BrisTechTonic is a Bristol SEO agency that helps UK businesses get found on Google, the local map pack and the AI assistants they now ask, like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Performance Max is Google's most hands-off type of campaign. It spends one budget across Google Search, Shopping, YouTube, the display network, Gmail, Discover and Maps, and shows you very little about where the money went. It is easy to switch on and hard to run well, because the things that actually steer it are indirect: how good your product list is, the sales data and values you give it to aim at, the audience hints you give it to start from, and the firm limits you insist on, like not paying to reach people already searching for your name, or not showing on junk ad slots. We manage all of that, use extra reporting tools to see the detail Google hides, run it alongside a dedicated Search campaign rather than letting it swallow both, and judge it on real profit after costs rather than the flattering combined figure the platform reports about itself.
Performance Max is Google's answer to a world it wants fully automated: one campaign, one budget, and Google deciding which of its sites and apps your ads appear on. In exchange for handing over that control you get reach across Google Search, Shopping, YouTube, the display network, Gmail, Discover and Maps from a single setup, and for the right advertiser that reach is genuinely useful. The catch is that the same automation that makes it powerful also makes it a black box. Its own reports tell you very little about where the money went, what searches triggered your ads, or which sites they showed on, and Google is not in a hurry to tell you.
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That lack of visibility is the whole challenge. A Performance Max campaign is easy to switch on and easy to make look successful, because it will chase the cheapest sales it can find, which are very often people already searching for your name and people it is following up with after an earlier visit. It will then report a healthy combined return built largely on business you already had. Running it well is not about adjusting bids, because you cannot, but about setting limits and feeding it the right data so its goals match yours: to make it go and find new, profitable customers instead of quietly cashing in on the ones who were coming anyway.
Doing that well means working on the things the campaign actually responds to. A clean, complete product list for shops; sales tracking that reports the real value of each sale rather than just a count; recording sales that close weeks later away from the website so they count properly; audience hints that point Google at the right kind of people to start with; and a discipline of firm limits, name-search settings, account-wide blocks and tidying up which sites your ads show on, so the budget does not leak into rubbish. On top of that we run extra reporting tools that reveal where the money is going, the kinds of searches triggering your ads, and the sites they show on, all of which Google's own screens will not show you, so decisions are made on evidence rather than faith.
We run Performance Max as one part of a wider paid programme judged on real profit after costs, not as a switch-it-on-and-forget box that promises to do everything. Our experienced team has spent years working on paid ads and the numbers behind them. On a channel this automated that is the point: the automation will happily chase the wrong goal at speed, and it takes someone experienced to notice, prove it, and change the inputs so it aims at yours instead.
Buying intent is up for auction. Paid puts you at the front of it.
These are industry figures, not our own results, and we do not invent numbers. They show why intent-led paid can pay for itself where broad awareness spend does not. We manage to contribution margin, and no return is ever guaranteed.
Performance Max, broken down.
Product feed quality and structure
For shops, the product list is the campaign. The titles, details, images, product codes and your own labels decide what Performance Max can sell and how profitably. We check and rebuild the product list, tag products by profit margin, and fix the errors that quietly leave products out, because no amount of clever bidding rescues a poor product list.
Conversion values and offline import
Google's automatic bidding aims at whatever you tell it a sale is worth. We set the real values, stop the same sale being counted twice, and record sales that close later away from the website, so a sale that closes later, or an enquiry that turns into revenue, counts properly. Feed it plain counts and it chases quantity; feed it real values and it chases profit.
Audience signals and asset groups
Audience hints do not limit Performance Max, they give it a starting point, and that starting point matters. We build tidy groups of ads around real product or service themes, add careful hints from your own customer data and from people showing buying intent, and give each group ads worth showing rather than one generic pile spread across everything.
Brand exclusions and account-level negatives
The single biggest reason Performance Max overstates its results is uncontrolled traffic from people searching for your own name. We stop it bidding on your name and block junk searches across the account and the campaign, so you are not paying to reach people already searching for you, and so its reported return reflects genuinely new business.
Channel and placement visibility via scripts
Google's screens hide where the money is going, the kinds of searches triggering your ads, and the sites they show on, all of which tell you what Performance Max is really doing. We run extra reporting tools that reveal it, so we can see whether spend is going to genuinely reaching new customers or to cheap display and video views that pad the numbers.
Search cannibalisation and campaign structure →
Performance Max and ordinary Search campaigns compete for the same clicks, and Performance Max often wins the easy, high-intent ones. We set the account up so your dedicated Search campaign keeps the searches it should own, and Performance Max is pushed towards finding new customers, which is what it is actually good at.
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What clients say about working with us.
