Performance Max (PMax)
A Google Ads campaign type that buys ads on all of Google's inventory with one budget and automated bidding.
What is Performance Max? What it does with a lead budget
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign that spends one budget across Search, Maps, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Discover, and moves the money toward whatever your account counts as a conversion. For a local business that sells by phone call or form, it works best as the second campaign, not the first. Launch it once Search is profitable and the account counts qualified leads, not every form fill.
- One campaign, six places, one budget.
- It learns from what you count, junk included.
- Since 15 October 2026 you can cap or zero out the Display Network.
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01 — The short answer
What is a Performance Max campaign in Google Ads?
Google defines Performance Max as "a goal-based campaign type that allows you to access all Google Ads inventory" from a single campaign, including YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail and Maps (Google Ads Help, checked 27 October 2026). You supply headlines, images, videos and a conversion goal, and Google decides who sees which ad, where and at what bid. You don't pick keywords or placements. You pick what counts as a win.
That last part decides everything. If the account counts every form as a win, spam included, Performance Max goes looking for more of them.
Asset group
The set of headlines, descriptions, images, videos and a landing page that Google mixes into ads.
Search themes
Topics you give Performance Max for Search; Google treats them like phrase and broad match keywords.
Conversion goal
The action the campaign is told to buy, such as a call, a form or a booked appointment.
Channel performance report
The report that shows how much each channel (Search, YouTube, Display and so on) spent and converted.
Brand exclusion
A setting that stops a campaign from showing on searches for a brand name, yours or a competitor's.
02 — Where the money goes
Where do Performance Max ads show, and what can you control?
Performance Max can show your ad in six Google places plus partner sites. Since 15 October 2026, Google groups Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail and Discover together as "Google channels" for budget control. Search partners and the Google Display Network can each be set to Low priority, capped as a percentage of the daily budget, or set to 0% (Google Ads Help, "About channel prioritization and budget allocation", rolling out from 15 October 2026).
| Where the ad shows | What the person is doing | Can you limit it? (Oct 2026) | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Search | Searching for a service now | Negative keywords and brand exclusions; exact match Search campaigns serve first | PMax buying your own brand name and taking the credit |
| Google Maps | Looking for a business nearby | Only as part of "Google channels" | Needs a linked Google Business Profile to show well |
| YouTube | Watching videos | Not on its own; placement exclusions for specific channels | Google may auto-generate a video from your images if you upload none |
| Gmail and Discover | Reading email or the Google app feed | Not on their own | Cheap clicks from people who weren't shopping |
| Google Display Network | Browsing websites and apps | Yes: Low priority, a daily % cap, or 0% | Accidental clicks and bot form fills |
| Search partners | Searching on non-Google sites | Yes: Low priority, a daily % cap, or 0% | Quality varies by site |
Google calls the cap "best-effort": daily spend on a channel "may occasionally exceed your budget allocation." And when a Target CPA campaign isn't limited by budget, only the percentage cap moves money, not the priority tier.
Sources: Google, About Performance Max campaigns; Google, About channel prioritization and budget allocation; Google, asset group best practices; Search Engine Roundtable, 14 October 2026. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
03 — What changed
What changed in Performance Max in 2025 and 2026?
Performance Max started as a black box. Between August 2025 and October 2026 Google added search terms, channel reporting, negative keywords and a way to cap channels, and began moving Local Services Ads into a version of it.
| When | Change | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Aug 2025 | Search terms report in all PMax campaigns; campaign-level negative keyword lists; search themes raised from 25 to 50 per asset group | You can see what people searched and block it. Negatives apply to Search and Shopping only, not YouTube or Display. |
| 6 Nov 2025 | Channel performance report in all PMax campaigns | You can see spend and conversions by channel under Insights and reports |
| Aug 2026 | Selected U.S. Local Services Ads advertisers (plumbing, HVAC, roofing, pest control, moving and more) start moving into a pay-per-lead Performance Max type | You may already have a "Performance Max" campaign you never built. That version stays on Search and Maps and bills per lead. |
| 15 Oct 2026 | Channel prioritization and budget allocation start rolling out | Display Network and search partners can be set to Low, capped, or 0%. YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps stay bundled with Search. |
| Feb 2027 | Search campaigns with Display Expansion move to the same controls | Check your Search campaigns too, not only PMax |
If you run Local Services Ads, our Local Services Ads management page covers that migration and the missed-call charges in detail.
