Google decides where your budget goes, which audiences you reach, and how your ads are assembled. As a result, many advertisers feel like they barely have any control left.
And honestly, that frustration makes sense. In the past, you managed keywords, placements, and separate campaign structures yourself. Today, you launch a Performance Max campaign and it feels like the system takes over everything. But that perception is not entirely accurate.
Performance Max is not a black box. It’s a machine learning system that works based on the signals, structure, and data you provide. When campaigns underperform, the issue is usually not the platform itself, but the way the campaign has been built.
Why many Pmax campaigns underperform
Most accounts we audit suffer from the same problems. Everything is grouped into one campaign: different audiences, products, and intents are all mixed together. As a result, Google receives very little direction and starts optimizing too broadly.
On top of that, many accounts lack qualitative conversion data. For Google, a newsletter signup can end up being worth the same as a €800 purchase. If you don’t feed back actual business value, the system optimizes toward the wrong signals.
Exclusions are also often overlooked. That means Pmax continues spending budget on irrelevant search queries or your own brand name, making results appear stronger than they really are.
Where you do have control
There are three areas where you can actively guide Performance Max.
1. The signals you provide
Pmax learns from the input it receives. The better the input, the better the output. Instead of combining everything into one asset group, structure campaigns around specific product categories or audience types. Add strong audience signals such as existing customers, website visitors, or lookalike audiences based on your best customers.
And just as importantly: exclude what you don’t want to target. Since 2025, Pmax offers far more advanced control through negative keywords and Brand Exclusions. Used correctly, these dramatically improve traffic quality.
2. Your campaign structure
One of the biggest mistakes is placing everything into a single campaign. New visitors, remarketing audiences, and existing customers all have completely different intent levels. When they are grouped together, the system struggles to understand what it should optimize for.
For most advertisers, a split structure performs significantly better:
- one campaign focused on acquiring new customers
- one campaign for remarketing or returning visitors
- optional separate product groups based on category or margin
This gives Google much clearer context.
3. The data you send back
A Pmax campaign is only as smart as the data it receives. Many businesses only track basic conversions, while conversion quality is often the real driver of performance. Especially in B2B, a submitted lead form does not automatically equal revenue.
By feeding back offline conversions, CRM data, and real customer value, Google can learn which leads actually generate business impact. That leads to far stronger optimization over time.
The most common mistakes
There are three recurring mistakes we see in almost every account:
- Pmax still spends heavily on branded traffic that would likely convert anyway
- No meaningful audience signals are configured
- The campaign relies on automatically generated Google videos
That last one is especially underestimated. Even a simple custom-made video will almost always outperform auto-generated creative.
When Pmax isn’t the ideal solution
Performance Max is powerful, but it’s not the perfect fit for every scenario.
For branded campaigns, traditional Search campaigns often remain more efficient and transparent. In B2B environments with limited conversion volume, Pmax may struggle to gather enough learning data. And for complex product structures, a mix of Search, Shopping, and Pmax campaigns often performs better than relying on a single setup.
So the real question usually isn’t: ‘Should I use Pmax?’
It’s: ‘How does Pmax fit into my broader advertising strategy?
Conclusion
Performance Max doesn’t simply “take control.” It amplifies the quality of what you put into it. If campaigns lack structure, data, and clear signals, the system will optimize broadly and inefficiently.
But advertisers who actively guide inputs, campaign architecture, and data quality unlock one of the most powerful advertising systems inside Google Ads today.
Not sure whether your Pmax campaigns are truly performing, or if the numbers just look better than they actually are?
Purple Panda regularly audits Google Ads accounts to uncover where campaigns lose profitability due to structure, tracking, or optimization issues. Book an intake and discover where your biggest performance leak is hiding.
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