Performance Max explained: assets, audience signals, and control levers

Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type in Google Ads that delivers ads across the entire Google ecosystem - Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps - from a single campaign. Launched in 2021 and expanded in 2022 as the replacement for Smart Shopping and Local campaigns, Performance Max hands much of the day-to-day optimization to Google's machine learning. You provide the creative assets, audience signals, and conversion goals. Google decides where, when, and to whom your ads appear. That shift toward automation has made Performance Max a powerful tool for some businesses and a frustration for others, especially those used to granular keyword and placement control.

For growth-focused marketers, ecommerce operators, and B2B marketing leads, the real question behind "What is Performance Max?" is whether it fits your strategy, budget, and appetite for transparency. You want to know what you can control, how to feed the algorithm properly, and whether the promised efficiency gains are real or just a way to spend more with less oversight. This guide explains how Performance Max campaigns work, what assets and audience signals you need, which control levers remain in your hands, and when it makes sense to use Performance Max instead of traditional Search or Shopping campaigns.

What is Performance Max?

Performance Max is Google Ads' automated, goal-driven campaign type designed to maximize conversions or conversion value across all Google-owned channels. Instead of choosing Search, Display, YouTube, or Shopping as separate campaigns, you build one Performance Max campaign and Google's AI distributes your budget and creative assets across whichever placements it predicts will deliver the best results. The algorithm evaluates user signals such as search queries, browsing behavior, location, device, and time of day, then serves your ads dynamically across Search results, YouTube pre-roll, Gmail promotions, the Display Network, Discover feeds, and Google Maps.

Performance Max campaigns are goal-based. You set a conversion action, whether that is purchases, form fills, or phone calls, and Google optimizes toward that outcome. You do not select keywords, manually pick placements, or set separate bids for different channels. Instead, you provide high-quality creative assets, configure audience signals to guide the algorithm's initial targeting, define your budget and bidding strategy, and let Google handle the rest. The promise is efficiency at scale. The tradeoff is less visibility into what is working and fewer manual controls compared to traditional campaign types.

Performance Max replaced Smart Shopping campaigns in 2022 and absorbed the functionality of Local campaigns. If you previously ran Smart Shopping to promote products or Local campaigns to drive store visits, you are now using Performance Max or you have been prompted to migrate. Many marketers discovering what Performance Max campaigns can do encounter both improved reach and new complexity in reporting. Google positions Performance Max as the future of its advertising platform, leaning heavily on automation and cross-channel reach.

At its core, Performance Max is a bet that Google's machine learning can outperform human decisions on placement and bidding, provided you give it quality data. That bet pays off when you have strong conversion tracking, well-built creative assets, meaningful audience signals, and sufficient budget to complete the learning phase. It falls short when tracking is broken, asset quality is poor, or your business model requires more nuance than the algorithm can recognize. Understanding those conditions is the difference between Performance Max driving efficient growth and Performance Max becoming an opaque budget drain.

How Performance Max campaigns work in Google Ads

Performance Max campaigns operate as a unified system that automates placement, targeting, and bidding decisions across Google's full advertising inventory. When you launch a Performance Max campaign, you define your business goal, upload creative assets, provide optional audience signals, and set a budget. From that point, Google's machine learning evaluates billions of possible combinations of users, placements, and creative formats to serve your ads where they are most likely to drive conversions. The algorithm learns continuously from conversion data, adjusting bids and placement mix in real time to optimize toward your specified conversion actions.

The role of Google AI and automation

Google AI is the engine that powers Performance Max campaigns, making decisions that would be impossible to replicate manually. The algorithm processes vast amounts of data, from user search behavior and browsing history to device type, location, and time of day, to predict which users are most likely to convert. It dynamically allocates budget across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps based on performance signals, shifting spend away from underperforming channels and toward those delivering results. This level of automation allows Performance Max to scale efficiently, but it also means you are handing significant control to the algorithm. The quality of your inputs directly influences the quality of Google's outputs, so clean conversion tracking, well-optimized creatives, and meaningful audience signals are essential for the AI to learn quickly and perform effectively.