Sources: Google, 7 August 2025; Google, 6 November 2025; Google, LSA transition to Performance Max; Google, channel prioritization. Retrieved 23 and 27 October 2026.
04 — Why it goes wrong
Why does Performance Max bring junk leads to local businesses?
Because by default it chases every conversion in the account. Google's developer documentation says that if you don't set goals for a campaign, "it defaults to using all customer-level conversion goals." So a newsletter signup, a careers form or a spam bot counts the same as a customer asking for a quote. Google's own lead-gen guidance puts it plainly: "AI is only as good as the data you put into it."
The loop: bots and accidental taps on cheap websites fill the form, each fill counts as a conversion, cost per conversion looks great, and the campaign shifts more money there. Your phone doesn't ring more.
Search usually converts better on the same searches. In an Adalysis analysis of more than 3,300 non-retail Performance Max campaigns and about 1.2 million search terms (December 2024), Search campaigns had a higher conversion rate than Performance Max on 84.18% of the search terms both campaigns bought, and a higher click-through rate on 65%. An Optmyzr analysis found a smaller gap (Search ahead in 18.91% of comparisons, Performance Max in 6.17%). Neither can compare cost: Google doesn't report cost per search term in Performance Max.
Google's fix for lead businesses is in the same help page. Set the goal to a "qualified lead," "converted lead," "book appointment" or "request quote." Send closed jobs back with enhanced conversions for leads, and protect forms with reCAPTCHA, double opt-in or server-side checks. How to set up those conversions is covered in our conversion tracking setup guide.
Sources: Google Ads API, Campaign-level conversion goals; Google, Answering your top questions about Performance Max; Adalysis, 12 December 2024 (written by a co-founder of the tool); Optmyzr. Retrieved 23 and 27 October 2026.
05 — Watch
Video: where a Performance Max lead budget really goes
Jonatã Ariel Silveira walks through what Performance Max is, the six places it spends, the goal setting that decides whether it hunts customers or forms, and when a lead business should say yes.
What Is Performance Max? Where Your Lead Budget Goes. Eloari, 26 October 2026 (12 min).
06 — Should you run it?
Is Performance Max good for a local service business?
It can be, once the basics are in place. The test is simple: do you know which of last month's leads became paying jobs, and does Google know it too? If not, start with Search, where you choose the searches you pay for.
| Your situation | Why | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| New account, or tracking counts every form | PMax would learn from whatever fills the form | Not yet. Start with Search and fix tracking. |
| Search is profitable but has hit its search volume | More budget in Search buys worse searches | Test PMax with a qualified-lead goal |
| Budget under about $2,000 a month | Too few leads for the bidding to learn, spread over six channels | Keep the money in Search |
| A Google rep "upgraded" you, or LSA migrated you | The campaign may use the account's default goals | Check its goals and channel report this week |
| You have videos and good photos of real jobs | YouTube and Discover need real creative, not auto-made video | Good fit once tracking is right |
The $2,000 line comes from the minimum we consider sensible for paid search in the U.S. ($2,000 to $3,000 a month). Click prices by trade are in how much Google Ads costs.
07 — Setup order
How do you set up Performance Max for leads?
Set it up in this order. Each step closes a door the campaign would otherwise walk through with your money.
| Step | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Goal | Give the campaign its own goal: qualified lead, booked appointment or calls over a set length. Remove the account defaults. | Otherwise it uses every account-level goal |
| 2. Forms | Add reCAPTCHA or server-side validation to every form the ads reach | Bot fills become "conversions" the campaign chases |
| 3. Search first | Keep exact match Search campaigns for your money searches | Google serves exact match Search before PMax on identical searches |
| 4. Brand | Add a brand exclusion for your own name | Stops PMax claiming customers who were already looking for you |
| 5. Channels | In Account settings, Channel Prioritization: set the Display Network to Low with a small cap, or 0% | Display is where cheap clicks and junk fills usually come from |
| 6. Pages | Turn off final URL expansion or exclude pages like careers and blog | Google may send clicks to a page you didn't choose |
| 7. Assets | Upload at least one real video and up to 20 images of real work | Without a video Google may auto-generate one from your images |
Then leave it alone: Google recommends waiting 2 to 3 weeks before replacing low-performing assets. A page that loses the click once it lands is a separate problem, covered in landing page optimization.
