Performance Max
DefinitionPerformance Max is a campaign type in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads where a single campaign shows ads across every placement the platform has. An algorithm decides who sees the ad, where and at what price, based on the goal, assets and signals you give it.
How it works
You build the campaign from asset groups: headlines, descriptions, images, videos and, for shops, a product feed. On top of that come audience signals, such as a customer list or search terms that describe what you sell, and a goal: conversion value at a target ROAS, or number of conversions at a target CPA. In Google Ads, the campaign covers Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Discover and Maps. In Microsoft Ads, it covers Bing search and its partners, Copilot and the Microsoft Audience Network. Since 2025, Google Ads has shown Performance Max results broken down by channel along with the full list of search terms, and you can exclude keywords at campaign level.
- Assets
- 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, 15 images, 1 video
- Feed
- 800 products
- Signal
- customer list from the last 12 months
- Goal
- conversion value, target ROAS 5.0
Settings are illustrative.
What it means for you
The algorithm learns from conversions, so Performance Max does best in shops with a product feed and plenty of purchases. With few conversions or the wrong goal, the campaign spends where conversions come easiest: on searches for your own company name or on cheap display traffic.
From our accounts
In the Performance Max campaigns we take over, there are two things we fix most often: a goal set to revenue instead of profit, and no exclusion for the company’s own name. Left as it is, the campaign takes credit for sales that brand search would have brought in anyway and reports a ROAS no other campaign can match.
We run Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads and Microsoft Ads, with the goal set to profit wherever the data allows.
Google Ads