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How Performance Max Campaigns Cannibalize Your Search Budget
Description
Episode 6 of The Google Ads Podcast with Fexingo dives into a growing concern among paid search advertisers: Performance Max campaigns. Lucas and Luna break down how Google's AI-driven campaign type can quietly take credit for conversions that would have happened via your standard Search campaigns. They discuss real data from a mid-market e-commerce client showing a 34% decline in Search campaign conversions after launching Performance Max—without a corresponding lift in overall revenue. The hosts explain how attribution models hidden inside Google Ads can favor Performance Max, why you should check your 'campaigns assisted' report, and three practical steps to protect your Search budget: setting a Performance Max ROAS floor, excluding branded terms, and using campaign-level conversion counting. By the end, you'll understand why many advertisers feel Performance Max is a black box and how to make it work without sabotaging your core search strategy.