Performance Max campaigns - the all-in-one campaign in Google Ads
What the automated campaign type currently means for your Google Ads strategy
Performance Max campaigns bundle all Google advertising networks into a single format: Search, Display, YouTube, Shopping, Discover, Gmail and Maps. The basis is fully AI-supported automation.
The new features of 2025 give advertisers more transparency and control: Performance Max offers new functions such as campaign-level negative keywords, detailed search reports and extended channel reports. In addition, Standard Shopping campaigns are once again fully usable and access the same inventory as Performance Max.
Since 2026, Performance Max has also been enhanced with additional targeting controls, including improved device and demographic exclusions as well as significantly expanded negative keyword limits (up to 10,000 terms at campaign level).
For advertisers, this creates a new area of tension between comprehensive automation and targeted control.
The most important facts about Performance Max campaigns in a nutshell:
- Since 2026: More control options - negative keywords, demographic exclusions, device controls and more detailed search insights significantly reduce the black box character.
- All-in-one campaign format - combines search campaigns, YouTube campaigns, shopping campaigns, display campaigns and more in a single campaign
- Automated target achievement - AI controls bids, budget distribution and ad setup.
- Flexible use of assets - images, videos, headlines, long ad titles, text lines and logos are automatically combined by the system.
- Target groups & signals - Search topics, interests, demographic characteristics or existing target groups serve as a starting point, which Google expands with the help of AI.
- Optimisation through machine learning - Performance Max campaigns learn continuously and scale successful combinations.
- Centralised performance measurement - clear reports on conversions, budget, ROAS and channels.
- Ideal for large campaigns - saves time and integrates channel synergies.
Overview of all Performance Max campaign topics
- What are Performance Max campaigns?
- This is new with Performance Max campaigns
- Performance Max campaigns: Who they are suitable for
- How does Performance Max work?
- How do you create Performance Max campaigns?
- Infographic
- Advantages of Performance Max campaigns
- Disadvantages of Performance Max campaigns
- Tips for getting started with Performance Max campaigns
- Practical tip: The best strategy
- Conclusion: Performance and control - the new balance
What are Performance Max campaigns?
Performance Max is a fully automated campaign type that controls playout across all relevant Google channels. Based on the assets you provide (images, videos, texts and more) and the target specifications, the algorithm independently controls the combination and playout in order to optimise conversions across multiple channels.
The advantage over traditional shopping campaigns:
- PMax utilises multichannel reach to also address users in the awareness or consideration funnel who would otherwise not be reached in the shopping search result.
- The result is a holistic user experience across various touchpoints.
In addition, Google has been strategically positioning Performance Max as an integral part of a holistic campaign setup ("Power Pack") since 2026 - i.e. as a core format for AI-supported, cross-channel campaign structures, in combination with Demand Gen and AI-supported search campaigns.
What's new in Performance Max campaigns in 2025
The most important innovations of the last few months:
- "More control over search queries (negative keywords/listings, brand exclusions)."
- "More transparency through expanded channel and search topic insights."
- "More lifecycle focus (new customers vs. existing customers/retention)."
This means in detail:
- New since 2026, search exclusions: Cross-campaign exclusion of unwanted keywords and brands at account or campaign level as well as via negative keyword lists (now with a significantly expanded limit of up to 10,000 negative keywords per campaign).
- Equality in Shopping inventory: Standard Shopping campaigns have had the same full access to product ads as Performance Max since 2025.
- Brand exclusions/brand exclusions: targeted exclusion of brand-related search queries at account or campaign level.
- Page feeds & URL grouping: Targeted control of traffic to specific landing pages within the campaign.
- Improved asset management: Video assets can now be created and checked directly in the campaign setup.
- Enhanced transparency: Asset group performance report and channel reports show in detail how conversions and budget are distributed.
- Test options: Comparison of PMax and manual campaigns to measure actual conversion increase.
Performance Max campaigns: Who they are suitable for
According to the name Performance Max, the campaign type is designed to deliver maximum performance. If you want to use Google Ads to generate leads, increase your brand awareness, boost your sales or increase traffic to your website, Performance Max campaigns are for you. Performance Max campaigns are designed to bring you to the attention of as many potential customers as possible and ultimately get you more calls, more visits to your store, website or online store. As with any other Google Ads campaign, you can specify in advance whether your campaign should pursue one of these marketing objectives or several business objectives.
How does Performance Max work?
Instead of creating ad groups, Google Ads users only need to store assets in the form of creatives and provide more detailed information about the target group to set up the campaign. The Google AI combines assets such as text ads, display banners or video formats in the right format and learns from their performance. Through machine learning, Google recognises which combinations achieve the best ad performance and prioritises them. This data-driven approach ensures that the campaign is continuously optimised and adapts to changes in user behaviour.