Campaign inputs that drive Performance Max

Performance Max campaigns require four core inputs to function. First, conversion goals tell Google what actions you want to optimize for, whether that is online purchases, form submissions, phone calls, or store visits. Second, creative assets provide the raw material for your ads, including headlines, descriptions, images, videos, and logos. Google dynamically assembles these assets into ads optimized for each placement. Third, audience signals guide the algorithm during the early learning phase by indicating the types of users who are most likely to convert, using search intent, demographics, interests, or first-party data. Fourth, budget and bidding settings determine how much you are willing to spend and how aggressively Google should optimize for conversions or conversion value. Together, these inputs shape how Performance Max distributes your budget, which placements it prioritizes, and which users it targets.

Performance Max placements across Google channels

Performance Max campaigns can serve ads across every major Google-owned channel, making them one of the most comprehensive campaign types available. On Google Search, your text and Shopping ads appear in response to user queries, competing alongside standard Search campaigns. On YouTube, video and display ads run as skippable or non-skippable pre-roll, in-stream, or in-feed placements. On the Display Network, responsive display ads appear across millions of websites and apps. On Gmail, ads show as expandable messages in the Promotions tab. On Discover, native-style ads appear in personalized content feeds on mobile devices. On Google Maps, local ads drive foot traffic to physical locations. Google decides which channels receive budget based on real-time performance data, meaning your spend allocation shifts dynamically throughout the campaign.

Key Performance Max assets and ad formats

Performance Max campaigns rely on high-quality creative assets to generate effective ads across every Google placement. The assets you upload serve as the building blocks for dynamically assembled ads, meaning the quality, variety, and relevance of your assets directly impact performance. Many advertisers searching for "What is Performance Max examples" quickly discover that weak assets are a common failure point. Google recommends uploading the maximum number of assets in each category to give the algorithm more options to test and optimize.

Creative asset types and Google Performance Max ad specs

Performance Max campaigns require several asset types to cover all placements. Text assets include up to 15 headlines, each up to 30 characters, 4 long headlines up to 90 characters, and 5 descriptions up to 90 characters each. Image assets require at least one square image with a 1:1 ratio at 1200x1200 pixels and one landscape image with a 1.91:1 ratio at 1200x628 pixels, with additional portrait and logo images recommended. Video assets should include horizontal, vertical, and square formats, with durations ranging from roughly 10 seconds to 30 seconds for most placements. Google will auto-generate video ads from your images and text if you do not upload video, but custom videos usually perform better. Logo assets should be uploaded in square and landscape formats with transparent backgrounds, and all assets must comply with Google's advertising policies.

Building effective asset groups for different goals

Asset groups allow you to organize creative assets around specific themes, product categories, or audience segments within a single Performance Max campaign. Each asset group functions like a mini-campaign, containing its own set of headlines, descriptions, images, videos, and audience signals. Structuring asset groups strategically improves performance by ensuring ads are tightly aligned with user intent and product relevance. For ecommerce, you might create separate asset groups for each product category, such as men's apparel, women's apparel, and accessories, each with tailored creative and audience signals.

Using feeds for ecommerce and local inventory

Performance Max campaigns integrate directly with product feeds via Google Merchant Center for ecommerce businesses and with local inventory feeds for businesses with physical locations. Product feeds provide Performance Max with structured data about your products, including titles, descriptions, prices, images, and availability, enabling the campaign to serve dynamic Shopping ads on Search, YouTube, and Discover. A well-optimized product feed improves ad relevance and clickthrough rates by ensuring accurate product information and high-quality images. Local inventory feeds allow Performance Max to promote in-store products to users searching near your locations, driving foot traffic with real-time stock and availability data. Feed quality is critical for Performance Max success, so regular feed audits and clean structured data are essential, especially for businesses with large or frequently changing inventories.

Using audience signals and data in Performance Max

Audience signals are optional inputs that guide Performance Max campaigns during the learning phase by indicating the types of users who are most likely to convert. Unlike traditional targeting, audience signals do not strictly limit who sees your ads. Instead, they serve as starting points for the algorithm to identify patterns and expand reach to similar high-intent users. The quality and relevance of your audience signals directly impact how quickly Performance Max campaigns exit the learning phase and begin delivering efficient results.

