Where a Performance Max budget actually went

Our Performance Max is underperforming and our Performance Max spent most of its budget in one network are two different conversations. The first leads nowhere. The second points at a cause.

Performance Max does not let you switch a network off. The value is in knowing, so the assets, the feed and the signals can be adjusted for where the money actually goes.

The check reads every Performance Max campaign's cost and conversions by network over recent weeks.

Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.

When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.

1. In Google Ads, open a Performance Max campaign, then Insights or Reports.
2. Look for the channel performance report, which splits results by Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps.
3. Note each network's share of the cost and of the conversions.
4. If one network takes most of the spend, compare what it returned with the rest.

Work on what feeds the network the money goes to. A campaign spending mostly on YouTube with no video of its own needs real videos. One spending mostly on Display needs better images.

If Shopping should take more, improve the feed and product titles. If Search should, add search themes.

• Performance Max

The checks next to this one in Shopping and feeds, each with its own page.

• Spend piled into a handful of products
• Asset groups Google rates below Good
• A whole catalogue bid at one price
• Asset groups holding less than Google can use
• The part of the catalogue that got no impression lately
• Products that cannot appear at all