Performance Max Audit: How to Make Automation Work for You
Stop accepting "automation" as an excuse for wasted ad spend. Here is how to see exactly where your money is going and how to fix it.
Performance Max Campaigns Strategy: Quick-Scan FAQ
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Only if you let it be. PMax is opaque, not invisible. The problem isn't the automation itself, but the lack of commitment to its audit and architecture.
We can’t control the bidding algorithm directly, but we have full control over the inputs (feeds, assets, exclusions) and the reporting scripts used to visualize outputs. Strategic control lives in the inputs and how we structure our accounts.
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No, UNLESS they are running it because it is easy and “hands off”.
Otherwise, No. PMax is an efficient tool for scaling volume and revenue.
However, it is a poor tool for margin protection and accurate attribution without expert stewardship and decisions. The issue isn't using PMax; it's the acceptance of its default, wasteful settings. A strategist ensures PMax serves your P&L, not just Google’s volume goals.
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At least weekly for high-volume, high-AOV accounts. The frequency of change in the placements and search terms PMax chooses requires constant vigilance. The time spent on one weekly forensic audit (checking video spend, app placements, and URL expansion) will deliver a higher return than two weeks of non-strategic busywork.
It has been several years since Google introduced Performance Max (PMax), forcing a shift from granular control to algorithmic automation. Performance Max focuses on key conversion goals and main optimization areas, prioritizing the elements that drive the highest returns. By now, most agencies have accepted the narrative: “It’s a black box. Just feed it creative and conversion data, and let it run.” This is a major departure from traditional Google Ads campaigns, where you had more direct control over targeting and segmentation.
I reject that premise.
While PMax is a powerful tool for scaling e-commerce revenue, but obviously "setting and forgetting" is a recipe for inefficiency.
The question isn't "What is Performance Max?" The question is: "How much of my PMax budget is being wasted on low-quality inventory that claims credit for sales it didn't generate?"
If rising costs are your bigger concern, see my piece on cost‑intent strategy for smarter spend.
If you are managing a high-volume e-commerce account, you cannot afford to fly blind. Here is how to crack open the black box and audit your PMax campaigns for actual profitability.
Before we get into it however, I want you to understand that there has to be a mindset shift here regarding Google’s automation and PMax. To get the most out of PMax, adopting an advanced strategy, such as campaign segmentation and precise optimization, is essential.
Performance Max isn’t the enemy. It’s a powerful but indiscriminate engine. It operates not on trust, but on the quality of its inputs. The more precise your inputs (feeds, exclusions, creative), the more disciplined your outputs. Think of your role less as fighting automation and more as architecting the guardrails that force the AI to align with your profit margins.
I had a client show me a PMax campaign with a 600% ROAS. But when we looked at the reporting we saw $3,000 in a month going to low-intent YouTube placements. That’s when I realized the PMax black box isn't hiding performance; it's hiding waste. Your job is to find the hidden lever and adjust and be aware of what’s happening.
What are Performance Max Campaigns?
Performance Max campaigns are Google Ads’ answer to unified, cross-channel advertising. Instead of managing separate campaigns for Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, and more, Performance Max brings all of Google’s inventory under one roof. This means your ads can reach potential customers wherever they are, whether they’re searching on Google, watching videos on YouTube, browsing the Display Network, checking Gmail, or exploring Maps.
What sets Performance Max apart is its use of machine learning to maximize performance in real time. The system automatically optimizes bids, placements, and creative combinations to drive the highest possible conversion value for your specific business objectives. Whether your goal is to increase online sales, generate qualified leads, or boost in-store visits, Performance Max campaigns are designed to help you achieve those outcomes across all relevant marketing channels.
By leveraging Performance Max, you’re not just casting a wider net, you’re letting Google’s automation work to find the right audience at the right moment, maximizing performance and ensuring your ad spend is focused on what matters most: results.
1. The "Video Trap" (Are you buying Shopping or YouTube?)
In the old days, you had a Shopping Campaign and a YouTube Campaign. You controlled the budget for each.
In PMax, Google blends them.
Often, when I audit new accounts, I see PMax campaigns that think they are driving sales, but are actually dumping 40% of the budget into low-intent video ads and Video views because they are cheaper than Search clicks. Video ads can boost visibility, but if your goal is conversions, too much spend here can hurt performance.
Cheap views can look good on paper, but remember: CTR isn’t the metric that matters.
The Audit: Go to your Campaigns tab and modify your columns to include "Avg. CPV" (Cost Per View).
The Red Flag: If you see data in this column for your primary PMax campaign, you are paying for video views.
