Google Partner · Performance Max campaigns · Charlotte, NC
Performance Max that finds customers, not just conversions.
Performance Max puts your business across all of Google from one campaign. Overtop Media Digital Marketing gives it the right goals, the right assets and the controls Google added in 2025, so it brings in new customers and qualified leads instead of buying your own brand searches back, for businesses in Charlotte and across the country.
- 6Google channels from one campaign: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps
- 10,000negative keywords a Performance Max campaign can now hold (Google, 2025)
- 50search themes per asset group to steer it toward the searches you want (Google, 2025)
- Since 2009growing businesses from our Charlotte office
The short answer
What is Google Performance Max, and what does managing it involve?
Telling Google what a real customer is, giving it assets worth showing, fencing off what it must not buy, and reading where the money went every week.
Google Performance Max is a single, goal-based campaign that runs your ads across every Google channel: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. Instead of choosing keywords and placements yourself, you give Google your goal, your ads and your audience signals, and its automation decides where and when to show them. That makes Performance Max powerful when it learns from the right results and expensive when it learns from the wrong ones.
We run every Performance Max campaign as one part of your Google Ads management, next to the Search and Shopping campaigns it shares a budget with. Overtop Media Digital Marketing has been a Google Partner managing Google campaigns from Charlotte since 2009, for lead generation businesses as well as online stores.
- Goals that match your profitQualified leads, signed jobs, new customers and margin, not every form fill and page view.
- Your brand protectedBrand exclusions and exact match Search keep Performance Max from taking credit for customers who already know you.
- Every channel visibleChannel performance and search terms reports read every week, with weak placements and searches shut out.
What a well-run Performance Max campaign gets you.
Performance Max reaches people your keywords never would. Set up well, it adds customers on top of what Search already brings in, instead of relabeling them.
- New customers across all of Google
- One campaign reaches buyers on YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps and Display as well as on Search, wherever they are when they start looking.
- Leads your sales team wants
- For service businesses, the campaign learns from qualified leads and signed jobs sent back from your CRM, not from spam forms.
- Sales at the margin you need
- For online stores, products are grouped by margin and the campaign bids on value, so best sellers with thin margins do not swallow the budget.
- A clear view of where the money went
- Since 2025 Google shows results by channel and the full search terms list, and we report both to you in plain language.
How we decide whether Performance Max should lead your Google Ads.
Performance Max multiplies whatever it learns from. Before we launch one, Overtop Media Digital Marketing checks your conversion data, your assets and your budget to decide whether it should lead, support Search, or wait.
Where OVERTOP scales fastest
- Your conversion tracking is trustworthyCalls, qualified leads or online sales are tracked cleanly, so the campaign learns from real customers from its first week.
- You sell online from a product feedStores with a healthy Merchant Center feed get Shopping placements plus video, Gmail and Discover from the same campaign, bid on value.
- You generate leads and can report on their qualityHome services, legal, healthcare, B2B and education: when your CRM tells Google which leads became customers, our team points Performance Max at those.
- Search is already working and you want moreWith your core searches covered by Search campaigns, Performance Max reaches the buyers your keywords do not.
Where OVERTOP sequences other channels
- You have no reliable tracking yetWithout clean conversion data, automation learns from noise. We fix tracking first and start with Search, where control is tighter. Read how we build offline conversion tracking.
- Your budget can only cover your best searchesWhen budget is tight, our specialists put it on the highest-intent searches first and add Performance Max once those are covered. See Search ads.
- You run a large catalog with uneven marginsWe split products into margin tiers before scaling, so Performance Max does not chase revenue that loses money. Read our Performance Max feed segmentation analysis.
- You have no images or video worth showingPerformance Max fills video and image placements with whatever it is given. Our team produces the assets first, so Google is not left to improvise.
How we run Performance Max campaigns.
Six parts. Automation does the bidding; the results depend on what it is given, what it is kept away from, and how often someone checks its work.
Conversion goals that mean customers
Performance Max chases whatever you count as a win. We set goals around qualified calls, leads your team marks as good, and sales with their real value, and where your systems allow it we send closed jobs and new-customer data back to Google. For lead generation this is the difference between a full inbox and a full calendar.
Asset groups built around offers, not everything at once
Each asset group carries its own headlines, descriptions, images, logos, videos and landing page. We build one per service, product line or offer, so the ad a person sees matches what they want and the results show which offer earns the budget. For online stores, listing groups split the product feed the same way.
