• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 13, 2025

Google Performance Max has become the hub of the company's advertising system, but marketers continue to express concerns about transparency while using the platform.

Performance Max's "black box" has been the most frustrating for many advertisers due to its lack of available data. Google summarizes the answers to their questions and addresses the complex consumer buying journey, which is non-linear.

Google says the best channel in one auction is not always the best option in another. Thus, it is misleading to look at the average cost per acquisition (CPA) or return on ad spend (ROAS) of one channel in a cross-channel campaign.

Performance Max looks across channels to bid on the inventory that is predicted to deliver the most cost-efficient, high-ROI conversion. This is called marginal ROI optimization and it happens in each and every auction.

To understand what is driving results in Performance Max, Google suggests checking asset group reporting, search terms insights, and audience insights.

Detailed answers to the most frequently asked questions related to Performance Max were based on interactions and feedback from advertisers during webinars, roundtables, and account teams.

Answers based on questions range from why “Performance Max campaigns can feel like a black box. Why doesn’t it offer channel-level reporting?” to “I feel like I’ve hit the ceiling of driving results with Performance Max. What more can I do to scale and drive better results?”

The post summarizes the answers and even provides an AI assistant to find answers and solve account issues.

As AI becomes a larger part of automation in advertising the technology will continue to revolutionize the industry.

"We anticipate further advancements in personalized ads, delivering highly relevant messages to each user," Matthew Rivard, director of strategy and product acceleration of Google Canada, wrote in a blog post. "Immersive experiences will also become increasingly prevalent, with interactive ads designed to capture consumer attention. And, we'll also see advancements in measurement that will help drive better outcomes for businesses."