The Fix: Ask yourself if this campaign is supposed to be for bottom-of-funnel conversion. If yes, that spend is likely wasted. You may need to move to a "Feed-Only" PMax structure or tighten your asset groups to force Google to focus on the Shopping feed rather than forcing video impressions.
To get a clearer picture of where your budget is going, use the channel performance report or channel distribution table to analyze spend by ad format and channel. This helps you identify if video ads or other formats are taking up more budget than intended.
I think about this as budget stewardship in PPC strategy work.
Every dollar in your ad account is a resource you control, and effective budget stewardship is a cornerstone of performance marketing.
PMax will spend it, but you decide the guardrails.
By auditing placements and tightening structures, you transform wasted spend into incremental revenue.
The strategist’s role is not to resist automation, but to ensure it'’s accountable, with the goal of achieving optimal performance through disciplined auditing.
2. The Final URL Expansion Leak
PMax has a feature called final URL Expansion. Think of it as Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) on steroids. Google spiders your site and decides where to send traffic.
The theory? It finds new pockets of demand. The reality? In 2025, it often sends expensive clicks to your "Terms and Conditions" page, your blog posts from 2019, or out-of-stock product categories.
This kind of misallocation is similar to common agency tactics that drain ad spend.
The Audit: Navigate to the PMax Campaign > Listing Groups, but look for the "Landing Page" report (or use the custom report editor).
The Red Flag: Sort by cost. Are your top landing pages actual Product Detail Pages (PDPs) or Collections? Or are you paying $3.00 a click for traffic to your "About Us" page?
The Fix: At the campaign level, aggressively exclude non-commercial URLs and control final url expansion settings. If final url expansion isn'’t beating your standard campaigns, turn it off at the campaign level. Do not let the algorithm “explore” on your dime without boundaries.
Setting Up Tracking and Measurement
Before you can truly optimize your Performance Max campaigns, you need to trust your data. That starts with setting up robust tracking and measurement systems inside your Google Ads account. Begin by ensuring that conversion tracking is not only enabled, but also accurately configured to capture every meaningful action whether that’s a purchase, a lead form submission, or another key event.
Take advantage of enhanced conversion tracking, which allows for more precise attribution by securely sending hashed first-party data to Google. This step is crucial for understanding the true impact of your campaigns and for feeding the algorithm the high-quality conversion data it needs to optimize performance.
Don’t forget to link your Google Ads account with Google Analytics. This integration provides a more complete view of campaign performance, letting you analyze return on ad spend (ROAS), conversion value, and other essential performance metrics. Regularly review these metrics to spot trends, identify underperforming areas, and make data-driven decisions about where to allocate your ad spend for maximum impact.
By prioritizing accurate tracking and ongoing measurement, you set the foundation for Performance Max to deliver real, measurable results—not just vanity metrics.
The black box metaphor is useful, but misleading.
PMax isn’t opaque, it’s just layered. With the right reports and checking the landing pages, you can peel back those layers and see exactly where your budget flows across all of Google's advertising channels and the full Google Ads inventory.
Transparency isn’t given; it’s built through disciplined auditing.
3. The "Mobile App" Money Pit
This is the silent killer of ROAS in 2025. PMax loves to serve Display ads inside mobile apps and games (think Candy Crush or utility apps). These placements generate massive amounts of accidental clicks, which often result in poor lead quality because users are not genuinely interested in your offer.
Accidental clicks are a reminder that qualified traffic beats vanity metrics.
Google'’s algorithm sees a “click” and thinks it’s doing a good job. You see a bounce rate of 99% and zero conversions, which signals low lead quality and wasted ad spend.
The Audit: Go to Reports > Other > Performance Max campaigns placements.
The Red Flag: Look at where your impressions are coming from. If you see a long list of mobile applications, you are burning cash.
The Fix: You cannot easily exclude these in the PMax settings menu anymore. You need to apply account-level placement exclusions for app categories and refine your audience segments to avoid low-quality app placements. If your agency hasn't done this, they are letting Google inflate your CTR with junk traffic.
Auditing Audience Signals
One of the most powerful levers in Performance Max campaigns is your audience signals. These signals tell Google’s algorithm who your ideal customers are, helping the system prioritize ad delivery to the users most likely to convert. But automation is only as smart as the signals you provide.
Start your audit by reviewing your customer match audience and custom segment audience settings. Are these audiences up-to-date and aligned with your current campaign objectives? Make sure you’re leveraging existing customer data to inform your targeting, and that your custom segments reflect the behaviors and interests of your target audience.
Next, dig into your search terms and negative keywords. Are you excluding irrelevant queries that drive wasted ad spend? Use account level negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing for searches that don’t align with your goals. This not only sharpens your audience targeting but also ensures your budget is spent reaching the right people.
