker for another. We work backward from your margin and break-even, then set Target ROAS inside Maximize Conversion Value so bidding chases profit rather than a round number.
Clean revenue tracking makes this possible, which is why tracking and GA4 conversions come before any aggressive Shopping scale-up.
Performance Max questions
For ecommerce with a healthy product feed, usually yes. Google reports an average 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action, and up to 27% more conversions or value for advertisers already running broad match and Smart Bidding. The catch is control: PMax hides query data, so it needs brand exclusions and search-term review to stay efficient.
It can. Left alone, PMax happily buys your own brand searches and claims credit for conversions that would have happened anyway. We apply brand exclusions and account-level negatives, then read the channel performance reporting so brand and non-brand spend stay separated and the reported lift is real.
For Shopping and PMax, the feed is the campaign. Titles, product types, GTINs, and image quality decide which searches you match and what you pay. We audit feed health first, because no bidding strategy rescues a thin or mistitled feed. Clean inputs are where most of the early gains come from.
More than before. Google has added search-term insights, channel performance reporting, and asset-group reporting over 2024 and 2025. It is still less transparent than Search, so we supplement it with our own checks. You get a monthly read on where spend went and which asset groups and channels earned it.
Find out if Performance Max is helping or hiding
We audit your asset groups, feed, and brand spend, and show you the share of PMax conversions that are genuinely new.