Google Performance Max: how to run it without losing control
By Akshat JainFounder · Performance Marketer & Growth StrategistThe short answer
Performance Max runs one campaign across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, optimising to your conversion goal. It works when it gets accurate conversion data, strong assets and clear signals — and when you add guardrails like brand exclusions so it doesn't take credit for demand you'd get anyway.
Key takeaways
- Garbage conversion data in, garbage results out.
- Use brand exclusions to stop PMax harvesting branded searches.
- Audience signals guide, they don't restrict.
- Give it video and image assets, or it makes its own.
Before launching PMax
- Conversion tracking verified, with enhanced conversions on.
- Value or quality signals — offline conversions for qualified leads.
- Brand exclusions set, and a separate brand search campaign.
- Full asset groups — headlines, descriptions, images, logos and video.
- Audience signals from customer lists and site visitors.
Good fit
- E-commerce with a product feed
- Accounts with steady conversion volume
- Brands with plenty of creative assets
Be careful
- Low conversion volume
- Lead-gen without offline conversion data
- Strict brand-safety or placement needs
We run PMax inside our Google Ads management service, always with server-side tracking set up first — see conversion tracking with GA4.
Sources
Written by
Akshat Jain
Founder · Performance Marketer & Growth Strategist
Akshat runs the demand side of Advorize — paid media, SEO and growth strategy across Meta, Google, LinkedIn and TikTok for clients in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE. He writes about what actually moves cost per qualified lead.
Read Akshat's profile→