In contrast to other campaign types, Performance Max does not display ads to predefined target groups for specific keywords, but analyses user signals to calculate the probability of a conversion for specific users. This means that ads are displayed based on user behaviour instead of keywords.
In addition, more detailed Search Themes Insights have been available since 2026, allowing advertisers to understand which search intentions contribute particularly strongly to performance. This allows wastage to be recognised more quickly and new topics for asset groups or page feeds to be derived.
How to create Performance Max campaigns?
Selecting the target project
First select the target project for your campaign as usual. To create a Performance Max campaign, you must select Leads, Sales, Website traffic, Local shop visits, Promotions and/or Campaign without advertising as the campaign objective.
Defining the daily budget
As usual, you can enter your average budget per day in the campaign. Depending on user signals, the budget per day can sometimes be exceeded and sometimes fallen short of. At the end of the month, however, you will always reach your defined budget.
Selecting the desired bidding strategy
Even if the bid management is completely taken over by Google and cannot be customised, you can at least specify in advance which bid strategy should be pursued. In principle, Performance Max campaigns only pursue smart bidding strategies.
You can determine in advance whether the focus should be on increasing conversions with target costs and therefore with a target cost-per-acquisition (target CPA) or on maximising the conversion value with or without setting the target return on advertising spend (target ROAS). If you select the maximise conversion value bid strategy, you also have the option of activating the customer acquisition option or, since 2026, customer retention ("retention/existing customer focus"). This allows you to adjust the bids in a targeted manner in order to acquire more new customers or to encourage customers who have dropped out (e.g. shopping basket abandoners) to interact again.
Location & language
The right location setting, language selection and advertising scheduler are also crucial for PMax. Do you only want to reach users from a specific catchment area? Are your services or products only suitable for people who speak a certain language? Is your company closed on certain days and does not need to run adverts on these days? Pass this information on to Google.
Assets instead of ad groups
While you are used to Google Ads grouping adverts with the same target intent in an ad group, with Performance Max Campaigns you now have the option of dividing a campaign thematically into asset groups. There you can upload texts, images including company logos, videos, titles of your adverts and call-to-actions, which represent the building blocks of each advert. PMax then creates the respective ad formats automatically. A minimum number of different assets is required for automated ad placement. In our infographic , you can see the minimum and maximum number of assets you need to place a Performance Max campaign and the formats in which they must be available. Another new feature is the option to automatically generate or optimise assets with the help of Google AI, including automatic image adjustments, asset variants and advanced creative optimisations based on your target page and the selected topics.
Ad extensions
Would you like to offer your potential customers additional information such as a sitelink or call extension? You can make these settings in the ad extensions.
Set user signals
To begin with, you can set signals to include users with whom you have already interacted and define relevant search topics, interests and detailed demographic characteristics. The target group targeting is then automatically adopted by Google. The specified user signals serve as a starting point, which Google expands using machine learning to reach people outside the defined target group.
Page feeds
With a page feed, you can define which URLs are to be used in adverts for your Performance Max campaigns. Creating a page feed for your most important landing pages helps Google Ads to better index these pages and make more targeted decisions about when to deliver your adverts and which landing page to redirect users to.
Brand and keyword exclusions
Advertisers can now specifically exclude both brand-related terms and unwanted search queries. In addition to brand exclusions, search term exclusions and, in some cases, negative keyword lists are also available - for more control, less wastage and greater efficiency. The option to integrate extensive negative keyword lists has now been fully rolled out in most accounts and is significantly more scalable than in the initial phases.
Shopping feed
Shopping ads within Performance Max campaigns require an up-to-date product feed in the Google Merchant Centre. It contains the title, description, price, availability, images and the final URL. Google uses this data to display targeted adverts in Shopping results and on other channels. An optimised and regularly updated feed significantly increases visibility and click-through rates, as it provides Google's AI with structured product information and thus increases relevance and conversion opportunities.
Infographic: Google Performance Max Assets
Advantages of Performance Max campaigns
Simple campaign creation
Anyone who struggles with setting up a campaign can breathe a sigh of relief. Because PMax takes care of a large part of it. All you have to do is upload representative and diverse creatives that Google uses for the automatic campaign setup. Beforehand, you define your objectives and then you can sit back and relax.
Save time
Performance Max campaigns are not only easy to use, they also save time in terms of maintenance. This is because PMax not only takes care of campaign creation, but also automatically takes care of optimisation. Leave it to Google to react to changes in the market and other external factors and concentrate on your day-to-day business. Whereas you previously had to create separate campaigns for each channel, you now only have to create a single campaign that virtually manages itself.
