---
title: "Performance Max"
url: https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/performance-max
type: Page
---

# Performance Max

Performance Max explained: when Google launched it, how one campaign covers Search, YouTube and more, and the controls advertisers have over where ads run.

PPC glossary

## Performance Max

Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from a single campaign. The advertiser supplies a conversion goal, budget, creative assets and audience signals, and Google's AI decides where, when and to whom each ad is shown.

## When did Performance Max launch?

Google made Performance Max available to all advertisers on 2 November 2021, describing it as a new way to buy Google ads across YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps from one campaign. In the same announcement it said Smart Shopping and Local campaigns would both upgrade to Performance Max in 2022, which made it the replacement for both.

## How does Performance Max work?

The campaign is built around one objective, such as Sales, Leads, Website traffic or Local store visits and promotions. Google combines the headlines, descriptions, images and videos it is given into ads for each placement, and Smart Bidding sets bids based on the likelihood of a conversion, with an optional target CPA or target ROAS.

There are no keywords in the usual sense. Advertisers can add search themes, which Google says carry the same priority as phrase and broad match keywords.

## What control do advertisers have?

Less than in a Search campaign, but more than at launch. In March 2025 Google raised the limit on negative keywords in a Performance Max campaign from 100 to 10,000, matching Search campaigns. Because the campaign can also bid on searches for the advertiser's own name, its reported results can include sales that would have happened anyway.

- Track conversions with real values, so the campaign optimises for revenue rather than volume
- Use brand exclusions if brand searches are handled by a separate Search campaign
- Add negative keywords for irrelevant or low-value queries
- Supply assets for every format, including video, so Google does not have to generate them

## Example

An online garden furniture retailer could run one Performance Max campaign with a target ROAS of 400%, product photography, a short lifestyle video and audience signals built from past customers. Excluding its own brand name and running brand terms in a separate Search campaign shows how many sales Performance Max is finding from new demand rather than existing customers.

## Related terms

- [Smart Bidding](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/smart-bidding)
- [Return on ad spend (ROAS)](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/roas)
- [Negative keywords](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/negative-keywords)
- [Broad match](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/broad-match)
- [Incrementality testing](https://marketingsignals.com/glossary/incrementality-testing)

## Further reading

- [A Visibility Playbook for E-commerce](https://marketingsignals.com/playbooks/the-e-commerce-visibility-playbook)

Our [Pay Per Click](https://marketingsignals.com/service/pay-per-click) service puts this into practice for brands in the UK and US.

## Sources

- [Introducing Performance Max: drive conversions across Google's ad channels, Google (2 November 2021)](https://blog.google/products/ads-commerce/performance-max/)
- [About Performance Max campaigns, Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/10724817)
- [Google Ads increases negative keywords for PMax campaigns to 10,000, Search Engine Roundtable (12 March 2025)](https://seroundtable.com/google-ads-negative-keywords-10000-39044.html)

## Ready To Make Your Ad Spend Work Harder?