Performance Max and Brand Search: How the Leak Happens

Performance Max can spend on searches for your own name. The person already knew the brand. A branded Search campaign may still be in the account. Performance Max can enter that query anyway, and it will not list every query it took. This note is how the leak happens, how to audit it, and what to ask an agency. It does not quote a fee or a share of spend. The ads work is on our Google Ads services page.

Short answer: Write every way people type the brand, in English and in Thai. Open each Performance Max campaign and check that a brand exclusion is applied. Read search categories for the name. A blank sample is not proof the brand is absent. A search theme that contains the brand is an invitation, not a fence. Do not assume the branded Search campaign always wins. This article will not invent a figure for the leak.

What it means when Performance Max steals brand search

Brand search is the business name, or the name plus a word the person adds when they already mean you: the city, “contact”, “ราคา”, a branch, or the old name. Those people did not need a campaign to discover you. A click can still defend the name. It is not new demand. If Performance Max takes the click, that campaign looks busy and branded Search looks quieter. None of that, by itself, is a new customer.

Performance Max can serve on Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from one campaign, with a goal instead of keywords. Unless you exclude the brand, it may consider your name. A conversion on that query can look cheap, because the person was already looking for you. Cheap is not incremental. Do not invent a percentage of spend that “is brand”. Count the queries you can see, and say when you cannot.

How Performance Max enters a brand query

A branded Search campaign does not lock the name. Performance Max has no keyword list you can read like a Search ad group. Asset groups, a feed, and the conversion goal can each place an ad next to someone who typed the name.

The brand campaign does not always have the right of way

There is no switch labelled “who wins brand”. A close variant, a Thai spelling, or a brand-plus-service query can still be a Performance Max impression. Audit the exclusion on the campaign. If branded Search is paused, limited, or missing the Thai name, write that as a setting. The short name people type matters more than the legal name.

A brand exclusion is not a negative keyword

A brand exclusion is a brand list Google recognises, applied to that Performance Max campaign. It is not a negative-keyword row, and the next campaign does not inherit it. An English brand entity may miss the Thai spelling, a nickname, or a former name. If the name is still in search categories, the exclusion missed that query. Account-level negatives are a shared list, not a reason to skip the brand list. Ask which list, which date, and whether the brand spellings are on it.

Search themes and final URL expansion

Search themes are hints. They exclude nothing. Adding the brand so the campaign can “learn faster” invites brand search into Performance Max. Remove it unless there is a written reason and a review date. A headline that is only the brand, pointed at the homepage, makes the ad look like a brand ad.

Final URL expansion lets Performance Max replace the URL you set. The click can land on a page no asset group named. If you cannot list those URLs, turn expansion off, then write the URL a test query opened. Do not quote a share you did not measure.

How to audit, without a fake spend figure

Work in the live account. If a report is empty, write “not shown”, not a zero you invented.

1. List the brand strings: legal name, English, Thai, short name, old name, and any product line people search as the brand.
2. Open branded Search. Note if it is live, which strings it holds, and which URL it uses. If there is no brand campaign, write that.
3. Open every live Performance Max campaign. Note whether a brand list is applied, and whether it is your brand or only competitors. An empty list is a finding.
4. Read search themes. A theme that is the brand is an invitation. Note final URL expansion separately from the final URL already set.
5. Open Insights and the search categories or search terms sample. Look for each brand string. Copy what you see and the date range. A sample that hides queries cannot prove the brand is absent.
6. If a feed is attached, look at titles that are only the brand. A text exclusion that leaves Shopping on the name is unfinished. Do not invent a Shopping share.
7. Compare before and after only as a direction. If the dates do not line up, do not invent the move. A conversion rise on launch day is not, by itself, new demand.
8. Check the conversion it bids to. A page view, a double-counted click, or a public thank-you URL makes the leak look like a result. That install is Google Ads conversion tracking setup. A reported return that moved because measurement changed is the same class of problem. The sibling note is Facebook Conversion API versus the Pixel.

