If you’re running Google Ads, you’ve likely encountered the “black box” of Performance Max (PMax) campaigns.
I know it’s frustrating when you can’t see where your budget is going or which assets and products are truly driving results.
So, for that I built Dolnai to open up that black box, and in this playbook I’m going to walk you through my hands-on process for auditing and optimizing PMax campaigns. Everything here is first-person and field-tested – the same steps I use with our clients and in our own campaigns.
Built for: PPC Managers, Paid Media Leads, CMOs, Agency Owners running Google Ads.
Try Dolnai for 3 days for free.
Performance Max campaigns are powerful, but also frustrating. Google hides critical data, leading to:
Google wants advertisers to rely on automation. The less you see, the harder it is to challenge wasted spend. By auditing hidden layers (products, placements, terms), you gain back control.
Before scaling, make sure your setup is solid.
⚡ Pro Tip: Track what changed and what happened. Saves hours long term.
Your first step is to audit systematically.
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Finally, see where your PMax spend goes (Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display…).
What to check:
Actions:
⚡One retailer thought 90% of spend was Shopping. We showed them YouTube was eating 35% with $0 sales. Fixing it dropped CPA immediately.
Most advertisers don’t realize Shopping may only get 50–60% of total PMax spend, while Display & Video burn budget quietly.
Try Dolnai for 3 days for free.
Try Dolnai for 3 days for free.
Your products decide ROAS. Treat them like ad assets.
Group Products:
💡 Pro Move: Break best sellers into their own PMax. Let budget flow to winners.
High ROAS winners, Break-even, Bad Sellers.
Helps maximize impression share on winners while throttling dead stock.
📊 Example:
Products that stay “ugly” for >365 days should be retired or repositioned. Restructure with new titles/images → tested via Dolnai “X-Ray.”
Products that run for months, generate impressions, but never convert.
When to Pause vs Restructure
Pause → 0 conversions across 3+ months.
Restructure → Some clicks but poor CTR. Try new titles or grouping.
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Yes, your PMax ads show up on random apps/sites. Many waste budget.
Dolnai highlights competitor placements.
Use these sites for direct display buys or retargeting.
Placements show where your ads run. Many are irrelevant websites draining budget.
Get back some keyword control.
What to look for:
Action: Add negatives at account level.
⚖️ Decide: Let PMax eat brand searches or exclude them for cleaner new-customer data.
Hidden search terms = wasted clicks.
Use N-Gram not only for negatives, but also for creative refresh patterns.
Terms with “discount” cluster underperform vs terms with “best/quality.”
N-Gram groups search terms by word clusters.
How to Use N-Gram
Green = good clusters (scale them).
Red = wasted terms (negative keywords).
Blue = test for creative refresh.
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Assets = your biggest lever in PMax. Don’t guess, classify them.
4 Buckets:
Use metrics (CTR, CPA, Conv): Trim losers, scale winners, test new ideas.
⚡ Why Ugly & Zombies Matter: Ugly drags CTR down. Zombies clutter data. Both confuse the algo. Clean them out fast.
Identify assets that sell vs assets that flop.
Action Steps:
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PMax is not set-and-forget.
🔄 Loop every month:
⚙️ Use Dolnai’s extra tools:
Scaling Timeline:
Agency Tip
If campaigns share similar intent, merge them. If audiences differ, split for precision.
Anonymous data (real Dolnai reporting)
A €600k/mo travel advertiser cut wasted Display spend by 27% and reallocated to Shopping/Search → ROAS improved 22% in 60 days
Expert Hacks
PMax is a tool to achieve business goals (like revenue, ROAS, customer acquisition). After implementing fixes, ask “Did this move me closer to my goal?” If not, reconsider. Sometimes, for example, cutting waste might reduce conversions but improve profitability – make sure that aligns with what you need (maybe you actually wanted max conversions, even if some are inefficient? Or vice versa).
As a founder, I often weigh these trade-offs directly: growth vs efficiency. Use PMax data to inform those high-level decisions.
🤝 Always Human Creativity: PMax is Google’s AI at work, but don’t forget the human element – you. Use insights from PMax to feed other channels and vice versa. If a certain audience or message kills it on Facebook Ads, bring it into PMax via assets or audience signals. If PMax finds a killer search term, maybe that’s a hint for your SEO strategy. In other words, integrate PMax learnings into your broader marketing playbook.
Lastly, keep in mind PMax is still evolving. Google is likely to provide more transparency and controls (slowly, but it’s happening).
When you apply these steps, you’re effectively partnering with the AI – letting it do what it’s good at (automation and finding patterns) while you do what you’re good at (strategy, creative tweaks, and business judgment).
Stop wasting spend, save your team hours every week, and unlock profitable growth.
👉 Book a free 15-min strategy call. I will explain the whole process through quick walkthrough.
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