Performance Max spends one campaign across search, the display network, YouTube, Gmail, Discover and Maps. Put in the place of a B2B search campaign, it leaves a director unable to see which query bought the enquiry. On an account with few form conversions it drifts toward cheap clicks and people who already visited the site.
The query report goes quiet
On a search campaign the search-terms report is how service stays apart from brand. Performance Max does not give that report with the same clarity. When an enquiry arrives, “which sentence did we pay for” has no answer. An asset group is not a keyword list. Headlines and images do not replace a query structure.
Brand and URL are separate decisions
The campaign can spend on brand queries too. If brand is not in its own campaign and not protected, cheap brand clicks get written up as a Performance Max result. If URL expansion is on, the click can land on a blog post or a thin page. Expansion is not a default. The scope says yes or no.
It can sit beside search. It does not replace it
Search campaigns remain for service, brand and competitor. Performance Max is added beside them only when three things are written: the conversion is a real form record, sales feeds quality back, and brand traffic is protected. Without those three, “it will find new customers” is outside the scope. A handful of conversions does not give the system a verdict.
In the scope, or out of it
Whether Performance Max is in scope at all is something HED Creative writes in Berlin or Ankara. The Google Ads account stays owned by the company. The decision is not “on, because the product is there”. If the search structure is in place, Performance Max is an addition.
Write the limit into the brief on the Google Ads agency page. The search structure: B2B search campaigns.