What audience signals are and how Google uses them

Audience signals are collections of user attributes such as demographics, interests, search behaviors, and remarketing lists that you provide to help Google understand your ideal customer. When you add audience signals to a Performance Max campaign, Google uses them to prioritize ad delivery to users who match those characteristics while simultaneously testing adjacent audiences to discover new conversion opportunities. As the campaign collects conversion data, the algorithm learns which signals correlate with actual conversions and adjusts targeting accordingly. Over time, Performance Max may deliver many impressions to users outside your initial signals if the data suggests those users convert at higher rates, making audience signals a recommendation rather than a restriction.

Leveraging first party data, crm lists, and remarketing

First-party data is one of the most powerful inputs for Performance Max campaigns because it reflects real user behavior and purchase history. Uploading customer lists from your CRM, such as past purchasers, email subscribers, or high-value customers, allows Google to build lookalike audiences and prioritize users who resemble your best customers. Remarketing lists, including website visitors, cart abandoners, and video viewers, enable Performance Max to re-engage users who have already shown interest in your brand. Custom segments based on search keywords, URLs visited, or app activity provide additional targeting precision. The more robust your first-party data, the faster Performance Max can identify high-intent users and optimize toward profitable conversions.

Balancing broad reach with qualified traffic

One of the biggest challenges with Performance Max is balancing Google's push toward broad reach with your need for qualified, high-intent traffic. Performance Max is designed to maximize conversions across the widest possible audience, which can lead to impressions and clicks from users who are less likely to convert or fit your ideal customer profile. This is especially problematic for B2B businesses, lead generation campaigns, or businesses with complex sales cycles where not all conversions are equally valuable. To maintain control, use tight audience signals based on high-quality first-party data, set clear conversion goals that reflect genuine business value, and monitor performance by segment using the insights report.

Control levers inside a Performance Max campaign

Performance Max campaigns automate much of the targeting and bidding process, but several control levers remain in your hands to guide strategy, allocate budget, and protect brand integrity. Understanding and configuring these levers correctly is the difference between a Performance Max campaign that drives efficient growth and one that becomes an unmanageable budget drain. The key is to treat these controls as strategic inputs rather than passive settings.

Conversion goals, bidding strategies, and budgets

Conversion goals are the most important control lever in Performance Max campaigns because they define what Google optimizes toward. You can select primary conversion actions such as purchases, form submissions, or phone calls, and assign different values to each action to prioritize high-value conversions. Bidding strategies determine how aggressively Google pursues those conversions. Maximize conversions is useful when you want volume, while maximize conversion value is better for ecommerce or businesses where transaction value varies. Target CPA and target ROAS bidding strategies give you more control over cost efficiency, but they require sufficient historical conversion data to work effectively.

Geo targeting, language, and schedule settings

Performance Max campaigns respect standard campaign-level settings for geographic targeting, language, and ad scheduling, giving you some control over where and when your ads appear. Geographic targeting allows you to include or exclude specific countries, regions, cities, or radius around a location, which is especially useful for local businesses or businesses with limited service areas. Language settings ensure your ads only appear to users who speak the languages you target, reducing wasted impressions on irrelevant audiences. Ad scheduling allows you to control the days and times your ads run, which can improve efficiency if your conversions cluster around specific times, such as business hours for B2B or evenings for ecommerce.

Brand exclusions, negative keywords, and placements

One of the most common frustrations with Performance Max campaigns is the lack of traditional keyword and placement controls. You cannot add negative keywords directly to Performance Max campaigns the way you can with Search campaigns, and you cannot exclude specific placements by URL or app. However, Google offers limited exclusion options. Brand exclusion lists allow you to prevent your Performance Max ads from showing when users search for your own brand terms, reducing cannibalisation of your branded Search campaigns. Account-level negative keyword lists and placement exclusions apply to Performance Max, so you can block low-quality sites, apps, or categories at the account level. Content exclusions allow you to avoid sensitive content categories such as tragedy, profanity, or sexually suggestive content.

Structuring campaigns for insight and control

Campaign structure is one of the most underutilized control levers in Performance Max. Instead of running one massive campaign that blends all products, audiences, and goals together, you can create multiple Performance Max campaigns segmented by product category, customer segment, or conversion goal. This structure allows you to allocate budget strategically, compare performance across segments, and extract more actionable insights from the reporting. For example, an ecommerce business might run separate Performance Max campaigns for each product category, allowing them to see which categories drive the most revenue and adjust budgets accordingly.

