What Is Google Performance Max? Placements, Asset Requirements and Operating Tips [2026]
Reviewed by HIROKI TAKAYAMA (Director and CGO, NowVillage Inc.)
Contents
Do you use Google Ads Performance Max campaigns? We were cautious about adopting P-MAX when it was first announced, but we have since built up the know-how and now use it whatever the industry, with very good results.
Summary P-MAX (Performance Max) is an advertising product that delivers automatically to all of Google’s main inventory, Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover, Maps and Shopping, from a single campaign Using Google’s AI and machine learning, it can maximise conversions and lower cost per acquisition while keeping the management effort down Fine manual adjustment is difficult and detailed analysis of the results is limited, so understanding how it works and configuring it correctly at the outset is the key to success To get results, three things matter: allowing a learning period of four to six weeks or more, running it alongside existing search campaigns, and providing a full set of assets (images, video and text)
Who this is for Anyone who simply wants to understand it Anyone about to start with P-MAX Anyone wanting to improve their P-MAX results
Do read whichever part interests you.
1. What is P-MAX?
P-MAX is short for Performance Max, a new type of advertising that Google Ads introduced in November 2021. Its characteristics are these.
A single campaign delivers across many surfaces, including search, display and YouTube Machine learning reduces the effort of running it What you prepare is creative: images, video, headlines, descriptions Targeting can combine various conditions, as with display advertising Detailed analysis of the results is not possible
1.1 The advantages of P-MAX
■You can reach a wide range of people Because P-MAX delivers across broad inventory using Google’s AI, the chances of reaching people you could not reach before increase.
By combining Google’s real-time information about user intent and settings with what you provide as audience signals, P-MAX can find segments of new customers you had not expected.
It cuts the effort of managing advertising Until now you had to set keywords, ad copy and creative separately for each campaign type. With a P-MAX campaign, one set of assets delivers across all of Google’s inventory.
It tends to produce results
P-MAX drives performance against the conversion goals you specify, using smart bidding to optimise across channels in real time and lift both the number of conversions and their value.
In my own use of P-MAX, cost per acquisition has fallen by at least 30%which is a very good result. Google’s own blog states that advertisers who adopted P-MAX achieved, on average, an 18% or greater increase in conversions while keeping the same cost. https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/performance-max-new-features/
1.2 The disadvantages of P-MAX
Detailed configuration and adjustment are difficult The flip side of leaving everything to Google is that there is little you can manage by hand. In a P-MAX campaign you control only the budget and the advertising; you cannot choose to deliver to particular inventory or only in a particular creative format. Used without a proper understanding of how P-MAX works, it can drive cost per acquisition up. You often hear that P-MAX does not work; in most cases that is why.
The results are hard to explain Because Google’s AI controls everything in a P-MAX campaign, it is hard to understand why the delivery turned out as it did. The items available in reporting are also limited, and you cannot see how each piece of creative performed. With development work, performance by creative can be captured.
You cannot deliver to a particular list A P-MAX campaign cannot deliver against a particular list. You cannot use a list such as people who visited our site. You can specify a list under audience signals, but audience signals do not work as targeting. They mean treat this list as a guide to the audience; they do not mean deliver only to this list. That is worth bearing in mind.
One-off or short runs are unlikely to deliver P-MAX does not suit running on its own or for a short period only. Why running it on its own is not recommended is explained below, under points to watch. Machine learning needs a certain amount of time to produce results, so short runs do not suit it. Allow at least four to six weeks as a period for the data to accumulate. https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/13311048?hl=ja&sjid=9488081530232625763-AP Please avoid using it as a one-off and abandoning it because the results were poor.
Running P-MAX on its own is not recommended; running it alongside existing search campaigns is.
For better results in Google Ads, we recommend running AI-powered search campaigns alongside P-MAX. The two reinforce one another and maximise conversions across Google.
Google Ads’ own help positions P-MAX as complementary to existing search campaigns, and states that the combination of search and P-MAX can be expected to increase conversions.
5.2 Help the machine learning be accurate
For audience signals we recommend these two. Customer match lists First-party data
Using the customer attributes, interests and insight gathered from the campaigns you run alongside it also strengthens Google’s machine learning.
5.3 Prepare as many assets as you can
Images, logos and video take effort, but never start delivery with them half done. If you are aiming to maximise results through the compounding effect with existing campaigns, prepare properly before you begin.
