New Google Ads Performance Max Control & Reporting You Need to Know About
Kyle Headland |
12 August, 2025 |
2 minute read |
Blog, PPC
Google Ads Performance Max — New Controls & Reporting
Google has just rolled out a major Performance Max (PMax) update, giving advertisers far more control and visibility over campaigns. For years, PMax was a bit of a black box—powerful, but lacking the transparency and fine-tuning Search advertisers rely on.
Here’s a breakdown of the recent updates:
Sharper Targeting Controls
Campaign-level negative keyword lists – Apply exclusions like “free” across multiple PMax campaigns without having to edit each one.
Expanded search themes – Now up to 50 themes per asset group (up from 25), giving you more flexibility in guiding Google’s targeting.
Full demographic & device targeting – Control by age and device; gender targeting is currently in beta.
Smarter New-Customer Insights
Improved accuracy when classifying new vs. existing customers, reducing “Unknown” classifications.
Goal diagnostics now flag tracking or reporting issues (like missing tags) and guide you to fix them.
Creative Control & Visibility
Final URL expansion assets are now visible and removable, giving you power over Google’s auto-generated content. To make the most of this feature you will need to turn this feature on in your campaign settings.
AI-driven creative recommendations – Receive tailored suggestions to improve your image assets, plus direct access to Google’s built-in image editor.
Search Term Visibility
You can now view Performance Max search terms in your regular search terms report—a huge win for transparency.
Pro tip: Add irrelevant search terms directly to your asset groups as negatives.
Where to find them:
Campaigns > Insights > Search Terms
Why It Matters for B2B
For B2B advertisers, wasted spend on irrelevant clicks can eat up budgets fast. These updates:
Reduce waste by letting you cut out poor-quality traffic early.
Improve targeting precision with more demographic, device, and keyword controls.
Increase transparency so you can optimise based on real data, not guesswork.
The result? More budget going towards the prospects who are most likely to convert.
Next Steps
If you’re running Performance Max, log in today and:
Build and apply negative keyword lists.
Review your search terms report for waste.
Update your asset groups using AI’s creative recommendations.
These changes make PMax a lot more viable for performance-driven advertisers—especially in competitive B2B markets.
