Why Performance Max isn’t a One-Size-Fits-All Solution
Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns have become an increasingly powerful tool for advertisers over the past few years, but as we often tell our clients, they’re not a silver bullet.
When used at the right time and in the right way, they can supercharge your marketing performance. But when added without a clear strategy or proper setup, they can eat up budget and deliver vague results.
So, when should you actually use Performance Max in your Google Ads strategy? We’re going to try to answer this question by looking at several subsectors of the health and wellbeing industry.
What Performance Max Needs to Work Well
Performance Max works best when you have clear business and marketing goals, strong creative assets, and high-quality conversion tracking in place.
Because PMax is a goal-based campaign type that uses Google’s AI to deliver ads across all available inventory (including YouTube, Display, Search, Gmail, and Maps) it thrives when fed good data and well-structured inputs.
Think of it less like a traditional campaign and more like a performance engine that needs quality fuel.
The engine may be artificial intelligence, but the fuel is manmade. Bad fuel = bad campaigns.
Healthcare Practices: Reaching the Right Local Audience
Imagine a healthcare practice offering private GP services, blood tests, and specialist appointments.
This kind of business typically has multiple services and a broad target audience within a defined local area.
If the practice already has search campaigns running, Performance Max can be introduced to pick up demand from users who are searching or browsing related topics across YouTube or Gmail, not just Google Search.
By setting clear conversion actions (such as appointment bookings or contact form submissions), the campaign can focus on real leads, not just clicks.
Leisure Centres: Promoting Multiple Services with Impact
A leisure centre with a swimming pool might have different marketing goals. Perhaps they’re promoting summer family swim sessions, gym memberships in January, or fitness classes for pregnant women.
In this case, Performance Max can be a great tool to run time-sensitive offers or promote a broad range of activities to local audiences.
Because the campaign can dynamically mix and match creative (videos, headlines, images, and descriptions), it’s ideal for highlighting multiple services or classes without needing dozens of separate campaigns.
It also works well for driving footfall, particularly when combined with accurate location signals and strong creative assets including videos and photography that reflect the local community.
Dental Practices: Building Visibility for High-Value Services
A dentist’s practice presents another interesting use case.
If the goal is to generate new patient enquiries for high-value services like Invisalign, teeth whitening, or dental implants, Performance Max can help reach people who might be searching for cosmetic treatments but haven’t yet chosen a provider.
The ability to show up on Google Maps, YouTube, and across the Display Network means the campaign can build brand familiarity over time, not just drive bottom-of-the-funnel searches.
If the practice is already visible in organic search and running branded campaigns, PMax can help expand reach without cannibalising existing performance, so long as campaigns are structured to avoid overlap and budget waste.
Is It the Right Time to Use Performance Max?
Ultimately, Performance Max is a tool to amplify what’s already working.
If you have a strong offer, a well-designed website, clear tracking in place, and a decent volume of conversion data to feed the algorithm, then it could be a good time to test it.
But if your website is still a work in progress, or your goals are unclear, it’s better to get the foundations right first.
The right time to use Performance Max isn’t the same for every business.
It depends on your objectives, your audience, and how much data and creative you have to work with.
But when those things align, it can become a powerful part of your Google Ads strategy, especially for local businesses looking to reach audiences beyond the search results page.
Get in touch if you’d like to find out more about our performance max and other paid media services.
