Setting up Performance Max campaigns in India: what actually works

Performance Max is Google's fully automated campaign type that runs across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and Discover from a single campaign. Google's pitch is that the machine learning will find your best customers across all its surfaces automatically. For Indian advertisers, the reality is a mixed bag, and how you set it up makes an enormous difference in what you get back.

I have reviewed dozens of Performance Max campaigns running for Indian businesses, and the results range from excellent to disastrous. The difference is almost always in how the campaign was configured, what assets were provided, and whether proper conversion tracking was in place before launch.

Get your conversion tracking right first

This is the part most Indian advertisers skip or rush. Performance Max learns from your conversion data. If your conversion tracking is broken, missing, or counting the wrong events, the campaign will optimise toward the wrong things.

Before you launch a Performance Max campaign, verify that your Google Ads tag is firing correctly on your thank-you page or confirmation screen. If you are a lead generation business, track the form submission. If you are an e-commerce store, track the purchase event with revenue values. For UPI-based checkouts, make sure the conversion fires after payment confirmation, not just after the user hits "pay now."

A campaign with 30 days of clean conversion data before switching to Performance Max will outperform one launched cold.

Asset groups are where you put in the work

Asset groups are the creative units within a Performance Max campaign. You provide headlines, descriptions, images, logos, and videos, and Google assembles these into ads across all its surfaces. The quality and variety of what you provide directly affects performance.

Use at least five to eight headlines. Include headlines with location signals, like "digital marketing in Ahmedabad" or "web design for Mumbai businesses." Write descriptions that address objections, not just features. For images, provide both square and landscape formats. For Indian businesses, include images that reflect the local context, not generic stock photos.

If you do not have a video, Google will create one from your images. These auto-generated videos are generally poor quality. Investing in even a simple 15-second video made with a tool like Canva or InVideo will improve your ad placements significantly.

Use audience signals to guide the machine

Performance Max accepts audience signals, which are hints to Google about who your target customer is. This is not targeting in the traditional sense but it guides the algorithm during its learning phase.

Add your existing customer lists as signals. Add similar audiences based on your best converters. Include in-market audiences relevant to your business. For a B2B software company, signals like "IT decision makers" and "small business owners" help. For an e-commerce fashion brand, past purchasers and cart abandoners from your remarketing list are powerful signals.

The more relevant your signals, the faster the campaign finds its footing.

Start with a campaign-level budget, not shared budgets

Indian advertisers often manage tight budgets across multiple campaigns. Keep your Performance Max budget separate and dedicated, especially during the learning phase, which typically takes two to four weeks. Shared budgets can starve a Performance Max campaign of the spend it needs to generate enough conversion data to learn.

Set a daily budget you are comfortable spending even if early results are not perfect. Expect the first 30 days to be the learning phase. Make no major changes during this period.

Frequently asked questions