Performance Max
Paid MediaAlso: PMax · Performance Max Campaign
Quick definition
Performance Max (PMax) is a Google Ads campaign type that uses machine learning to automatically optimise and serve ads across all of Google's channels, including Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover and Gmail, from a single campaign. You provide creative assets, audience signals and conversion goals. Google handles placement, bidding and delivery decisions.
How it varies across Australia
Performance Max campaigns typically perform best for advertisers with robust conversion data and strong creative asset libraries. Businesses with limited historical conversion data or few creative assets often see less consistent results.
Explore benchmarks →Collections of creative elements (headlines, descriptions, images, videos, logos) within a PMax campaign. Google mixes and matches these to create ads across different formats and placements. Having diverse, high-quality assets in each group is critical to performance.
Hints you provide to Google about who your ideal customer is, such as customer lists, website visitors or interest categories. These are signals, not hard targeting. Google uses them as starting points but can expand beyond them if it predicts a conversion opportunity.
A PMax setting that allows Google to send users to any page on your site it determines is most relevant to the query, rather than your specified landing page. Can be useful for large sites but should be disabled or managed carefully for campaigns with specific conversion goals.
PMax operates exclusively on smart bidding strategies, primarily Maximise Conversions and Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). It requires conversion tracking to be set up and populated with data before the algorithm can optimise effectively.
What it actually means
Performance Max is Google's answer to advertisers who want to reach people across all Google surfaces without managing separate campaigns for Search, Shopping, Display and YouTube. You build asset groups with your creative materials, set your conversion goals and bidding parameters, add some audience signals to guide the algorithm and let Google take over. The system uses machine learning to decide where, when and to whom to show your ads to maximise your stated goal. It replaced Smart Shopping campaigns as the primary automated format for e-commerce advertisers and has been extended to service businesses as well. The appeal is operational simplicity. The trade-off is reduced control and transparency.
Performance Max is powerful but opaque. You give Google the keys and trust the machine. The question is whether you have given it enough signal to drive in the right direction.
The Australian context
Australian e-commerce businesses have broadly adopted PMax after it replaced Smart Shopping campaigns. The channel is particularly strong for product categories with consistent search demand and clear conversion signals. For service businesses in Australia, PMax can work but requires more careful audience signal setup because the conversion signals (form fills, phone calls) are less frequent than product purchases. Advertisers should use their Google Business Profile data as an audience signal, particularly for local service businesses.
Where people get this wrong
The three most common mistakes are launching with insufficient conversion data (the algorithm cannot optimise if it has no signal), using generic or low-quality creative assets (Google can only assemble good ads from what you give it) and failing to monitor the Insights tab and asset group performance reports. PMax is automated but not self-managing. Weekly reviews of performance signals, asset ratings and audience insights are necessary to maintain and improve results.
Related terms
Common questions
Should I use Performance Max instead of standard search campaigns?
Not necessarily instead of, but alongside. PMax covers all Google surfaces. Standard search campaigns give you precise keyword control and more transparent performance data. A common account structure is to use PMax for broad conversion goals and maintain standard search campaigns for high-intent branded and competitor terms where you want exact control.
How much conversion data does PMax need to work well?
Google recommends at least 30 to 50 conversions per month for smart bidding to optimise effectively. Below this threshold, the algorithm lacks enough signal and performance can be erratic. If you are starting fresh, consider running standard campaigns first to build conversion history before introducing PMax.
Can I see where my PMax ads are running?
Partially. The Insights tab in Google Ads shows performance breakdowns and some placement data, but PMax provides significantly less granular reporting than standard campaign types. You can see channel-level performance (Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube) but not placement-level detail comparable to Display campaigns.
Do negative keywords work in Performance Max?
Negative keywords have limited support in PMax. Account-level negative keyword lists can be applied, and as of recent updates, campaign-level negatives are available via Google Ads support or the API. This is a known limitation. Applying a strong account-level negative keyword list is important before running PMax to prevent it from appearing for clearly irrelevant queries.
Keep exploring
About New Rebellion
New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.
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