“I've had the pleasure of working with Chris on several SEO projects for my websites in the health field. He was definitely been able to demystify things so that I felt able to make decisions with him and feel confident they were the right ones. For a non-techie, that is worth gold! I look forward to working with Chris again and warmly recommend him to anyone who - like me - is unsure about all things SEO.”
“I was recommended by my branding partner to use Chris and his team last year. I can’t recommend them highly enough. They are very responsive , easy to communicate with and great at translating techy stuff when needed. They are now an essential part of my business model”
“We've been working closely with Chris, Hannah and the team for over 12 months now. As a small company with ambitious growth plans, it was incredibly important that we made the right choice on who to trust with our SEO. 18 months later, we're totally thrilled with our experience so far and our growing online presence within our market. We'd happily recommend BTT and their services to other SMEs. Drop them an enquiry!”
Real people on your account, not a faceless agency.
You work directly with the senior people who do the work, a small Bristol team you will actually get to know, not a call centre or an account manager relaying messages.
Meet the team →
The way we run Performance Max.
Model the economics and the goal
We start from what a customer or order is worth and what you can afford to pay to win one, then set the goal and values Performance Max will aim at. If the goal is wrong, the automation will chase the wrong thing very efficiently, so this comes first.
Fix the feed and the tracking
Before scaling up, we get the foundations right: a clean, well-organised product list for shops, accurate sales tracking with real values, recording sales that close later away from the website, and tracking that respects cookie consent so it is lawful and complete. Performance Max built on weak data ends up chasing a false picture.
Build asset groups and signals
We build tidy groups of ads around genuine themes rather than one catch-all pile, write and supply strong ads, and give each group careful audience hints from your own customer data and from people showing buying intent. The aim is to point Google at the right kind of people to start with, not to hope it guesses.
Set the guardrails
Stopping it bidding on your name, blocking junk searches across the account and campaign, blocking junk sites and content, and sensible campaign setup all go in before spend scales up, so the budget cannot quietly drain into cashing in on your own name, junk ad slots, or searches a dedicated Search campaign should own.
Launch, watch the black box, and read the scripts
Campaigns go live with our extra reporting from day one, so we can see where the money goes, the kinds of searches triggering ads, and the sites they show on, all of which Google hides. We watch how the automation behaves while it settles in and step in on the inputs, since there are no bids to adjust.
Test incrementally and cut against margin
Where the budget justifies it we run tests and hold back name-search groups to separate the sales Performance Max actually created from the ones it just grabbed, then act on profit: adjust values, refine the audience hints, tighten the limits and rebalance against Search. Weekly, honestly, not once every three months.
How do we approach Performance Max?
Control the inputs, not the placements
You cannot hand-pick where Performance Max shows your ads, so the campaign is won or lost on what you feed it. We put the work into the product list, the sales values, the audience hints and the firm limits, because those are the only real controls. A Performance Max campaign fed good data with careful guidance beats hours spent wishing for controls that do not exist.
Feed it truth, not just conversions
Letting Google chase value is only as good as the data behind it. We send back the real value of each sale, record sales that close later away from the website, and flag genuinely new customers, so Google aims at profit and real new business rather than treating every cheap enquiry the same as a booked order.
Stop it eating your brand
Left alone, Performance Max leans on people searching for your name and on following up with past visitors, because those convert cheaply, then reports a glowing return. We stop it bidding on your own name, block junk searches across the account, and hold back comparison groups, so we can tell apart the sales it actually created from the ones it simply grabbed, and the number you see is the true one.
Experienced hands on an opaque channel
Performance Max is the campaign type where a tidy dashboard hides the most, so it is exactly where leaving it on autopilot costs you. An experienced person runs your account, reads the extra detail Google leaves out, and tells you plainly what the automation is actually doing with your money.
Real people doing the work, and putting their name to it.
You deal with our small, experienced Bristol team directly, from the first call to every monthly report.
Meet the team →What Performance Max puts on your desk.
Are we the right fit for you?
Thinking of switching from another agency?
Moving your Performance Max to us is more straightforward than staying somewhere that is not working. You keep everything you already own, we pick up without a gap, and we can run the whole thing for you or work alongside your team and your developers, whatever suits.
A free look first
We review what your current agency has done, tell you straight what is worth keeping and where the quick wins are. No obligation to move.
You keep what's yours
Your site, content, Google Business Profile and analytics stay in your name. We work with what you already have; nothing is held hostage.
A clean handover
We map the work across, set a plain-English baseline in the first few weeks, and carry on from there. No starting from zero, no quiet ranking gap.
Three-month minimum, then rolling monthly on 30 days’ notice. No long lock-in, no exit fees.
Who runs your Performance Max, and why we refuse to take it on faith?