When to use Performance Max vs search and other campaigns

Performance Max campaigns are powerful, but they are not always the right choice for every business or every goal. Deciding when to use Performance Max versus traditional Search, Shopping, Display, or other campaign types depends on your business model, budget, data quality, and appetite for automation. The best approach is often a hybrid strategy where Performance Max complements rather than replaces more controlled campaign types.

What is Performance Max? compared to standard search

Performance Max and standard Search campaigns serve different strategic purposes and should often run in parallel rather than in competition. Search campaigns give you granular control over keywords, match types, bids, and ad copy, making them ideal for high-intent, bottom-of-funnel users who are actively searching for your product or service. Performance Max, by contrast, automates targeting and creative across all channels, making it better suited for discovery, scale, and cross-channel reach. A common strategy is to run Search campaigns for your most valuable branded and high-intent non-branded keywords, while using Performance Max to capture incremental demand across YouTube, Display, Discover, and lower-intent Search queries.

Performance Max vs smart shopping and local campaigns

Performance Max replaced Smart Shopping and Local campaigns in 2022, absorbing their functionality into a single, more comprehensive campaign type. If you previously ran Smart Shopping campaigns to promote product feeds, Performance Max is now the only option, offering the same automated bidding and dynamic ad generation with the added benefit of YouTube, Discover, and Gmail placements. Performance Max also replaces Local campaigns for businesses promoting store visits and local inventory, with expanded reach and better integration with Google Maps and local search results. Many threads asking "What is Performance Max Reddit experiences like?" reflect how bumpy that migration was for advertisers who did not adjust their assets and data to the new system.

Best fit for ecommerce, lead generation, and b2b

Performance Max campaigns perform differently across ecommerce, lead generation, and B2B business models. For ecommerce, Performance Max is a strong fit when you have a well-optimized product feed, sufficient budget to complete the learning phase, and clean conversion tracking. The cross-channel reach and dynamic product ads drive incremental sales, especially for businesses with broad product catalogs and diverse customer segments. For lead generation, Performance Max can work well for high-volume, lower-touch lead funnels such as webinar signups or ebook downloads, but it often struggles with lead quality for complex, high-touch sales processes.

How to set up a high performing Performance Max campaign

Setting up a Performance Max campaign correctly from the start saves time, budget, and frustration later. A well-structured setup ensures the algorithm has the right data, assets, and signals to learn quickly and deliver results. Skipping steps or rushing through setup without validating tracking and asset quality is the most common cause of Performance Max underperformance.

1. Get tracking, conversions, and data quality right

Accurate conversion tracking is the foundation of any successful Performance Max campaign. Before launching, verify that Google Ads conversion tracking or Google Analytics 4 goals are firing correctly for all conversion actions you want to optimize toward. Test conversions manually by completing a purchase or form submission and checking that the conversion appears in your Google Ads account. Ensure conversion values are accurate if you are optimizing for conversion value, and exclude internal traffic or test conversions using IP exclusions. Poor tracking leads to poor optimization, as the algorithm learns from incomplete or incorrect data.

2. Define clear goals, budgets, and success metrics

Performance Max campaigns need clear, measurable goals from day one. Define what success looks like in terms of conversions, revenue, or ROAS, and set realistic expectations based on your historical performance and budget. Allocate sufficient budget to allow the campaign to complete the learning phase, which typically requires at least 50 conversions over two to four weeks. Underfunded campaigns take longer to learn and may never exit the learning phase, leading to inconsistent performance. Define your success metrics upfront, whether that is cost per acquisition, return on ad spend, or incremental revenue.

3. Build asset groups aligned to your customer journey

Asset groups should reflect your customer journey, product categories, or audience segments to ensure ads are relevant and aligned with user intent. For ecommerce, create asset groups for each major product category, such as apparel, electronics, or home goods, each with tailored headlines, descriptions, and images. For lead generation, build asset groups around different service lines or customer pain points, such as solar installation for homeowners versus commercial solar for businesses. Upload the maximum number of assets in each category, including multiple headlines, descriptions, and image and video formats, to give Google enough material to test and optimize.