Increase your reach
In addition to displaying adverts across the entire Google advertising network, automatic targeting also allows you to increase your reach even further. Even more people who are likely to convert are addressed, who may not be taken into account with traditional targeting. Thanks to improved channel-related insights, advertisers can now recognise more precisely how budget and conversions are distributed across Search, YouTube, Display or Discover.
Simple video creation
Since September 2022, Google's video editor has made it possible to quickly and easily create videos based on uploaded assets. With the help of topic-specific templates, you can create appealing video adverts in just a few clicks and add music or recorded voiceovers if you wish. The advantage over automatic creation is that the videos can be easily customised to your corporate identity. This tool was fully integrated into the workflow at the beginning of 2023 and can be found directly via the asset library or when setting up Performance Max campaigns.
Search term exclusion
A significant advance in Performance Max campaigns in 2025 is the new option to analyse and specifically exclude search terms directly in the campaign settings - without having to forego the benefits of fully automated campaign management. This function allows advertisers to actively remove unwanted, irrelevant or non-performing search queries in order to minimise wastage and increase the efficiency of their campaigns in a targeted manner. It is now also possible to use negative keyword lists. Availability may vary depending on the account type, but will be rolled out much more broadly in 2026 than in the introductory phase.
Disadvantages of Performance Max campaigns
Automated creation / optimisation: loss of control
The automation functions during campaign setup mean that you hand over full control to Google Ads. You have little opportunity to make settings or optimisations yourself.
Automatic video creation
If you do not upload your own videos in the assets, Google Ads automatically creates a video based on your uploaded assets. If you do not have a video, simply use Google's video editor to turn this disadvantage into an advantage.
All assets must be compatible with each other
As Google Ads creates all adverts based on the assets you have uploaded, you have no influence over which assets are combined with each other. To ensure that your adverts work well in terms of both content and appearance, all assets must be compatible with each other.
Transparency without control
Although Google now provides significantly more insights into the individual channels in Performance Max campaigns (e.g. more detailed asset and channel reports), direct channel-specific control remains limited. Control is still only indirect - via the assets provided, target group signals and the campaign structure.
Tips for getting started with Performance Max campaigns
- If your product portfolio allows, create several asset groups with a thematic connection so that Google can place as many different ads as possible.
- Let your campaigns run for at least 6 weeks to complete the learning phase and get a representative impression.
- Use Performance Max campaigns in addition to and not exclusively to stabilize campaign performance through a manual campaign.
- Regularly maintain your keyword and brand term exclusions to exclude irrelevant or inefficient search queries.
- Use page feeds to direct Google to your most important landing pages and avoid irrelevant landing pages - this improves the user experience and can increase conversion rates.
Standard Shopping and Performance Max campaigns - which is suitable for which?
When should you use a standard shopping campaign? | When to use Performance Max campaigns? |
|---|---|
When you want full control over bids, products, and budgets. | If you want to be active across multiple channels on YouTube, Display, Gmail, and other platforms. |
When you only want to advertise in the pure shopping environment (Google Search). | If you prefer less manual control and more AI-driven control. |
When you want to specifically target products with high margins or special product ranges. | If you want to leverage the full potential of AI-optimized creatives and touchpoints. |
If you want to build reach in the upper funnel and engage users throughout the customer journey. |
Practical tip: The best strategy combines both campaign types. Standard Shopping campaign for controlled product advertising and Performance Max campaign for broad, network-wide scaling.
Conclusion: Performance and control - the new balance
In 2026, Performance Max campaigns are a powerful and strategically advanced campaign format with clear advantages in terms of reach, automation and, increasingly, controllability. Since their launch in September 2022, they have fundamentally changed the way we work with Google Ads. With advancements in artificial intelligence and new features such as keyword exclusions and channel insights, advertisers are gaining more control - without sacrificing the benefits of AI-powered control. With expanded control options, greater transparency and strategic integration into Google's AI-based campaign ecosystem, Performance Max has evolved from a highly automated solution to a powerful hybrid of automation and targeted control.
At the same time, the return of a fully-fledged standard shopping format allows for more flexibility and control, especially in the pure search and shopping environment. Advertisers can now decide how best to allocate their budget between cross-channel reach and precise product advertising - getting the best of both worlds.
Do you need support with your Performance Max campaign?
We support you in optimally setting up the structure, assets and strategy in your Google Ads account and Performance Max campaigns - so that you get the best out of fully automated campaign management and control. We will be happy to provide you with professional support and individual assistance. We look forward to getting to know you in a non-binding initial consultation!
About the author Matthias Kampmann
Matthias Kampmann is a partner and managing director of the digital agency DREIKON. With over 20 years of experience in search engine optimisation and more than 15 years of expertise in Google Ads, he advises companies strategically on SEO, GEO and sustainable online marketing.