By regularly auditing and refining your audience signals, you help Performance Max focus on the users who matter most, maximizing your campaign’s efficiency and effectiveness.
4. Moving Beyond the Interface: The Scripting Era and Bidding Strategy
The native Google Ads interface is still intentionally vague. It groups "Search" and "Shopping" into broad buckets, making it difficult to see how much spend is actually going to Shopping ads across Search, YouTube, and Maps.
To truly manage a large portfolio, you must move beyond the interface. I utilize custom scripts (like the widely adopted Mike Rhodes PMax script) to visualize spend allocation. These scripts can also break down spend by product data, allowing you to analyze performance for ads that utilize product information feeds, such as Shopping and dynamic remarketing.
I need to know:
How much spend went to Shopping ads (High intent)?
How much went to Video/Display (Top of funnel)?
How much went to Brand Search (Cannibalizing your own organic traffic)?
When reviewing campaign structure, remember that in Performance Max, ad groups are now referred to as asset groups. Analyzing performance at the asset group level provides more granular insights, especially when Google AI generates videos and creative assets based on the assets grouped at this level.
If your current report just says “PMax: 500% ROAS,” but 80% of that was Brand Search you would have gotten anyway, the campaign isn’t working but it’s taking credit for work you already did.
Labeling Products in the Feed
For e-commerce brands, the way you label products in your feed can make or break your Performance Max campaigns. Strategic labeling allows you to isolate specific products, control budget allocation, and align your campaign structure with your broader marketing objectives.
Start by separating lower-cost accessories from your primary product lines using custom labels. This makes it easier to create asset groups or even separate campaigns that target these products differently, ensuring your ad spend is directed where it will have the most impact. Use labels that reflect your business priorities—such as “Best Sellers,” “High Margin,” or “Seasonal”, to facilitate more precise targeting and reporting.
Proper product labeling not only streamlines campaign management but also enhances campaign performance and ROI by allowing you to allocate budget where it drives the most value. In short, a well-organized product feed is the backbone of any successful Performance Max strategy.
Targeted Locations
Location targeting is a critical, yet often overlooked, component of Performance Max campaigns. Where your ads are shown can have a significant impact on campaign performance and overall return on ad spend.
Begin by reviewing your campaign settings to ensure your targeted locations align with your business objectives. Are you focusing on regions where you have the capacity to deliver, or are you wasting ad spend on low performing user locations? Use location targeting to exclude areas that consistently underperform, and consider narrowing your focus to specific geographic regions where you see the best results.
Monitor performance metrics at the location level, such as conversion rate, cost per conversion, and overall ad spend, to identify trends and opportunities for optimization. By fine-tuning your targeted locations, you can maximize your budget allocation and drive better performance from your Performance Max campaigns, ensuring every dollar works harder for your business.
This requires a paid search strategy focused on the long-term instead of immediacy.
Short‑term ROAS can be deceptive. A campaign that looks efficient today may be leaning heavily on brand search or accidental clicks. True strategy means asking: Is this spend creating new demand, or just recycling what I already own? That distinction is where profitability lives.
To truly grow, focus on customer acquisition strategies—using tools like Customer Match, bid adjustments, and brand exclusions, to attract new customers, not just recycle existing demand. Demand gen campaigns are also essential for reaching potential customers early in their journey on platforms like YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and the Google Display Network.
Consider using different campaigns to target specific objectives, geographic locations, or market segments, and always compare Performance Max to other campaigns to ensure balanced growth and avoid common pitfalls.
Something I said the other day on LinkedIn that others in the industry loved was: “You can’t scale a lie”.
Summary: Control the Inputs, Audit the Outputs
Automation does not mean abdication. As the platform becomes more automated, the role of the PPC Strategist shifts from "bidder" to "auditor" and "architect." Reviewing overall performance is essential to understand campaign health and identify areas for optimization.
This shift mirrors a bigger industry change: why the traditional agency model is failing.
If you suspect your PMax campaigns are leaning too heavily on brand traffic, leaking budget into mobile games, or prioritizing views over sales, it is time for a forensic audit. As part of your audit, ensure you are selecting an appropriate bidding strategy aligned with your goals and regularly reviewing your bidding strategy for optimal results. Audit your creative assets and use performance ratings to identify and improve underperforming elements. Also, make sure your campaigns are targeting both new and existing customers for maximum impact.
Automation doesn’t absolve responsibility. It amplifies it. By stepping into the role of auditor and architect, you reclaim control. Waste exists, but you are not powerless. You are the one who decides whether PMax is a liability or a growth engine.
Because at the end of the day, building campaigns is easy—doing it well takes skill.
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