Audience signals and search themes
Audience signals tell Google where to start looking: your customer lists, recent site visitors and the searches your buyers make. Search themes, up to 50 per asset group since 2025, point the campaign at the searches you want it to win. Both are starting points, not limits, so we judge them on the customers they bring.
Search themes and audience signals are drafted from OVERTOP Search Intelligence, our analysis of the searches and costs in your market.
The 2025 controls: negatives, brand exclusions and landing pages
Performance Max now accepts campaign-level negative keywords, up to 10,000, and shared negative keyword lists. We add brand exclusions so your own name stays with Search, limit final URL expansion so Google cannot send buyers to your blog or careers page, and exclude placements and content that do not fit your business. Device and age targeting are set when the data says they help.
Performance Max and Search together
Google gives priority to Search campaigns when a search matches an exact match keyword. We use that on purpose: your brand and your most valuable searches live in Search, where we control the ad and the cost, and Performance Max goes after the buyers no keyword covers. Brand exclusions close the gap, so you are not paying Performance Max for customers who were already typing your name.
Channel and search term reports, read every week
Google’s channel performance report shows conversions and cost for Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, with Display and YouTube placements listed, and the search terms report now shows the full list. We read both every week, exclude what does not earn its keep and move budget to what does. See how we approach Google Ads channel prioritization and budget allocation.
Channels, Search prioritization and controls from Google Ads Help, about Performance Max campaigns. 2025 controls from Google’s Performance Max visibility and control announcement (2025) and the Google Ads blog (April 2025).
Where we recover budget in inherited Performance Max accounts.
When a business comes to Overtop Media Digital Marketing after Performance Max stopped paying off, the money is usually going to the same six places. Here is how our specialists turn it back into growth.
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Taking brand searches back from Performance Max
Without brand exclusions, Performance Max can serve on searches for your own name and report them as its own results. We exclude the brand, keep it in a Search campaign and measure Performance Max on new customers only.
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Retraining campaigns that learned from spam leads
Counting every form fill teaches the campaign to find more junk forms. We move the goal to qualified leads and booked jobs imported from your CRM, so bidding chases buyers.
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Splitting the catch-all asset group
One asset group for every service or product hides what works. We split by offer and margin so budget follows the lines that earn it.
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Keeping buyers on pages that convert
Final URL expansion left wide open sends traffic to blog posts and job listings. We restrict it to service and product pages built to convert.
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Shutting out searches and placements that never buy
Jobs, DIY and free searches, and low-quality app placements, are blocked with negative keyword lists and exclusions, then reviewed every week.
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Separating new customers from returning ones
Repeat buyers often make a campaign look better than it is. We use new customer goals and reporting so growth is measured on customers you did not already have.
How Performance Max works with Search and Shopping.
Performance Max shares your account, budget and conversion data with every other campaign. It works best when each campaign has a clear job.
- They search for you Search campaigns hold your brand and your most valuable exact searches.
- Performance Max works here They find you elsewhere Performance Max reaches new buyers on YouTube, Gmail, Discover, Maps and new searches.
- They come back Visitors who left see you again across Google until they are ready.
- They call or buy Tracked calls, qualified leads and sales flow back to train every campaign.
Google Ads, all campaign types
Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube and Demand Gen planned and measured with Performance Max as one account.
Google Search ads
Your brand and best searches, with full control of keywords, ads and cost.
Google Shopping ads
Standard Shopping next to Performance Max when you want tighter control of a product line.
YouTube ads
Video campaigns of their own when reach and storytelling need a dedicated budget.
Local Services Ads
For licensed trades and local professionals, pay-per-lead placements above the ads.
Ecommerce marketing
Feeds, marketplaces and email that turn Performance Max buyers into repeat customers.
Facebook and Instagram ads
Reach the same buyers outside Google, measured in the same report.
Our approach: your plan depends on you, and the data decides.
Performance Max is the right lead campaign for some businesses and a supporting one for others. Four things decide which.
- Your goals Qualified leads, booked jobs, online sales or new customers, and what each is worth.
- Your timeline Automation needs weeks of clean data to learn; we plan launches around that.
- Your budget Enough to let Performance Max learn without starving the searches you must win.
- Your competition Who else is buying the same buyers across Google, and where they leave openings.
Those four decide whether Performance Max should lead, support Search or wait. After launch, the channel and search terms reports pick the direction and tell us when to change course.
Learn the business
What you sell, where, to whom, and what a new customer is worth.
Check the data
Conversion tracking, CRM feedback and, for stores, the product feed, fixed before launch.
Build it properly
Asset groups, assets, signals, search themes, negatives and brand exclusions.
Launch and learn
Channel and search terms reports read closely while the campaign learns.
