So you’re running performance Max. You were told it was the future. An all-in-one campaign type that uses Google’s big brain AI to find customers everywhere.
You just feed it some pictures and words. Then sit back and watch the sales roll in.
Except that’s not what happened, is it?
Your budget is disappearing faster than free donuts in the breakroom. And the results are, well, confusing at best.
You feel like you’re just throwing money into a black box and hoping something good comes out. You’re not alone.
Let’s get this sorted for 2025. It is time that you stopped letting the machine run your wallet.
Why Your PMax Campaign is a Money Pit
The biggest problem with PMax is also its main selling point. It’s an automated system.
This system is designed to spend your entire daily budget. It will find the easiest possible way to do that.
Often, this means it just bids on your own brand name.
People typing your company name into Google were going to find you anyway. Now you’re paying top dollar for that click.
It’s a way the system can look good. It gets cheap conversions and reports a great return. But it’s not new growth.
The AI doesn’t understand your business goals. Not really. It just understands the data you give it.
If your data is messy or your signals are weak, you are telling it to go chase the wrong people. It’s that simple.
The Real Fixes for Your PMax Ads
Talking about the problems is one thing. Doing something about it is another.
It is generally considered that you have little control over PMax. But that’s not entirely true.
You just have to know which levers to pull. The controls are there, they’re just not obvious.
You have to be smarter about what you feed the machine. Let’s look at the big areas you need to fix.
Your Assets Are Probably Not Good Enough
This is the number one issue, typically. You threw in a few logos and some old ad copy.
You need to treat Asset Groups like they are their own little ad groups. They need a tight theme.
If you sell shoes, don’t have one giant asset group. Make one for running shoes. One for hiking boots. One for casual sneakers.
Images: Give it lots of high-quality images. Show the product in use. Show different angles. Make them look real, not like sterile stock photos people ignore.
Videos: Video is huge for PMax. It needs video to run on YouTube. If you dont give it one, it will make a horrible slideshow for you. A simple 15-second phone video is better than that.
Text: Write lots of headlines and descriptions. Don’t be lazy. Give it long ones, short ones. Some with questions. Some with a call to action. The more options the better.
Think of it like this. You are giving the AI a box of building blocks. The better the blocks, the better the thing it builds.
Audience Signals Are Your Steering Wheel
An audience signal is not a targeting instruction. This is what most people get wrong.
You are not telling PMax “only show ads to these people”.
You are telling it “start by looking at people like this”. The AI will then go and find others it thinks are similar.
So your starting point has to be really good.
Your Data: Use your own customer lists. People who have bought before. Or people who added to cart but didnt buy. This is the strongest signal you can possibly give it.
Custom Segments: Build segments based on what people search for on Google. Or websites they visit. If you sell hiking boots, make a segment of people searching for “best hiking trails” or visiting competitor websites.
Search Themes: This is a newer feature but it’s pretty good. It lets you give the campaign keywords to guide it. It’s not the same as old search campaigns, but it helps point the AI in the right direction for Search inventory.
Don’t just add one signal. Layer them. Give it a few different, high-quality starting points.
You CAN Still Control a Few Things
Google doesn’t make it easy to add negative keywords. But it can be done.
You can add negative keyword lists at the account level. These will then apply to your PMax campaigns.
This is the best way to stop wasting money on your own brand name. Add your brand name and its variations to an account-level negative list.
Also, check your placements. There’s a report where you can see where your ads are showing.
Sometimes you’ll find it’s spending a lot on weird mobile game apps. You can exclude those at the account level too. It takes some digging around, but you can find it.
Are You Even Looking at the Right Numbers?
Another big mistake is how people measure success. The default reports can be misleading.
You might see a high ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). But is it real?
If half your sales are coming from people searching your brand name, that ROAS number is inflated. That’s not new business.
You have to separate brand from non-brand traffic. It’s not easy to do within the PMax reports directly.
You may need to use analytics tools or look at overall business lift. Are total sales going up? Or are PMax sales just stealing from other channels?
Also look at New Customer Acquisition. PMax has a setting to bid more for new customers.
If growth is your goal, you need to turn that on. And then you need to actually measure if you’re getting new people, not just repeat buyers.
What’s Next? Preparing for a Smarter PMax
Things are always changing. The AI is getting smarter.
But that doesn’t mean you can be lazy. It actually means the opposite.
As the AI gets better, the quality of your inputs matters more. Your creative will be the biggest difference-maker.
Your ability to feed it good first-party data will also be a huge advantage. As cookies go away, your own customer lists become gold.
Start thinking now about how you can get more customer data. Email signups. Loyalty programs. Anything that gives you a direct connection.
The future of PMax is less about finding secret settings. It’s more about having a smart strategy for your creative and your data. The machine can only work with what you give it.
Key Takeaways
Stop letting PMax bid on your own brand name by using account-level negative keywords.
Create tightly themed asset groups for each product category, don’t lump everything together.
Use your own customer data for audience signals. It’s the best information you can give Google.
Provide a ton of high-quality assets. Lots of images, headlines, and especially video.
Measure success based on getting new customers, not just a high ROAS that might be misleading.
Don’t just “set it and forget it.” You have to check in and keep giving the system better information to work with.
Stop Wasting Budget: Fix Your PMax Ads Now
Q1: How do I stop PMax from spending all my money on my brand name?
The most effective way is to create a negative keyword list at the account level. Go to your Google Ads account settings, find the negative keyword list section, and add your brand name and any common misspellings. This list will then be applied across all campaigns, including PMax.
Q2: My ads are showing up on weird mobile apps. How do I fix this?
You need to find your account-level placement exclusion list. It’s a bit buried in the settings under “Content.” You can find reports showing where your ads ran and then add low-quality apps or websites to this exclusion list to prevent your ads from appearing there again.
Q3: How many asset groups should I have?
There’s no magic number, but think thematically. You should have a separate asset group for each distinct product or service category. If you sell men’s and women’s clothing, they should be in separate asset groups with their own specific images and ad copy. This keeps your messaging relevant.
Q4: Do I have to make a video for PMax?
You don’t have to, but you really should. If you don’t provide a video, Google will auto-generate a very low-quality one using your images and text. A simple, 15-30 second video shot on a modern smartphone is almost always going to perform better than Google’s auto-generated slideshow.
Q5: What’s the most important signal to give a new PMax campaign?
Your own first-party data. A customer list of people who have purchased from you in the past is the strongest possible signal you can provide. It gives the AI a perfect example of the exact type of person you want it to find more of.
