# Google Ads Performance Max > Build and optimize Performance Max campaigns — asset groups, listing groups, audience signals, and PMax-specific diagnostics. Triggers on 'set up Performance Max', 'PMax campaign', 'my PMax is underperforming', or 'asset groups for Performance Max'. Deep PMax-specific work — for initial campaign-type selection see google-ads-campaign-builder or google-ads-strategy. - Skill: `gmmh1/google-ads-performance-max` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add gmmh1/google-ads-performance-max` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/gmmh1/google-ads-performance-max/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Marketing & Growth - Author: gmmh1 (https://skillmd.com/u/gmmh1) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/gmmh1/google-ads-performance-max --- # Google Ads Performance Max > **Currency & scope note (last reviewed 2026-07-19):** Platform mechanics referenced here (character limits, campaign-type names, feature availability, thresholds, benchmark figures, policy specifics) reflect general practice as of the review date above and are **not guaranteed current** — ad platforms change quickly. Verify anything mechanical against the platform's live documentation before relying on it for a real launch, real spend, or a compliance-sensitive decision. This is an independent, unofficial resource, not affiliated with or endorsed by any platform named in it, and nothing here is legal, tax, or financial advice. ## Purpose Build and optimize Performance Max campaigns — Google's automated, full-inventory campaign type spanning Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from a single campaign — with the asset-group and signal quality that determines whether the automation actually performs. ## Trigger Conditions - "Set up a Performance Max campaign" - "My PMax campaign is underperforming" - "Build asset groups for PMax" - "Should I run PMax alongside my Search campaigns" ## Required Inputs - Business type (ecommerce with product feed vs. lead-gen/service business) - Conversion goal and current conversion volume (PMax needs meaningful conversion history to leave the learning phase effectively) - Available creative assets: images, logos, headlines, descriptions, video (PMax will auto-generate video from images if none is supplied, usually a lower-quality fallback) - Existing Search campaign structure, if running PMax alongside Search (cannibalization risk to manage) ## Core Capabilities ### Asset Groups - Asset groups as PMax's version of ad groups — organized by product/service theme, not just one catch-all group for the whole account - Full asset coverage per group: multiple headlines/descriptions/images/logos, and native video where possible instead of relying on auto-generated video - Asset strength indicator as a real, actionable diagnostic — "poor"/"average" ratings correlate with real delivery limitations, not just a vanity score ### Audience Signals - Audience signals (customer lists, website visitors, in-market/affinity segments, interests) as a starting point for the algorithm, not hard targeting — PMax can and will expand beyond signals if it finds performance elsewhere - First-party data (Customer Match) as the highest-quality signal input, coordinate with `google-ads-remarketing` ### Listing Groups (Ecommerce) - Product feed dependency for ecommerce PMax — quality issues here (see `google-ads-shopping-feed`) directly cap PMax ecommerce performance - Listing group structure and custom labels for prioritizing high-margin/bestseller products within PMax ### Campaign-Level Controls - URL expansion setting: allowing Google to send traffic to pages beyond explicitly provided final URLs based on landing page content match — powerful but requires page exclusion review to prevent traffic to irrelevant/low-quality pages - Brand exclusions/inclusions to control whether PMax can bid on the business's own brand terms (usually should be excluded if a dedicated brand Search campaign already exists, to avoid budget cannibalization) - Negative keywords at the account or campaign level (PMax negative keyword support is more limited than Search — flag this constraint explicitly) ### Diagnostics & Optimization - Channel/placement performance reporting is limited by design in PMax (a known, deliberate tradeoff of the automation) — set this expectation before promising Search-level transparency - Insights tab (search terms insights, audience insights, demographic insights) as the primary available diagnostic surface - Diagnosing "PMax underperforming" as: insufficient conversion volume for the learning phase, weak/poor-rated assets, poor audience signals, or landing page/feed quality — not a single generic cause ## Workflow 1. Confirm business type, conversion volume, and available creative assets. 2. Build multiple theme-based asset groups (not one catch-all group), maximizing asset count and quality per group. 3. Set audience signals from best available first-party data. 4. For ecommerce, verify feed health and set up listing group/custom label structure (route to `google-ads-shopping-feed` if feed issues exist). 5. Configure URL expansion and brand exclusion settings deliberately, not left at default. 6. Set expectations on limited placement-level reporting before launch. 7. When optimizing an existing underperforming PMax, diagnose via asset strength, conversion volume, Insights tab data, and feed/landing page quality — in that order. ## Outputs - Asset group structure with per-group asset inventory and strength ratings - Audience signal recommendation - URL expansion and brand exclusion configuration - Underperformance diagnosis (when optimizing), tied to a specific root cause - Expectation-setting note on PMax's limited transparency vs. Search ## Rules - Never launch PMax with only one catch-all asset group when the business has genuinely distinct product/service themes — this dilutes signal and asset relevance. - Always check feed health (`google-ads-shopping-feed`) before diagnosing ecommerce PMax underperformance as an audience or asset problem. - Set the expectation upfront that PMax reporting transparency is intentionally limited — don't imply the user will get Search-campaign-level placement detail. - Recommend brand exclusion in PMax when a dedicated brand Search campaign exists, to prevent budget cannibalization of cheap brand clicks. - **Verification gate:** before this skill's output is used to spend real money, submit a compliance-sensitive claim, or go to a client as final, verify the mechanical specifics (limits, thresholds, policy rules) against current platform documentation and get explicit human sign-off — do not treat this skill's output as launch-ready without that check. ## Related Skills `google-ads-campaign-builder` (overall campaign type selection), `google-ads-shopping-feed` (feed quality dependency), `google-ads-remarketing` (audience signal source), `google-ads-optimization` (general performance diagnosis), `google-ads-strategy` (PMax vs. Search allocation decision).