SEM Management
In this post, we’re going to review common beliefs about the functioning and management of Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. From the beginning, they were understood as a format where you just add some assets and signals, and Google takes care of everything. On top of that, they promised better results based on the investment.
Many advertisers paused Standard Shopping and Search campaigns to move over to PMax, hoping to achieve better results while saving time. But many were disappointed shortly after. In fact, a lot of them went back to the older campaign types.
At Dolnai, we’ve had the chance to analyze thousands of PMax campaigns and identify the main misconceptions around them. By being clear on these points and taking action, campaign performance can improve. Though let’s be honest: it takes time for analysis and management—something Dolnai can help you with, not only to be more efficient but also to reach better conclusions.
Reality: Audience signals are suggestions for Google about who to show ads to, not hard fences. Google will still roam. This often leads to irrelevant users being targeted.
Tip: Exclude your brand and junk terms. Layer in remarketing lists only after you’ve hit 50+ conversions or you’ll starve the algo.
In PMax, it’s important to strike a balance between not choking campaigns with constant restrictions and not wasting budget on low-quality traffic.
It’s also now possible to segment by gender and age to refine audiences further.
Reality: Each asset group fights for the same budget pool. Too many = data thins out
Tip: Start with 1 or 2 groups per intent or funnel stage. Only split them once they reach more than 100 conversions. This way, Google has the chance to learn which asset combinations perform best for each search.
Reality: PMax sees revenue, not cost of goods. Margin-killer SKUs can still dominate spend.
Tip: Segment by margin tiers or feed custom labels. Exclude low-margin SKUs from PMax and run them in Standard Shopping.
There are different sstrategies that you can apply depending on your objectives. Once you have launched your Pmax report, we encourage you to discuss the strategy with our specialist
Reality: Themes add signals; they don’t block bad queries.
Tip: Monitor search terms weekly and add negatives (this is now possible in PMax). Try to keep wasted spend on irrelevant searches below 10%.
PMax promises to reach users you wouldn’t find with Search campaigns, which is why the two can complement each other.
If you also have Search campaigns running, decide which type of campaign you want specific queries to trigger. When bids are equal, the campaign with the higher Ad Rank will show. But if bids differ, one campaign will be disadvantaged.
Reality: Great for discovery, terrible for tracking if your site has thin or expired pages. URL expansion is very helpful at the start to see which pages have the most relevant content for conversions. But if left unchecked, it becomes hard to track performance and often directs traffic to non-converting destinations (expired pages, blogs, pages without CTAs, etc.).
Each page should have a clear objective, and sending ads to one without a conversion goal is a big mistake.
Tip: Toggle off by default. Manually whitelist high-CVR URLs once you have clean GA4 data on them.
Reality: PMax can cannibalise branded or Shopping traffic to fake a ROAS glow-up.
Tip: Compare SKU-level revenue vs. blended CAC weekly. Watch brand-search impressions; if they tank while PMax ROAS spikes, you’re cannibalising
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