Performance Max and Demand Gen’s Helpful Updates: Here’s What to Know

It’s no secret that Google has slowly been peeling back the curtain on its most opaque campaign types. But the recent updates to Performance Max (PMax) and Demand Gen finally give advertisers something we’ve been asking for since the beginning: more visibility, more control, and better optimization opportunities.

Let’s break down what’s new – and how to use these features to your advantage.

PMax Now Offers Search Term Insights (Finally)

Until recently, one of the biggest frustrations with PMax has been its “black box” nature. We were flying blind, with little clarity on what exact search queries were triggering ads.

That’s changed. Google’s latest channel, search, and asset insights update now provides full search term visibility, a huge win for advertisers.

Why it matters:

• We can now analyze actual queries and see how well they align with campaign goals.
  
  
• It allows for optimization of search themes to better reach high-intent customers.
  
  
• Combined with the recently added negative keyword control at the campaign level, PMax is finally feeling like a campaign type we can confidently steer.
  
  

Search Themes Just Got an Upgrade

Google has also expanded the limit on the number of search themes you can input into a PMax campaign (source). More search themes = more context for the algorithm.

How to use it:

• Think of search themes as your opportunity to guide the AI toward the right types of users and queries.
  
  
• More themes = more signals. And more signals = better targeting, better performance.

Asset-Level and Channel Insights Are Here

Another major boost: You can now get detailed performance breakdowns by asset and channel. That means we can finally tell which headlines, descriptions, and images are driving results – and which are falling flat.

Pro tips
Use this data to:

• Refresh underperforming assets
  
  
• Double down on high-performing formats
  
  
• Create segmented tests by channel to tailor creative more effectively
  
  

Demand Gen Gets Channel Controls + YouTube Format Reporting

On the Demand Gen side, things are also getting much more manageable. Channel-level transparency has officially rolled out, giving advertisers visibility into performance by placement and format.

Here’s what that means:

• You can now see how YouTube Shorts, Discover, and Gmail perform individually.
  
  
• Google even provides ad format insights for YouTube, which is a big deal. It helps you tailor creative assets to the right placements—something we’ve been doing with Meta for years.
  
  

No more lumping everything into one line item. It’s like stepping out of the early days of PMax into the light.

Bonus: Checkout on Merchant Expanded to Demand Gen

This update allows users to check out directly on your site from a Demand Gen ad. While this feature is still expanding, it’s another step toward making social-style ad formats more performance-driven.

Takeaway

Based on these updates, Google is clearly listening to advertiser feedback and taking real steps to make campaign types like PMax and Demand Gen smarter, more transparent, and more customizable. 

Is it a little window dressing to distract us from AI encroaching on the entire search experience as we know it? Maybe, but it’s worth using what Google is giving us.

Here’s what we recommend:

• If you paused PMax because of its lack of control, now’s the time to revisit it.
  
  
• Make full use of search term and asset insights to refine your targeting and creative.
  
  
• Test additional search themes to expand reach intelligently.
  
  
• Use Demand Gen’s channel reporting to tailor creative and drive performance by placement.
  
  

Need help auditing or optimizing your current PMax or Demand Gen setup? Drop us a message. We’ve been digging into the data and know exactly what to look for.