Performance Max (PMAX) is the second campaign type available in Ad Grants Pilot. Introduced to Google Ad Grants in 2025, it works differently from search campaigns and is particularly effective at driving ad spend — it ramps up budget faster than search campaigns and requires less ongoing maintenance.
How Performance Max Differs from Search Campaigns
Search campaigns target users based on specific keyword lists. Performance Max takes a broader approach: instead of keywords, it uses Search Themes and audience signals to reach users across Google’s networks. This gives Google more autonomy to find relevant audiences, which is why PMAX tends to spend budget more aggressively than search.
PMAX also supports additional creative fields that search campaigns don’t have — Long Headlines, Images, and Videos — giving Google more material to work with when assembling ads.
Your Default Performance Max Campaign
A Performance Max campaign is automatically created during onboarding, built from your homepage. It includes:
- 15 short headlines (up to 30 characters each)
- 5 long headlines (up to 90 characters each)
- 5 descriptions (up to 90 characters each)
- Images automatically scraped from your website
- YouTube video fields (optional — adding a video improves ad quality scores even if video placements don’t result)
- Search themes auto-populated on the backend
Like search campaigns, this default campaign is ready to review and push live when you log in for the first time.
Creating Additional PMAX Campaigns
To create a new Performance Max campaign, navigate to the Performance Max section in the left sidebar, click Create Performance Max Campaign, and fill in the following:
- Campaign Name — give the campaign a descriptive name
- Landing Page URL — paste in a page from your website. The platform builds the full campaign from that page’s content.
- Target Language — select the language to target
- Target Location — select the country, region, or city to target
Once created, you can add multiple Asset Groups within the same campaign to target different pages on your site.
Campaign Settings
Each Performance Max campaign has its own settings panel, accessible after the campaign is created. Settings include:
Target Language — the language audience you want to reach.
Target Location — the geographic area your ads will target. Can be set by country, state, region, or city.
These settings can be configured independently for each PMAX campaign, allowing you to run separate campaigns for different languages or locations — the same approach available for search campaigns.
Images and Video
Images are automatically pulled from your website during the campaign build. You can add or update images manually in the campaign. Two logo formats are supported:
- Square (1:1) — recommended 1200×1200px
- Landscape (4:1) — recommended 1200×300px
Video is optional. Google does not always show video placements for Ad Grants accounts, but including a YouTube video link improves your ad quality score regardless. If you have a YouTube video for your organization, it’s worth adding.
Search Themes
Search Themes tell Google what kinds of searches your campaign should target — similar in concept to keywords, but broader. They are auto-populated on the backend during the campaign build. Up to 25 search themes are supported per campaign.
Publishing
PMAX campaigns follow the same publishing workflow as search campaigns. Click Push Live when you’re ready to make the campaign active in your Google Ad Grants account. Campaigns remain in Draft status until published.