Where Do Performance Max Ads Show
Kyle Headland |
13 August, 2025 |
5 minute read |
Blog, Digital Marketing, PPC
Running ads on Google used to require managing half a dozen different campaigns at once.
Performance Max changes the game by putting Google’s entire advertising inventory into a single, AI-driven campaign.
If you are looking for a way to find customers across the entire Google ecosystem without manually setting up separate ads for every platform, this is the tool you need. Performance Max (often called PMax) is an automated, all-in-one campaign type designed to find you new customers based on their intent and behaviour, rather than just the specific keywords they type.
In this guide, we will break down exactly what Performance Max is, how it finds hidden customers, and the specific “guardrails” you need to stop it from wasting your budget.
The All-in-One Solution for Google Ads
Performance Max is exactly what it sounds like: a campaign type designed to maximise performance by accessing every channel Google owns.
Instead of creating a separate campaign for YouTube ads and another for display advertising, PMax does it all for you. It uses Google’s advanced AI to automatically assemble your creative assets (images, videos, headlines, and logos) into ads that fit the platform the user is currently looking at.
With one campaign, your ads can appear on:
- Google Search results
- Gmail ads
- Google Maps
- YouTube
- Google Display Network
- Google Discover
- Search Partners
This allows you to catch potential customers regardless of whether they are checking their email, watching a video, or browsing the web.
How It Finds Customers Without Keywords
The biggest difference between PMax and traditional Google Search Ads is that PMax is largely “keywordless.”
In a standard search campaign, you bid on specific words like “running shoes.” In Performance Max, you provide “Audience Signals.” You tell Google who your ideal customer is by uploading customer lists or selecting interests (e.g., “people interested in marathons”).
Google’s AI then uses these signals as a starting point. It looks at the behaviour and intent of users across the web to find people who look and act like your best customers, even if they aren’t searching for your exact keywords right now.
Note: While largely keywordless, Google recently introduced “Search Themes,” which allow you to give the AI specific topics to look out for, giving you a bit more control than before.
Finding the Customers You Missed
Because PMax looks at behaviour and intent, it often finds “net new” customers—people you never thought to target.
For example, you might be targeting people searching for “accounting software.” However, PMax might notice that users who visit small business advice blogs and watch entrepreneurship videos on YouTube also convert at a high rate. It will go after those users automatically, expanding your reach beyond what standard keyword targeting could achieve.
Want to learn more? Check out our beginner’s guide to Performance Max to understand the foundations of keyword targeting.
Why Guardrails Are Essential
As powerful as Performance Max is, it can be dangerous without supervision.
Because PMax is designed to “get conversions at any cost,” it will go after anyone it thinks might convert. Without proper guardrails, it might spend your budget bidding on your own brand name (which is often wasted spend) or showing ads on low-quality websites.
To make PMax effective, you must give it strict boundaries:
- Negative Keywords: You must add negative keywords (often at the account level) to prevent the AI from bidding on irrelevant terms.
- Brand Exclusions: Tell PMax not to bid on your own brand name so it focuses on finding new people.
- Specific Goals: Ensure you are feeding it the right data so it hunts for your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), not just anyone who clicks.
When to Use Performance Max
PMax should rarely be your only campaign type. It works best as a “force multiplier” alongside your existing search campaigns.
Think of it this way: Your standard Search campaigns harvest the demand you know exists. Performance Max goes out and generates new demand.
The Golden Rule of Data: Because PMax relies on machine learning, it needs data to learn. If you launch it on a brand-new account with zero history, it may struggle to find the right people.
A good rule of thumb is that your account should have a minimum of 15 conversions in the last 30 days before you rely heavily on Performance Max. This gives the AI enough “success stories” to analyse so it knows what a good customer looks like.
Our final thoughts
Performance Max is one of the most powerful tools in the modern advertiser’s toolkit. It simplifies cross-channel advertising and uses AI to uncover new customers that traditional keywords often miss. However, it requires a “trust but verify” approach.
By pairing PMax with other campaigns and ensuring you have enough conversion data (at least 15 in the last month), you can unlock massive growth without wasting your budget on the wrong audience.
Explore more insights on our resources page and find out the best way to scale your Google Ads.