Performance Max is the Google campaign type most designed to be trusted and least willing to show its working. That combination is exactly why it needs an experienced hand rather than autopilot. Your account is run by an experienced person who has managed Performance Max through its awkward early days and its steady improvements, knows where it still overstates itself, and reads the extra detail Google leaves out. We would rather show you a smaller, true number, built on genuinely new business, than the larger combined figure the platform prefers to report.
Experienced, no percentage on spend
The person building your product list, values and audience hints is the person you meet. Our fee does not rise just because Google spends more of your budget, so there is no reason for us to let the automation scale past the point where it is still profitable.
Measured on margin and incrementality
We stop it bidding on your name, run tests, and hold back comparison groups to separate the sales Performance Max actually created from the ones it just grabbed. If the campaign is mostly cashing in on people searching for your name, we will show you the evidence and change the inputs, not defend the dashboard.
Honest about a black box
We will tell you plainly what Performance Max does and does not let you control, and where its reporting flatters itself. No pretending an extra reporting tool is the same as controlling where ads show, and no promising a combined return we both know is padded out by business you already had.
Performance Max: common questions.
What does Performance Max management actually involve?
Managing Performance Max is mostly work you cannot see in the campaign settings. Because you cannot pick which sites your ads show on or set bids per search, the real controls are the product list, the sale values and later-closing sales you feed it, the audience hints for each group of ads, and the limits that stop the budget leaking. On top of that we run extra reporting tools to reveal where the money goes, the searches triggering ads, and the sites they show on, all of which Google hides, keep Performance Max from stealing your Search campaign's clicks, and judge the whole thing on real profit after costs rather than the combined return the platform reports.
How is Performance Max different from a standard Search or Shopping campaign?
An ordinary Search or Shopping campaign gives you direct control over which searches you target, your bids and, to a degree, where ads show, plus clear reporting on where the money went. Performance Max trades almost all of that control for reach: one budget spread by Google across Search, Shopping, YouTube, the display network, Gmail, Discover and Maps, with far less visibility. It can find customers the others miss, but it needs much tighter management of what you feed it and the limits you set, because there are no bids or search targets to adjust when it goes wrong.
Does Performance Max just cannibalise my brand and Search campaigns?
It will if you let it. Left uncontrolled, Performance Max drifts towards cheap, easy-to-win traffic, which is very often people searching for your own name and people it is following up with after an earlier visit, then reports a strong return built on business you already had. The fix is deliberate: stopping it bidding on your name, blocking junk searches across the account, sensible campaign setup, and holding back comparison groups to prove what is genuinely new. Managed properly it works alongside your dedicated Search campaign rather than eating it, but that separation has to be built in, not assumed.
How much does Performance Max management cost?
There is no single figure, because it depends on your account, whether you are a shop or chasing enquiries, and how much product-list and tracking work the foundations need. You pay Google directly for the ads with no percentage added by us, and our fee does not rise as your budget does. Experienced management starts from £400 per month per platform, and we scope honestly once we have seen the account and what it actually needs. Getting set up is a one-off £400, and paid ads run to a three-month minimum.
Can you see where Performance Max is spending my money?
More than the standard screens show you. Google deliberately limits its own reporting on where the money goes, which searches trigger ads, and which sites they show on within Performance Max, but the extra reporting tools we add reveal a great deal of it: which of Google's sites are taking the spend, the kinds of searches triggering ads, and the places your ads run on the display network and video. That visibility is central to how we manage it, because without it you are steering a black box on faith.
Is Performance Max worth it for lead generation, or only ecommerce?
It can work for both, but what they need differs. Online shops get the most from Performance Max because a strong product list gives Google plenty to work with. For chasing enquiries, the make-or-break factor is the quality of those enquiries: you must feed back real values and record sales that close later away from the website, so the automation aims for enquiries that turn into revenue rather than whichever form-fill is cheapest. Without that, Performance Max will happily deliver a pile of low-quality enquiries and a flattering cost per enquiry.
What are audience signals, and do they control who sees my ads?
Audience hints are suggestions, not limits. Unlike a targeted audience on Search or Meta, a Performance Max hint tells Google where to start looking, but it stays free to show ads beyond it. That is why the hints matter and why they are easy to misread: strong hints from your own customer data and from people showing buying intent give the automation a good starting point, but you still set the real boundaries through your limits and your goals, not through the hint alone.
How do you measure whether Performance Max is actually working?
On real profit after costs and on genuinely new business, not the combined return the campaign reports. We separate people searching for your name from everyone else, run tests and hold back comparison groups where the budget justifies it, and use our extra reporting to check spend is going to genuinely reaching new customers rather than cheap views. The question we answer is whether Performance Max is winning profitable customers you would not have won anyway, which is a very different and much harder number than the one Google shows by default.
Book the call, or see the evidence first