Tools such as Canva now make images and video easy to produce. There is every reason to use them, if only to test delivery at low cost. Do give it a try.
5.4 Set exclusions
Exclusions can be set on a P-MAX campaign too. Many people seem to think they cannot be, because the negative lists used in search campaigns, and exclusions at campaign level, are not available.
Below is what can be excluded; do use it as a reference when running the campaign.
What can be excluded
Placements Keywords (the negative lists used in search campaigns and campaign-level exclusions are not available, so they must be added by hand) Age ranges Devices (device targeting)
Age and device exclusions originally had to be requested through a Google account representative; since May 2025 you can set them yourself in the account.
All of these exclusions in a P-MAX campaign have to be made at account level, from the Account settings button.
6. How to analyse P-MAX
P-MAX runs automatically by design, but that does not mean no analysis is possible. Detailed information can be hard to obtain, but you can analyse the data from several angles and use it to improve.
The most important of these is search term insights.
6.1 How to find search term insights
1. Select the P-MAX campaign in the Google Ads console
2. Click Insights and reports in the left menu, then Insights
3. Under Consumer spotlight at the foot of the insights page there is a Search term insights item; clicking the keyword category you want shows more detail
6.2 What search term insights show
Search term insights show which search terms brought people to your advertising and which led to a conversion.
Specifically, you can see the following.
Search categories The categories into which Google has automatically sorted people’s search terms, such as women’s dresses or white wedding dress. Clicking Show details reveals the actual search terms in that category.
The keywords that led to conversions From the detail of a search category you can see which keywords actually contributed to a conversion, a purchase or an enquiry. That lets you identify the effective keywords and use them to optimise.
One strategy worth considering is to take the keywords that are contributing conversions, build a separate search campaign for them, and run those outside P-MAX’s automation where you can control them more finely.
Trends in search terms From past search term data you can see the trend in a particular keyword and how demand is changing, which helps you find new keywords and improve your targeting.
Placements You can see which websites and apps your advertising appeared on, which helps you optimise where it runs and find new placements.
Day of the week and time of day You can analyse which days and times worked best, which helps you optimise the schedule and raise the return.
Devices You can see which devices, computer, phone and so on, brought the most traffic.
Matched locations You can see which areas brought the most traffic.
Auction insights You can see how you stand against competitors in the auction (available on some accounts).
You can also use the asset report, which shows how the headlines and images you set performed. That lets you see which creative worked and use it to improve. The asset report compares the performance of each asset (headline, description, image) by impressions, clicks and conversions, which helps with strategic decisions.
Beyond that, with some development work you can capture the results of each headline and image individually.
6.3 Some accounts can see P-MAX performance by channel
A recent update lets some accounts see a channel performance report for P-MAX campaigns. That shows in more detail which of the channels P-MAX delivers to, search, display, YouTube and the rest, is contributing conversions.
Where this is available, knowing each channel’s contribution as well as the campaign’s overall result makes it possible to run the advertising more strategically.
7. Results and examples
7.1 Using first-party data to optimise delivery (cost per acquisition down 40%)
Because the existing campaign structure was organised around several audiences, we built the P-MAX campaigns around audiences at campaign level rather than at asset level. For audience signals we used the lists we use for remarketing, people who visited our website and customer match lists. With a limited budget, we ran P-MAX at a small spend alongside the existing display advertising when it was first introduced, allowing two months of learning and fine-tuning of the audience signals. Once it was clear results would come, we reversed the budget split with the display campaigns and increased the number of leads. In the end, after P-MAX went live, we achieved a steady 40% cut in cost per acquisition.
7.2 Maximising results through a creative improvement cycle (cost per acquisition down 30%)
As noted above, a P-MAX campaign does not normally let you see how each piece of creative performed. At NowVillage we built a way to see the performance of the assets, creative included, set in a P-MAX campaign, using the Google Ads account together with Google Sheets and Looker Studio. That let us run an improvement cycle on the creative, and cut cost per acquisition by around 30% compared with before.
8. For P-MAX, talk to NowVillage
A P-MAX campaign makes the most of Google’s AI and optimises across several surfaces, search, display, YouTube, but fine adjustment is difficult, and it takes time and design skill before the results settle.
At NowVillage we understand how P-MAX works in depth, and have produced many results, lower cost per acquisition and more conversions, through the use of first-party data and asset analysis. If you feel you are not using it well, or that you are running it but the results are not growing, do get in touch.
