What Is Google Ads Performance Max?
Performance Max (often shortened to PMax) is Google’s “all-in-one” campaign type that pushes ads across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover and Maps from a single budget.
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Google promotes it as a hands-free growth engine, but our CEO Andre Kempe, says PMax can easily become a budget black hole for advertisers who don’t know its hidden settings.
Watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/b8DcqyJeeQg?si=aSIc8p9i3SKb5pHI
The Silent Killer: Attribution Mismatch
Andre’s agency regularly audits accounts where PMax is set to 30-day click, 14-day view attribution, while other channels use 7-day / 1-day.
The result: PMax always appears to “win,” because it gives itself up to 44 days to claim a sale.
Here’s your quick fix:
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Match attribution windows across every network.
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Switch Google Ads to data-driven or 7-day click / 1-day view before comparing ROAS.
Brand Cannibalisation & Retargeting Leakage
Performance Max automatically targets:
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Navigational searches (people typing your brand + “login”).
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Past purchasers who should be excluded or segmented.
Because you cannot view search-term reports inside PMax, these expensive “easy wins” stay hidden, while Google pockets the margin.
A work-around you can use:
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Add brand negatives at account level (now available in most regions).
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Build a Customer Match exclusion list for past buyers.
Looking to scale your Google Ads?
Our senior growth team has audited 200+ Google Ads accounts and reclaimed millions in wasted PMax spend. Get in touch with us and find out how much cash your black box is hiding.
