Is your Performance Max campaign actually set up properly?

Your campaign, honestly

Feed & asset quality

• Product feed is clean Titles and descriptions are specific and keyword-rich, not just the manufacturer's generic copy. GTIN/MPN populated where they exist.
• Every asset group has real, varied assets Multiple headlines, descriptions, images and at least one video — not just Google's auto-generated stand-ins.
• Asset group strength is "Good" or "Excellent" Not left at "Poor" because nobody went back to check after launch.

Structure & control

• Campaigns are split by margin or priority, not lumped into one A single Pmax campaign covering the whole catalogue means the algorithm optimises revenue, not profit.
• Brand is excluded or isolated Brand search exclusions are in place, or brand traffic is split into its own campaign — otherwise Pmax quietly takes credit for demand it didn't create.
• Account-level negative keywords are set The one lever Google gives you for search terms inside Pmax — most accounts never touch it.
• Listing groups exclude what shouldn't be advertised Out-of-stock, discontinued or unprofitable SKUs aren't quietly burning spend.

Signals & measurement

• Audience signals are populated Customer match, site visitors and custom segments feeding in as a starting point — not left blank and hoping the algorithm figures it out cold.
• Conversion tracking counts the right thing Value-based bidding is fed real order values or lead quality, not a flat "1 conversion = 1 conversion" that treats a £10 sale like a £1,000 one.
• tROAS or tCPA is grounded in real margin The target was set from actual break-even maths, not copied from a competitor's blog post.

Ongoing management

• Search terms insights are checked regularly It's the closest thing to a search query report Pmax gives you — most people never open it after month one.
• Placement exclusions have been reviewed Display and YouTube placements checked at least once for anything obviously wrong.
• Nothing changed in the last two weeks without a reason Pmax needs a stable learning period. Constant budget or target tweaks reset it and you never see steady-state performance.