Which campaigns can enter the name? Which strings appear in the sample? What will you re-read, and on what date? If you cannot answer, you do not have a budget figure. You have a missing setting.

What the reports will not show you

Performance Max does not give the query report a Search campaign gives. Search categories and term samples are incomplete. A channel split does not name the query. Brand search can sit in Search with no brand label. Auction insights will not reliably say the loss was your own Performance Max. Do not invent that row. A high conversion rate is not proof the brand was absent. People who already know the name convert more often. A new-customer setting does not replace a brand exclusion. This article will not print a lift.

What to ask an agency

Ask whoever can open the account, including us, for the screen rather than a slide. If the first answers are unclear, do not raise the budget. More spend on an unexcluded brand teaches the campaign that the name is a good query.

• Which Performance Max campaigns are live, which brand list is on each, and when was it edited?
• Does the exclusion cover English and Thai, or only a brand Google already knows? What about the short name and the old name?
• Is any search theme the brand, and is final URL expansion on? Which URL did the last brand test open?
• Can you show this period’s search categories? If the sample is empty, what else did you check?
• Is branded Search live, and what should happen when the query is only the name?
• What is on the account-level negative list? After an exclusion, which report will you open, on what date, with no recovery percentage?
• If the answer is that Performance Max needs brand traffic to learn, write the reason and the review date. Do not accept a spend share you have not seen.

A usable answer names the campaigns, the lists, and the next read. “Performance Max is working” is weak when the return includes the brand. The ads work remains Google Ads services. This article does not quote a fee.

What to change, and what not to promise

Apply your brand list to each live Performance Max campaign. Remove the brand from search themes. Do not keep a brand-only asset group whose only job is to catch the name, unless you have written why. Leave branded Search on, pointed at the page those people should reach.

Do not promise recovered clicks, or a fall in spend. Re-open the same screens. If named-brand enquiries are unchanged and Performance Max conversions fell, you may have removed claimed brand, not demand. If both fell, the exclusion may be too wide, or the conversion was never the enquiry. Competitor names are a different list. Do not invent how often either fires.

What this article will not do

• Invent a share of Performance Max spend that is brand search, a cost per lead, or a recovery after an exclusion.
• Quote a fee for ads, an audit, or a brand campaign. Published figures, if any, live on the service page.
• Name other firms, or rank them. Treat a search-category sample as a full query list, or “learning” as a reason to leave the brand unexcluded.

FAQ

Does a brand Search campaign stop Performance Max from taking brand queries?

No. It can run beside Performance Max, and it does not lock the name. A close variant, a Thai spelling, or a brand-plus-service query can still be a Performance Max impression. Apply a brand exclusion you can see on each campaign, then read the query sample.

Is a brand exclusion the same as a negative keyword?

No. A brand exclusion is a brand list Google recognises, applied to that campaign. A negative keyword is a query string. Thai spelling, a short name, or an old name may sit outside the English brand entity. Account-level negatives are a separate list. None of these replace a later look at search categories.

Why can Performance Max look cheaper on brand terms?

People who already know the name are closer to an enquiry, so the report can look efficient. That is not new demand. Read the sample before you raise the budget. This article will not print a cheapness figure.

What should we ask before we raise the Performance Max budget?

Which campaigns have a brand list, whether Thai and English are covered, whether any search theme is the brand, and whether final URL expansion is on. Ask for this period’s search categories, not a slide that says the return improved. If those answers are missing, do not add budget. The ads work sits on Google Ads services. This note does not quote a fee.

What if search categories do not show our brand name?

A missing name in a sample is not proof the brand is absent. Performance Max does not list every query. Check the brand list, the search themes, and branded Search for the spellings people use. Read the same sample again after any change. If queries stay hidden, say the report cannot settle it. Do not invent a zero.