Google Says Performance Max May Filter Out Brand Searches

Google has added a line to its Performance Max help page: PMax campaigns may filter out navigational or brand searches so your brand Search campaigns serve them instead.

Lean on Performance Max to catch people searching your brand name? Then that traffic may now depend on your Search campaigns.

What the help page now says

The new paragraph sits in Google’s page on how Performance Max interacts with other campaigns.

Hana Kobzová spotted it and posted it on PPC News Feed. Search Engine Roundtable checked that the archived version of the page didn’t have it.

Google gives one reason. It wants brand queries handled by campaigns that give you more precise control.

Then it tells you what to do. Make sure your brand Search campaigns have:

• Enough budget
• High-quality, eligible ads

Still want Performance Max to pick up brand and navigational traffic? Google suggests adding Search Themes to the PMax campaign.

Note the word “may”.

Google doesn’t say how often PMax will skip these searches. It doesn’t say how it decides a query counts as a brand one either.

How it fits the old rules

This isn’t the first exception. The same page already says a Search campaign beats Performance Max when its keyword exactly matches the query or a spell-corrected version of it.

Google’s example is a search for “plumbrs” in an account with the exact match keyword [plumbers].

The exact match keyword wins.

Otherwise, the campaign with the higher Ad Rank serves, which is also how PMax plays against Display and Demand Gen campaigns in the same account.

But the new line doesn’t mention keywords at all.

Why it matters

Do you run a brand Search campaign? If you don’t, and Performance Max has been picking up your brand searches, that’s the setup this change hits.

Google’s advice to “capture this traffic” with a brand campaign suggests you could lose some of it otherwise.

So I’d check three things this week:

• Open your Performance Max search terms and see how much of your conversion volume comes from brand queries
• Set up a brand Search campaign if you don’t have one, with its own budget
• Watch PMax conversions and cost per conversion for a sudden drop

My take: I like this change. In my view, PMax has looked better than it was by taking credit for brand searches.

Splitting brand off gives you cleaner reporting on what PMax really finds, beyond the people who already know your name and would have found you through a plain search ad anyway.

That said, this came from a help page edit, with no announcement.

I’d watch your own data before rebuilding an account around it.

Google keeps changing how its ads show up in search. The docs often tell you first.

Read them.

Common Questions

Does Performance Max still show ads on brand searches?

It may not. Google’s help page says Performance Max may filter out navigational or brand-specific searches so dedicated brand Search campaigns can serve them instead.

How do I make sure my brand searches still get ads?

Google says to give your brand Search campaigns enough budget and high-quality, eligible ads. To let Performance Max serve brand traffic, it suggests adding Search Themes to the campaign.

When does a Search campaign win over Performance Max?

A Search campaign wins when its keyword exactly matches the query or a spell-corrected version of it. Otherwise, the campaign with the higher Ad Rank serves.