When left to its own devices, there are a couple of things Performance Max is absolutely great at doing for lead gen campaigns:<\/p>
- Driving volume.<\/li>
- Finding the lowest-quality leads it possibly can.<\/li> <\/ul>
It\u2019s not inherently surprising that Google is doing what\u2019s best for Google \u2013 that is, lining its own pockets \u2013 by heavily optimizing toward the cheapest, path-of-least-resistance conversion events.<\/p>
From experience with campaigns we inherit from new clients, this performance often catches brands off guard \u2013 especially those who take Google sales reps\u2019 \u201chelpful advice\u201d at face value. <\/p>
It can take time for those brands to look past PMax\u2019s shiny, low CPAs and realize the truth: those leads do little to nothing for real pipeline or revenue.<\/p>
However, Performance Max, when given the proper guardrails, can be a good source of incremental, quality leads \u2013 but the trick is in building those guardrails.\u00a0<\/p>
This article covers lead quality tactics that work and how to execute them, tactics that don\u2019t work, and important differences between Performance Max campaigns in Google and Bing.\u00a0<\/p>
How to improve lead quality in PMax campaigns<\/h2>
These are the specific levers that consistently influence lead quality in Performance Max.<\/p>
- Use conversion goals focused on metrics that indicate a higher quality lead than just form fills.<\/strong>
- Depending on your data density, this could mean closed-won leads, opportunities, or (if you need to go up the funnel to get enough volume) sales-qualified leads.\u00a0<\/li>
- It\u2019s important to note that the effectiveness of this tactic depends on good offline conversion tracking implementation and a clean CRM instance, so don\u2019t turn on PMax lead gen campaigns until you\u2019re confident in your HubSpot or Salesforce integrity.<\/li> <\/ul> <\/li>
- Use high-value lists for audience signals.<\/strong> This can be based on a certain activity, like \u201cbooked a meeting,\u201d instead of simply including all converters.<\/li>
- Keep the focus on the right audiences.<\/strong> Exclude irrelevant ones and upload Customer Match lists to help Google\u2019s algorithm find similar users.<\/li>
- Be smart with your campaign settings.<\/strong>
- Use brand exclusions to ensure you\u2019re not letting PMax cannibalize your brand traffic.\u00a0<\/li>
- Restrict your location targeting to high-performing geos.<\/li>
- Set strategic scheduling, such as excluding early-morning hours if those conversions tend to be lower quality.<\/li>
- Evaluate search themes and placements, and be aggressive about negative keywords and placement exclusions.<\/li>
- Use sitelinks to steer traffic to pages with full, detailed forms.<\/li> <\/ul> <\/li>
- Refine the forms themselves.<\/strong>
- Implement reCAPTCHA or honeypot fields in forms that keep bots from \u201cconverting.\u201d<\/li>
- Use field validation:
- Block disposable domains.<\/li>
- Block freemails.<\/li> <\/ul> <\/li>
- Add freeform or disqualifying questions.
- \u201cHow did you hear about us?\u201d<\/li>
- \u201cDo you have a budget for [solution]?\u201d<\/li>
- \u201cHow many employees are in your organization?\u201d<\/li> <\/ul> <\/li> <\/ul> <\/li> <\/ul>
Dig deeper: <\/em><\/strong>Top Performance Max optimization tips for 2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>
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<\/div> <\/p><\/div> Tactics that won\u2019t affect lead quality<\/h2>
On the other hand, some of the usual campaign optimization strategies won\u2019t do much to move the needle on PMax lead quality. If that\u2019s your sole focus, you can de-prioritize:<\/p>
- Switching bid strategies (e.g., switching from Max Conversions to tCPA helps a little but doesn\u2019t fix everything).<\/li>
- Adding more assets.<\/li>
- Adding more budget.<\/li>
- Asking Google support (something I\u2019d just stay away from in general these days).<\/li> <\/ul>
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<\/p>
Important (and subtle) differences to know between Google and Bing PMax campaigns<\/h2>
Both Google and Bing have Performance Max campaigns, but there are differences in their offerings.<\/p>
Google\u2019s Performance Max network spans search, display, YouTube, discovery campaigns, and Gmail. It\u2019s an absolutely huge amount of inventory \u2013 especially display and YouTube, which can be huge spam drivers if left unchecked.<\/p>
Microsoft has far less video and display inventory. Their PMax campaigns primarily include Bing search, syndicated search, and the Microsoft audience network (which spans display, Outlook, and MSN).\u00a0<\/p>
When comparing performance between the two, we haven\u2019t seen any notable differences, but it\u2019s worth monitoring updates to each platform\u2019s reporting and inventory going forward.<\/p>
Dig deeper: <\/em><\/strong>Google and Microsoft: How their Performance Max approaches align and diverge<\/em><\/strong><\/p>
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Track, optimize, and win in Google and AI search from one platform. <\/p> <\/p><\/div>
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<\/div> <\/p><\/div> Performance Max isn\u2019t broken, but it needs control<\/h2>
If you\u2019re considering running PMax for lead gen, you should approach it with a healthy dose of skepticism.\u00a0<\/p>
While PMax has been effective at driving scalable revenue for ecommerce,those campaigns need considerable guidelines to maintain lead quality.\u00a0<\/p>
For instance, preventing a high-end shoe retailer from racking up tons of conversions on things like replacement laces and shoe polish will require that the campaign develop sufficient PMax guardrails.<\/p>
Considering how Google is moving toward additional automation and AI in campaigns, it\u2019s important to keep testing and experimenting to gain an understanding of the tools available to analyze and shape PMax campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>
Google has issued some new releases to help as of late, including channel-level reporting, more options for exclusions, and campaign-level negative keywords.)\u00a0<\/p>
There is<\/strong> <\/em>a lead scale out there that can provide a healthy ROAS if you\u2019re willing and able to wrestle the algorithm into submission.\u00a0<\/p>
If you\u2019ve tested Performance Max campaigns for lead gen but paused them once it was clear they weren\u2019t driving revenue, do a quick post-mortem on your past efforts. You might find there\u2019s room to whip Google into shape to do better this time around.\u00a0<\/p>
Take note of the tactics you haven\u2019t yet implemented and prioritize putting them in place before you waste another dollar of your 2026 budget on poor-quality leads that just junk up your CRM.<\/p> <\/div>
Contributing authors are invited to create content for Search Engine Land and are chosen for their expertise and contribution to the search community. Our contributors work under the oversight of the editorial staff and contributions are checked for quality and relevance to our readers. Search Engine Land is owned by Semrush. Contributor was not asked to make any direct or indirect mentions of Semrush. The opinions they express are their own.<\/em> <\/p>
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<\/div> <\/p><\/div>
- Keep the focus on the right audiences.<\/strong> Exclude irrelevant ones and upload Customer Match lists to help Google\u2019s algorithm find similar users.<\/li>
- Use conversion goals focused on metrics that indicate a higher quality lead than just form fills.<\/strong>