08 — How to judge it
How do you know if Performance Max is working?
Judge it by cost per paying customer from your own records, not by Google's cost per conversion. Open the campaign, go to Insights and reports, then Channel performance, and put each channel's spend next to the jobs it actually produced.
An example with made-up numbers, to show the method:
| Made-up example, $3,000 month | What Google reports | What your records show |
|---|---|---|
| Conversions | 40 leads | 7 paying jobs |
| Cost | $75 per conversion | $429 per paying job |
| Search and Maps ($1,600) | 19 leads | 7 jobs |
| Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover ($1,400) | 21 leads | 0 jobs |
Here the report looks fine while nearly half the budget produced nothing. You can now set the Display Network to 0%; YouTube, Gmail and Discover are still bundled with Search, so for those the fix is a better goal and better data.
Each week, read the search terms report and add negatives for job seekers, DIY searches and areas you don't serve. An account that spends without producing is covered step by step in our Google Ads audit. If PMax is also following past visitors around, read retargeting ads before trusting its numbers.
09 — How Eloari runs it
How does Eloari manage Performance Max?
Eloari Management Group, Inc. is a PPC management company in Davenport, Florida, founded by Jonatã Ariel Silveira and Eloisa Cola. It manages Google Ads and Meta Ads for U.S. businesses for a flat fee from $900 a month, never a percentage of ad spend, month to month, and the client owns every account.
Tracking is installed and verified before any spend begins, the step Performance Max depends on most. Tiers are $900, $1,500 and $2,500 a month by ad spend, with no setup fee and no media markup.
11 — Questions
Questions owners ask about Performance Max
What is Performance Max in simple terms?
It is one Google Ads campaign that shows your ads on Search, Maps, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Discover with a single budget. You give it headlines, images, videos and a goal; Google chooses where to show the ads and how much to bid.
Is Performance Max good for lead generation?
Only once the campaign counts qualified or paying leads instead of every form. Google itself recommends goals such as qualified lead, converted lead, book appointment or request quote, plus enhanced conversions for leads and reCAPTCHA on forms.
Can I turn off Display or YouTube in Performance Max?
Partly. Since 15 October 2026, Google's channel prioritization lets you set the Google Display Network and search partners to Low priority, cap them as a share of the daily budget, or set them to 0%. YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps are grouped with Search as "Google channels" and cannot be switched off on their own.
Does Performance Max compete with my Search campaigns?
Sometimes, on the same searches. Google serves an exact match Search keyword before Performance Max when the search is identical, and search themes have the same priority as phrase and broad match. In an Adalysis study of over 3,300 non-retail campaigns (December 2024), Search converted better on 84.18% of the search terms both campaigns bought.
Can I see search terms and add negative keywords in Performance Max?
Yes. Since 2025 Google shows a search terms report in all Performance Max campaigns and accepts campaign-level negative keywords and negative keyword lists (Google, 7 August 2025). Those negatives only apply to Search and Shopping inventory, not YouTube or Display.
How much budget does Performance Max need?
Google shows a minimum recommended budget when you build the campaign, but the real limit is data: the bidding needs enough qualified leads to learn. For most local businesses that means running a profitable Search campaign first, which we put at about $2,000 to $3,000 a month in the U.S.
Why did a Performance Max campaign appear in my account?
Usually because a Google rep or a recommendation suggested an upgrade, or because Google began moving selected U.S. Local Services Ads advertisers into a pay-per-lead version of Performance Max in August 2026. The migrated version stays on Search and Maps and bills per lead.
12 — Next step
Find out where your Performance Max budget lands.
Tell us what you sell, what you spend and how many leads became paying jobs last month. We will look at your goals and channel report and tell you what to keep, cap or turn off, whether or not you hire us.