PMax reports great ROAS, but it's often claiming credit for brand searches that would convert anyway.
20-40% of PMax budget may be wasted on brand traffic that would convert anyway
True ROAS, New Customer CAC, Incremental Revenue, Brand vs Non-Brand Split
Brands often overspend on Performance Max because inflated ROAS numbers hide the true cost of new customer acquisition.
Understanding the root causes is the first step to solving the problem.
Google automatically includes brand terms in PMax campaigns. These high-intent searches inflate performance metrics.
When PMax touches a brand search journey, it gets credit for the conversion over your brand campaign.
Google only shows top-performing search terms in PMax, hiding brand term cannibalization.
Unlike standard campaigns, you can't add brand terms as negatives in PMax.
Well-intentioned fixes that often make things worse.
PMax ROAS includes brand traffic that would convert regardless. True incremental ROAS is often 30-50% lower.
PMax takes over brand traffic, but at higher CPCs. Keep brand campaigns running to maintain control and lower CPCs.
Scaling PMax often increases brand cannibalization proportionally. Incremental efficiency doesn't scale linearly.
Purpose-built features to detect, diagnose, and fix performance max cannibalization.
We analyze search term patterns and brand/non-brand splits to estimate how much PMax is claiming brand traffic.
Adjust reported ROAS for estimated brand cannibalization to show realistic incremental performance.
Segment performance by estimated intent to understand true new customer acquisition cost.
Suggestions for asset group structure and campaign settings to minimize cannibalization.
Best practices to prevent this problem from occurring or recurring.
It varies by brand awareness and campaign structure, but we commonly see 30-60% of PMax conversions coming from brand-related searches. For well-known brands, it can be even higher. PerfoAds estimates this split by analyzing search term reports, brand keyword volumes, and conversion patterns. Even a rough estimate helps you understand true performance.
PerfoAds AI identifies, diagnoses, and helps you fix account issues automatically. Start solving problems today.