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GOOGLE ADS AUTOMATION

Performance Max and AI Max Campaign Management

Vivid Concept builds and manages Google Performance Max, AI Max for Search and Demand Gen campaigns, with conversion tracking, brand controls and asset testing behind them.

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Which Google campaign type does which job

Google's newest campaign types assemble, place and bid on your ads largely on their own. That automation works in your favor when each campaign has a clear job, and Vivid Concept manages these campaigns inside our pay-per-click management service, starting from which type does which job.

The split matters because each type draws on different inventory and needs different inputs. Mixed without a plan, they produce overlapping campaigns that bid against each other and reports that are hard to read.

Performance Max runs from one campaign across Google's inventory: Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps. You supply conversion goals, creative assets and audience signals, and Google assembles ads and finds buyers.

AI Max for Search extends Search campaigns with search term matching beyond your keywords, text customization and final URL expansion, which sends each searcher to the page on your site that best fits the search. A well-built Search campaign then reaches more of the searches that matter to you. Demand Gen, the successor to Discovery campaigns, runs image and video ads on YouTube including Shorts, Discover, Gmail and Maps for people who are not searching yet.

Each type gets a role and a share of the budget, and we share the reasoning behind every split with you. With the roles set, one Google account works as a team instead of competing with itself.

IN-HOUSE ADVANTAGE

Connected With Our Full Los Angeles Team

Our designers and video editors supply every image, headline and video in your Performance Max asset groups.

What Is Included in Performance Max

Your Performance Max Process

DiscoveryWe review your setup, audience and goals, and you receive a clear scope before work starts.
DesignChannels, keywords and tracking are planned with you.
BuildCampaigns, tracking and pages are built by our in-house team with no handoffs.
LaunchCampaigns and ad changes go live with your approval.
SupportMonthly reporting and a monthly call; campaigns are reviewed every week.

Inputs that steer automation: conversions, audiences and assets

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Automation optimizes toward whatever you tell it to count, so the count has to be right. Conversion actions are matched to revenue, such as qualified calls and booked appointments, through Google Analytics 4 and Tag Manager setup, and offline results are imported where a sale closes later.

Only actions that add value go into the goal. Audience signals from your own contact lists and site visitors shorten the learning period, and our remarketing segments feed them.

Creative assets matter as much as bids. Google recombines headlines, descriptions, images and video into ads of its own making, so every line has to read clearly alone, and our writers supply each one in the formats every placement needs.

A marketer chooses audiences and creative assets on a laptop, a stack of photos beside it.

Brand and negative controls

Reach beyond your keyword list is the point of an automated campaign, and controls decide where that reach stops. Brand exclusions and negative keywords keep Performance Max off the branded searches your Search campaigns already cover and away from unwanted terms, while search themes, short phrases that describe what you sell, steer it toward valuable searches.

For AI Max, brand controls, location controls and text guidelines set what it is allowed to say and where it appears. A full review of account structure comes first, the same review we run when we take over a Google AdWords account, and it shows where today's spend is going.

Paid and organic results for your brand work best as a pair. SEO covers the organic listings for the same brand searches, and we coordinate the two to avoid paying for visits you would receive anyway.

Experiments before and after an upgrade

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Google keeps changing which campaigns exist. AI Max left beta in April 2026. Campaigns that use automatically created assets or campaign-level broad match begin auto-upgrading to AI Max in September 2026, and the upgrade of Dynamic Search Ads moved to February 2027.

Each upgrade runs as an experiment. Traffic splits between the existing campaign and the upgraded one, and results are judged against your goals for long enough to learn before the switch is final. We keep track of every test and report back on what it showed, and your account changes because the results support it, whatever Google's calendar says.

That method also tests new assets, bidding targets and landing pages. Turning visits into inquiries makes the landing page one of the first tests, since a stronger page lifts every campaign that points to it.

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Reporting that separates channels

Google keeps some detail inside its automated campaigns, so the reporting is built around what it does reveal: results by channel, search term categories, asset ratings, conversion lag and new versus returning buyers. Those figures are set against your sales and call data in a monthly report, and we walk you through it on a monthly call.

Some accounts need a wider view. Local lead-based accounts add Local Services Ads management, where Google charges per valid lead rather than per click. Which channel deserves credit for a sale is a question for marketing attribution and measurement, and every paid channel we run works as one plan within our online marketing services.

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Performance Max Questions & Answers

Is Performance Max the same as AI Max?

No. Performance Max is a campaign type of its own, serving across Google's channels from one campaign. AI Max is a set of features inside Search campaigns: wider search term matching, text customization and final URL expansion, with brand and location controls. Each fits a different job.

Should every account use Performance Max?

Once the account is ready, and we prepare it: reliable conversion tracking, a budget that lets it learn and varied creative. Where data is still sparse, or exact control over searches matters most, we run Search campaigns first and add Performance Max once the data can steer it.

How do you keep Performance Max off brand terms?

With brand exclusions and negative keywords at the campaign level, and by keeping brand searches in a Search campaign you control. Comparing the search terms report with branded results, and checking where spend lands by channel, shows that the controls are holding.

What do you report when Google hides detail?

Channel results, search term categories, asset ratings, conversion lag and new versus returning buyers, all set against your own sales, calls and leads. Where Google withholds a figure, the campaign is judged by those business outcomes instead.

How do you test a change safely?

With a campaign experiment: traffic splits between the current setup and the change, the success measure is fixed before it starts, and the test runs long enough to settle. The result decides whether the change goes live, and every change to your account is approved by you first.

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Performance Max and AI Max Campaign Management