4. Configure audience signals and first party data

Audience signals guide Performance Max during the learning phase by indicating the types of users who are most likely to convert. Start with your highest-quality first-party data, such as customer lists of past purchasers, high-value customers, or email subscribers. Add remarketing lists of website visitors, cart abandoners, and video viewers to re-engage warm traffic. Supplement with custom segments based on search keywords, interests, or demographics that align with your ideal customer profile. The more specific and high-quality your audience signals, the faster Performance Max will identify high-intent users and optimize toward profitable conversions.

5. Launch, monitor, and respect the learning phase

Once you launch a Performance Max campaign, resist the urge to make frequent changes during the learning phase. The learning phase typically lasts two to four weeks and requires at least 50 conversions to complete. During this time, Google tests different placements, audiences, and creative combinations to identify what works best. Making frequent changes to budget, bidding strategy, or assets resets the learning phase, delaying optimization and reducing performance. Monitor the campaign closely during learning, but limit changes to critical issues such as broken tracking, policy violations, or overspending.

6. Optimize creatives, bids, and structure over time

Performance Max campaigns require ongoing optimization to maintain and improve performance over time. Refresh creative assets every four to six weeks to combat ad fatigue, test new headlines and images, and remove underperforming assets based on asset performance reports. Adjust bids and budgets based on performance data, increasing spend on high-performing campaigns and reducing or pausing underperforming ones. Review the insights report regularly to identify which audience segments, placements, and search themes drive the most conversions, and use that data to refine audience signals and asset groups.

What is Performance Max? examples and real use cases

Understanding how Performance Max works in practice helps clarify when it is the right choice and how to structure campaigns for different business models. Real-world examples show both the potential and the limitations of Performance Max across ecommerce, B2B, and lead generation scenarios. These examples also answer a common question about what a solid Performance Max Google Ads example looks like in the wild.

Example for an ecommerce store scaling smart shopping

An online apparel retailer previously running Smart Shopping campaigns migrated to Performance Max to expand reach beyond Google Shopping and Search. They structured three Performance Max campaigns, one each for men's, women's, and accessories categories, to maintain budget control and insight across product lines. Each campaign included a well-optimized product feed, custom video ads showcasing seasonal collections, and audience signals based on past purchasers and website visitors. Within six weeks, Performance Max delivered 30 percent more revenue than Smart Shopping at a similar ROAS, with significant incremental sales coming from YouTube and Discover placements.

Example for a b2b lead generation funnel

A B2B SaaS company offering project management software launched a Performance Max campaign to drive demo requests and free trial signups. They created two asset groups, one focused on small business owners and another targeting enterprise decision-makers, each with tailored messaging and audience signals. The campaign struggled initially with lead quality, generating high volumes of unqualified leads from users who signed up for trials but never engaged with the product. After refining audience signals to focus exclusively on high-intent custom segments based on competitor search terms and LinkedIn profile data, and adjusting conversion goals to prioritize qualified demos over raw trial signups, Performance Max began delivering better-fit leads at a lower cost per qualified lead.

How 6th man digital approaches testing and iteration

At 6th Man Digital, we treat Performance Max as part of a broader growth strategy rather than a standalone solution. We start by auditing tracking, conversion goals, and historical performance to ensure the campaign has a solid foundation. We structure campaigns by product category or customer segment to maintain visibility and control, and we build asset groups with diverse, high-quality creatives tailored to each segment. We configure audience signals using client first-party data, CRM lists, and high-intent custom segments, and we monitor performance daily during the learning phase to catch issues early.

Common Performance Max pitfalls and how to avoid them

Performance Max campaigns deliver strong results when set up and managed correctly, but they also introduce new challenges and failure modes that can waste budget and obscure performance. Recognizing and avoiding these pitfalls is essential for maintaining control and ensuring Performance Max contributes to profitable growth rather than becoming a black box spend machine.

