---
title: Performance Max campaigns
description: Performance Max campaigns are not keyword targeted, instead you define your intended audience. In an Ad Grant P-Max only puts ads into Google searches and Google Maps
---
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October 12, 2026
# Performance Max campaigns
## P-Max campaigns don't use keywords; instead you define your intended audience. In a Google Ad Grant ads are no Search and Maps only.
### When to use a Performance Max campaign
- When you can define your intended audience using Google's built-in audiences, or your own data.
- When it's difficult to choose keywords for a topic, or where there so many possible searches that people could make that you couldn't guess them all.
- When you need ads to appear on Google Maps.
### When to create a Search campaign instead
- When you can easily choose the keywords you need to trigger ads to be shown. In which case, create a Search campaign instead.
- When you don't need ads on Google Maps.
### Where do P-Max ads appear?
- In Google search results, and on Google Maps: in both the browser or the app.
- Nowhere else. Not YouTube, Display, or Gmail.
- It's possible that new P-Max inventory will open up in 2027.
### What assets should you add to your P-Max asset group?
- Multiple headlines and descriptions.
- Video does not get shown, so don't bother adding any.
- Images do get shown, add as many as possible.
### Should final url expansion be switched on?
It depends. Do you want your asset group to funnel people to a specific url on your website, so they can take an action? Or let them arrive on other pages?
- A specific url: switch it off in the campaign settings.
- Other pages too: switch it on. Then edit your asset group and assign specific page urls or rules to make sure the ad only promotes the pages you want.
### What audience signals should be added to a P-Max asset group?
- Add multiple search themes. These don't work like keywords, they don't get matched to people's search terms. Instead, they act as clues to help optimize performance.
- Your own data is a valuable signal.
- Connect Google Ads to Google Analytics so that you can use your website visitor data as a signal.
- Connect Google Ads to YouTube so that you can use your video audience as a signal.
- Take time to search and browse for relevant built-in audiences. In-market audiences are particularly strong as they have an intention to take action, but also look at affiliate and demographic audiences.
- Do not exclude age groups or genders without a good reason.
- Household income targeting is only useful in the US and Canada, mainly for donation ads. Consider excluding the lowest 50% income. Conversely, exclude the highest income brackets when targeting services at underserved audiences.
But if your non-profit works in healthcare, do not use your own data as signals. There is a policy called personalized advertising that disallows this.
### Should you create both a Search and a P-Max campaign?
- Yes, you need both. P-Max spends on average three times as easily as a Search campaign.
- Many accounts can spend well with just one Search and one P-Max campaign.
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