What is Performance Max and Should You Use It?

Performance Max is Google's AI-powered campaign type that runs ads across all Google channels simultaneously — Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Google Maps, and Discover. Instead of creating separate campaigns for each channel, Performance Max uses machine learning to find the best-performing placements and audiences automatically.

You provide Performance Max with creative assets (headlines, descriptions, images, videos), audience signals (your ideal customer profiles), and a budget. Google's AI then tests different combinations of your assets across all channels, learning which combinations work best for different audience segments and automatically allocating budget to the highest-performing placements.

Performance Max works well for e-commerce businesses with product feeds, as it effectively replaces both Shopping and Smart Shopping campaigns. It also suits businesses wanting broad reach across all Google properties without managing multiple campaign types. The AI optimisation can discover audience segments and placements that a human manager might not test.

However, Performance Max has significant limitations. Reporting transparency is poor — Google provides limited data on which channels, keywords, or placements are driving results. This makes it difficult to understand what is working and why. You cannot exclude specific keywords (only add negative keywords at the account level), and you have less control over where your ads appear compared to traditional campaign types.

The recommendation for most UK businesses is to use Performance Max alongside traditional Search campaigns, not as a replacement. Run Search campaigns for your core high-intent keywords where you want full control, and use Performance Max for incremental reach and discovery. This hybrid approach gives you the precision of Search with the broad reach of Performance Max.

AI-managed Performance Max campaigns perform better than self-managed ones because the AI agents can monitor the limited reporting data continuously, adjust asset groups and audience signals based on performance patterns, and coordinate Performance Max with your other campaigns to prevent cannibalisation and budget waste.