Performance Max best practices for lead generation

Power your AI with strong measurement

Set the stage for success by providing Performance Max with the time and data it needs to understand your goals .

Fuel your AI with Accurate Conversion Tracking: Google AI requires a solid measurement and data foundation to fuel your campaigns for optimum performance. Ensure your conversion tracking is accurately set up and you've selected the correct conversion actions for your campaign. This is crucial for the AI to understand what a valuable lead is for your business. Follow the steps outlined in the "Build a strong measurement foundation" section of our general Lead Generation best practices guide .

After these building blocks are in place, allow at least 1-2 weeks (or up to 6 weeks for more complex setups or low conversion volume) for your campaign to run and exit the learning phase before making major changes. This gives Google AI the opportunity to learn and gather enough data to make meaningful optimizations.

WHY IT MATTERS

Your inputs, especially accurate conversion data, control the output of AI-powered campaigns. This is particularly important for channels and surfaces that don’t primarily use search queries as intent signals. Feeding the AI with the right conversion data (such as lead scores, predicted lifetime value, or clearly defined conversion actions) helps it identify what factors are most predictive of high-quality leads and optimize across all channels effectively.

Set clear goals and signals: Use lead generation specific goals, like "Contact", "Submit Lead Form", "Book Appointment", "Sign-up", "Request Quote", "Qualified Lead", or "Converted Lead", to drive the highest quality leads for your Performance Max campaigns and access enhanced protections against invalid lead activity. Optimize to deeper funnel conversion actions where possible.

Steer your campaigns

Steer Performance Max with precision towards the right audiences and maximize its impact .

Choose the right bidding strategy:

If your primary objective is lead value, use value-based Smart Bidding strategieslike Maximize conversion value or Maximize conversion value with a target ROAS .

If your primary objective is lead volume, use a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategylike Maximize conversions .

Setting targets: When maximizing conversions, select the most valuable conversion goal (ideally further down the funnel) and set your Target CPA close to your maximum acceptable cost-per-lead. A tCPA set too low can limit performance. If you have insufficient conversion data, consider removing tCPA or starting with "Maximize Conversions" and adding a tCPA later.

Captivate with creative

Craft engaging content and optimize the user experience to attract and convert high-quality leads .

Maximize your asset variety and quality: Provide a wide range of high-quality, relevant text (headlines, descriptions), image, and video assets. This allows the AI to create more ad combinations and optimize for performance across all channels.

Aim for "Excellent" Ad Strength: Monitor the "Ad Strength" metric in your asset groups and strive for an "Excellent" rating. Advertisers who improve their Performance Max Ad Strength to “Excellent” see 6% more conversions on average. ¹

Provide your own videos: If you don't provide videos, Performance Max may auto-generate them. To prevent auto-generated videos, especially if your campaign is feed-only, upload your own or contact your Google account manager to opt-out.

We found that advertisers who improve their Performance Max Ad Strength to “Excellent” see 6% more conversions on average. ¹

Optimize your lead forms and landing pages: Simplify the lead capture process with lead form assets to maximize conversions.

Improve Lead Quality: To improve lead quality and reduce spam from forms, consider adding qualifying questions, implementing reCAPTCHA on your landing page or forms, and using server-side validation.

Landing Page Experience: Ensure your landing page is relevant to your ads and provides a clear, user-friendly experience. If you've recently changed your landing page and performance dropped, consider adjusting your Target CPA to be closer to the actual CPA and allow the campaign time to re-learn.

Iterate with insights

Understand your campaign performance and uncover new growth opportunities .

Monitor and analyze: Utilize reports unique to Performance Max like Search terms insights and demand forecasts to gain valuable insights into campaign performance.

Make data-driven decisions: Use asset-level reporting to identify top-performing creative assets and bid strategy reports to understand inputs and nuances of your bid strategy, including the top signals being used to optimize your bids.

Ensure brand safety and refine targeting: 

• Placement Exclusions: Regularly review “Placement Reports” (available through insights or custom reports) to identify and exclude websites or apps that are irrelevant or not a good fit for your brand. For Performance Max, placement exclusion lists may need to be applied at the account or Manager Account level.
• Negative Keywords: Review search term insights and add irrelevant search terms as negative keywords at the campaign or account level to filter out unwanted traffic and improve lead quality. Note that there can be a reporting lag for search terms.
• Final URL Expansion: If ads are showing on irrelevant pages of your own website, consider turning off "Final URL Expansion" in your campaign settings.
• Brand Exclusions: If you want to prevent ads from showing for your brand terms, add brand exclusions.
• Content Suitability: Review content suitability settings at the account level to control the types of content your ads appear alongside.
• Location Targeting: Check for restrictive location targeting. Ensure location groups are correctly configured and not empty. If receiving leads from outside targeted areas, change your location targeting from "Presence or interest" to "Presence: People in or regularly in your included locations."