Grow what works
Budget moves to the offers and channels that produce customers, and Search and Shopping are tuned around it.
Proof, in Google’s own numbers.
Google publishes what Performance Max delivers on average, each figure with its date. Read together, they show why the setup decides the result.
- 18% more conversions on average at a similar cost per action for advertisers using Performance Max, in Google’s launch-era data. Google, February 2023 (data from late 2022)
- 10%+ more conversions and conversion value from more than 90 quality improvements Google made to Performance Max in 2024. Google, April 2025
- 50% is the share of Performance Max conversions that land inside the standard 30-day click window; the other half arrive later. Google, 2026 (data from late 2025)
Google’s averages are real, but they are averages, and the oldest of them comes from the campaign’s first year. What they do show is that Performance Max improves when it is given better data and better inputs, and that its effect is easy to undercount if you only look at short windows.
That is why we judge Performance Max on new customers, qualified leads and profit over a fair period, compare it against what Search was already bringing in, and keep the brand searches it does not deserve credit for out of its results.
Google figures are averages Google published from its internal data, shown with the date of each publication; results for your business will differ.
Performance Max for Charlotte, nearby cities and nationwide.
Our office is at 933 Louise Ave in Charlotte. For local businesses we limit Performance Max to the towns you serve, link your Google Business Profile so it can show on Maps, and track calls back to the campaign. We run Performance Max for businesses across the Charlotte region and the surrounding areas, and for companies selling nationwide.
Questions about Performance Max.
What is Performance Max in Google Ads?
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that runs one set of ads across all of Google: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. You set a goal, such as leads or sales, and provide ads, audience signals and, for stores, a product feed. Google’s automation then decides where to show the ads and how much to bid for each impression.
Does Performance Max work for lead generation, or only for ecommerce?
It works for both, but lead generation needs more care. Left to count every form fill, Performance Max finds cheap, low-quality leads. Overtop Media Digital Marketing sets the goal to qualified leads and booked jobs imported from your CRM, so the campaign learns what a real customer looks like. Home services, legal, healthcare, B2B and education businesses can all use it this way.
Will Performance Max take over my brand searches from Search campaigns?
It can if nobody stops it. Google gives Search campaigns priority when a search matches an exact match keyword, and Performance Max now supports brand exclusions. We keep your brand in a Search campaign, exclude it from Performance Max and report Performance Max on new customers, so it is judged on growth rather than on customers who already knew your name.
Can I add negative keywords to Performance Max?
Yes. Since 2025 Performance Max accepts campaign-level negative keywords, up to 10,000 per campaign, as well as shared negative keyword lists, alongside account-level negatives and brand exclusions. We build the list before launch and add to it every week from the search terms report.
Can I see where my Performance Max ads run?
Much more than before. The channel performance report shows results for Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, with Display and YouTube placements listed, and the search terms report shows what people searched. We review both every week and share what we change in your report.
What is the difference between Performance Max and Search ads?
Search campaigns show text ads for the keywords you choose, with full control over keywords, ads and cost. Performance Max runs across every Google channel and chooses placements itself. Most accounts do best with both: Search for your brand and the searches you must win, Performance Max to reach the buyers no keyword covers.
Do I need a product feed for Performance Max?
Only if you sell products online. Stores connect a Google Merchant Center feed so Performance Max can show Shopping ads with photos and prices. Service businesses run Performance Max without a feed, using text, images, video and their landing pages.
Do I need videos for Performance Max?
You should provide them. If an asset group has no video, Google can create one automatically from your images and text, and those rarely represent a business well. Our team produces the videos, images and copy each asset group needs before launch.
How long does Performance Max take to show results?
Ads start showing within days, but the campaign needs several weeks of conversion data to learn. Changes during that period reset some of the learning, so we make them deliberately. Because Google’s own data shows many Performance Max conversions arrive after the standard 30-day window, we judge it over a fair period, usually one to three months of clean data.
How much does Performance Max cost?
You set the daily or total budget and Google spends it across channels to reach your goal. The right budget depends on what a customer is worth, your market and how much you already spend on Search. We size it from your numbers before launch; every client gets a custom plan, so we do not publish price lists.
Do you manage Performance Max campaigns outside Charlotte?
Yes. Our office is in Charlotte, and we manage Google Performance Max for businesses across the Carolinas and the United States. Local or national, you work with the same team and see every lead, sale and dollar in one report.
Make Performance Max find new customers.
Tell us what you sell, where, and what a new customer is worth. We will look at your tracking, your brand searches and your current campaigns, and show you how Performance Max fits your plan.