More Control Over Your Campaigns
One of the biggest frustrations with Performance Max has been the lack of control over where and how your ads appear. With these updates, advertisers now get more precise tools to steer AI in the right direction.
A major improvement is the rollout of campaign-level negative keywords, which is now available to all advertisers. This means you can prevent your ads from showing up for irrelevant or low-quality searches, helping to keep your budget focused on high-intent users.
There’s also a new customer acquisition goal with High Value Mode, which allows businesses to target customers based on their predicted lifetime value rather than just looking for one-time buyers. This is a game-changer for businesses that want to prioritise high-value customers over short-term conversions.
Brand exclusions have also been upgraded for retail campaigns. Now, advertisers can separately exclude brands for Search text ads and Shopping ads, which means more precision in how and where brand restrictions are applied.
Another key update is the ability to create “URL contains” rules to target specific page categories. Previously, Performance Max campaigns lacked this level of detail, making it harder to optimise traffic toward the right landing pages. Now, Google is expanding this feature to product feed campaigns, making it easier to direct users to relevant products and offers.
There are also a couple of exciting features currently in beta. Demographic exclusions will let advertisers refine their targeting by age brackets, such as excluding users aged 18-24 if they don’t fit the ideal customer profile. Additionally, device targeting is being tested, giving advertisers the option to customise targeting for desktop, mobile, or tablet users based on performance data.
Better Search Reporting & Actionable Insights
Performance Max campaigns are often criticized for being a bit of a black box when it comes to reporting, but Google is making efforts to change that. With these updates, advertisers will now get clearer insights into how their campaigns are performing in Search and what’s actually driving conversions.
A new “usefulness indicator” is being introduced for search themes, helping advertisers understand whether certain themes are actually contributing to campaign success. Advertisers will also get better visibility into whether queries are coming from keyword-less targeting or from manually added search themes. This added transparency should make it easier to fine-tune targeting and make more informed campaign adjustments.
Search terms insights are also getting a boost, allowing advertisers to see which queries are converting best and which might need to be excluded. This should help in reducing wasted ad spend and focusing more on high-intent searchers.
More Detailed Asset Group Reporting
Asset groups are a key component of Performance Max, but up until now, analyzing performance at a granular level has been a challenge. With the latest updates, advertisers can now segment and download performance data based on key factors like conversions by device, time of day, and more.
This means advertisers can easily see which assets and creative elements are driving the best results and adjust their strategy accordingly. Plus, making this data more accessible outside the Google Ads interface makes it easier to share insights across teams and optimise campaigns more efficiently.
Why These Updates Matter
Google’s push for automation and AI-driven campaigns has been both a blessing and a curse for advertisers. While automation helps streamline campaign management, the lack of control over targeting and budget allocation has been a major pain point. These new updates give advertisers the best of both worlds—the ability to use Google’s AI while still maintaining a higher level of control and insight.
For businesses that rely on Performance Max, these updates mean you can now:
- Fine-tune AI to better match your campaign goals
- Understand what’s driving performance and optimise accordingly
- Focus on high-value customers rather than just chasing clicks
These improvements make Performance Max a more powerful tool for businesses that want to balance automation with data-driven decision-making. If you’ve been hesitant about fully embracing Performance Max, now might be the time to start testing these new features and seeing how they can improve your campaign results.
