Performance Max (PMax)

Performance Max is a Google campaign type that spends 1 budget across Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Display and Discover, choosing the mix itself.

You supply headlines, descriptions, images, logos and optionally video, and Google assembles and places the ads.

It can work well on accounts with real conversion history to learn from.

On new accounts with small budgets I've seen it put most of the money into YouTube placements, so I check where it's spending from the first week.

The controls are limited by design, so the levers are the conversion goals it's allowed to bid toward, the assets you give it, and the budget you let it have.

It's a tool worth using once the conversion signal underneath it is clean.

What this means for you

PMax suits a proven account, so I get Search working properly first and add PMax once there's conversion history for it to learn from.

This one sits under Google Ads management.

Related terms

Conversion tracking

Conversion tracking is the code that tells Google which clicks turned into enquiries, so it can bid toward the ones that do.

Smart bidding

Smart bidding is Google setting your bid for every individual auction using its own prediction of whether that click will convert.

Impression share

Impression share is the percentage of the times you were eligible to appear that you actually appeared.

Want to know how this looks on your account?

I'll look at what you've got and tell you where it stands, in the same plain terms.

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