Loss of transparency and how to get usable insights

One of the most frustrating aspects of Performance Max is the lack of transparency into where your ads are showing, which placements drive conversions, and which search terms trigger your ads. Unlike Search campaigns, which provide detailed search term reports, Performance Max offers only a high-level insights report with limited granularity. To regain visibility, use the insights report to identify top-performing audience segments and search themes, and use that data to inform audience signals and creative messaging. Export placement performance data regularly to identify low-quality sites or apps that waste budget, and exclude them using account-level placement exclusions.

Poor creative inputs and weak audience signals

Performance Max campaigns are only as good as the inputs you provide. Poor-quality images, generic headlines, or insufficient asset variety limit the algorithm's ability to generate effective ads, especially on visual channels like YouTube and Discover. Weak or irrelevant audience signals lead the algorithm toward low-quality traffic that does not convert, wasting budget and prolonging the learning phase. To avoid these pitfalls, invest in high-quality creative production, upload the maximum number of assets in each category, and refresh creatives regularly to combat fatigue. Use your highest-quality first-party data for audience signals, such as customer lists of past purchasers or high-value leads, and avoid overly broad signals that dilute targeting.

Brand cannibalisation and wasted spend

Performance Max campaigns often cannibalise branded Search campaigns by serving ads on branded search terms that would have converted organically or through existing Search campaigns. This inflates Performance Max conversion counts while reducing the overall efficiency of your paid search strategy. To minimize cannibalisation, use brand exclusion lists to prevent Performance Max ads from showing on your own brand terms, and run branded Search campaigns with higher priority and sufficient budget to capture branded traffic first. Monitor search term insights in the Performance Max insights report to identify branded queries driving conversions, and adjust exclusions accordingly.

Measuring true impact beyond last click roas

Performance Max campaigns often look strong on last-click ROAS or CPA metrics but contribute less incremental value when viewed through a more sophisticated attribution lens. Because Performance Max serves ads across multiple touchpoints, it frequently captures credit for conversions that would have happened anyway through branded Search, organic traffic, or other channels. To measure true impact, use Google Analytics 4 or a third-party attribution platform to analyze Performance Max contribution across the full customer journey, not just last-click conversions. Run holdout tests or geo-based experiments to measure incrementality, comparing conversion rates in regions with Performance Max enabled versus regions where it is paused.

Talk to 6th man digital about Performance Max

Performance Max is one of the most capable campaign types Google has built, but it demands more than a quick setup and wishful thinking. Understanding what Performance Max campaign controls you still have, which assets matter most, and how to interpret the limited reporting is a job in itself. It requires high quality creative assets, well structured audience signals, disciplined tracking, and constant iteration, along with a clear view of how it fits into your broader channel mix.

When it makes sense to bring in an embedded team

If you are a founder or marketing lead juggling multiple priorities, Performance Max can feel like another black box to manage. You know it matters, but you do not have the bandwidth to test asset combinations, segment campaigns properly, or dig into incremental lift analysis. That is where an embedded team makes the difference. Bringing in a partner like 6th Man means you get senior level expertise without the overhead of hiring full time specialists.

We plug in fast, work as an extension of your team, and take ownership of the details that move the needle. We handle asset production, audience strategy, bid management, and reporting so you can focus on growth and product. It makes sense to bring in an embedded team when you have tried Performance Max yourself and hit a ceiling, or when you want clear reporting, transparent pricing, and a partner who speaks the language of business impact, not vanity metrics.

How we can audit, fix, or launch your Performance Max setup

Whether you are starting from scratch, migrating from Smart Shopping, or troubleshooting underperforming campaigns, 6th Man can help. We start by understanding your goals, conversion paths, and existing channel mix. We audit your tracking setup, creative assets, audience signals, and campaign structure to identify gaps and quick wins. If your Performance Max campaigns are already live but not delivering, we diagnose what is holding them back, from poor asset quality to cannibalisation or attribution issues, then relaunch with a clear optimization roadmap.

If you are launching Performance Max for the first time, we design the right structure from day one, set up tracking properly, and build asset groups that align with your customer journey and business model. We collaborate closely with your team, share insights regularly, and treat every euro of your budget like our own. If you want a team that moves as fast as you do and delivers consistent, measurable growth from Performance Max and beyond, get in touch with 6th Man. We will help you turn the question "What is Performance Max?" into a concrete, profitable part of your marketing strategy.