Performance Max—often shortened to PMax—is Google Ads’ goal-based campaign type. Instead of setting keywords and placements, you give Google a conversion goal, a budget, and your best creative assets. Google’s automation then decides where the ads appear: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. It is the closest thing to an autonomous ad account inside Google Ads, and it is the campaign type most advertisers are asking about by name.
PMax is built for two jobs. First, to reach people outside Search without building separate campaigns—Shopping, Display, video, and Gmail placements that would otherwise each need their own setup. Second, to convert that traffic toward a defined action, like a purchase, a lead form, or a phone call. The system optimizes in real time toward that action using data from your account and Google’s own signals. Most healthy accounts run PMax alongside Search: Search for query control, PMax for expansion.
Search campaigns are keyword-driven. You pick the search terms, write text ads, and decide how aggressively to bid. Performance Max is goal-driven. You provide assets and audience signals, and Google decides where the ad shows.
| Element | Search Campaign | Performance Max |
|---|---|---|
| Core input | Keywords | Conversion goal + audience signals |
| Creative | Text ads (headlines, descriptions) | Text, images, logos, video |
| Inventory | Google Search and partners | Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, Maps |
| Control | High—per keyword | Lower—per campaign and asset group |
| Bidding | Manual or Smart Bidding | Smart Bidding only |
Use Search when you need to protect brand terms, measure exact-match demand, or push a specific offer to a specific query. Use Performance Max when you want to expand to Shopping, Display, and YouTube under one roof. The two aren’t enemies in a healthy account; they’re usually adjacent.
An asset group is the core building block of a Performance Max campaign. It contains your final URL, text assets, images, logos, videos, and audience signals. Google uses these assets to assemble ads for every placement.
The required pieces are at least one text asset, one image asset, and a final URL. Video and logo are optional—though if you skip video, Google will generate one from your images. The quality of those assets matters more than the count. A small set of well-made, on-message assets almost always beats a big pile of recycled ones.
Google’s official minimum image sizes for Performance Max, at the time of writing, are:
Google recommends much larger: 1200 × 628 for landscape, 1200 × 1200 for square, and 960 × 1200 for portrait. For video, aim for a 10–30 second clip at 16:9 or 1:1. Keep text and product details centered—Google crops automatically for different placements.
The official 2026 asset requirements are published in Google Ads Help, and they change. If you rely on a screenshot from 2025, you may submit something Google now rejects. The stable parts of the spec:
When in doubt, open Google Ads Help and check the current table before you build.
PMax needs supervision. It can cannibalize branded Search and hide where exactly your budget went. Someone has to watch budgets, review placements, and make sure the assets are being used well. That someone can be an in-house specialist, an agency, or an autonomous service.
groas runs Google Ads accounts end to end—PMax included—and reports every action it takes. It builds, runs, and improves campaigns continuously, while a named groas account manager owns the direction and the result. If that sounds like a better use of your time, start the 7-day free trial. If not, at least assign one human who has enough data to judge whether PMax is actually performing.
