Performance Max (often called PMax) is a goal-based Google Ads campaign type that uses Google’s automation to show your ads across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from one campaign. Instead of you picking every keyword and placement, you feed Google your conversion goal (calls, form fills, purchases), your targeting boundaries (like Orlando only, or a service radius), and creative assets (headlines, descriptions, images, video), then Google’s system finds and bids for the traffic most likely to convert.
For local businesses in Orlando and Central Florida, PMax can work very well when you want more total volume without building and managing a dozen separate campaigns. Think dentists who want more new patient requests, pest control companies pushing termite season, and law firms that need steady intake while search costs fluctuate. It also pairs nicely with a strong landing page experience, so if your site needs tightening up first, our web design work for lead-focused landing pages usually pays off quickly when you turn on automated campaigns.
When Performance Max is a good fit
- You have clear conversion tracking (calls, forms, booked appointments, purchases) and you can tell which leads were real.
- You want incremental reach beyond keyword-only Search, especially for people who are researching or comparing before they search again.
- You can supply decent creative (real photos, short video, offers, and copy that matches what you actually sell).
- You have enough budget to let it learn without turning it off after a few days. PMax needs stable data to find patterns.
- You sell multiple services or products and want the system to flex spend toward what is converting.
When it’s usually not a good fit
- You need tight keyword control (for example, you only want “emergency dentist Orlando” and nothing else).
- Your tracking is weak (no call tracking, forms not tracked, spam leads counted as wins). Bad inputs create bad decisions.
- You have a tiny budget where one bad week wipes out the month. In that case, starting with focused Search often performs better.
- You run a long sales cycle (B2B, high-ticket) but you cannot send offline outcomes back to Google (qualified lead, closed deal).
| Campaign type | Best for | What you control most | Trade-offs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance Max | More total conversions across Google inventory, lead gen or ecommerce | Goals, budget, location, creative assets, audience signals, some exclusions | Less transparency and less direct control than keyword-only Search |
| Search (keyword-based) | High-intent searches with clear wording (calls, “near me,” service + city) | Keywords, match types, ad copy, landing pages, negatives | Reach is limited to what people type, and costs can spike in competitive Orlando categories |
| Shopping (standard) | Ecommerce with product feed control | Product targeting, bidding structure, negatives | Less cross-channel reach than PMax, more hands-on setup |
How we set PMax up so it behaves for local lead gen
Most PMax disappointments come from two things: counting junk as conversions, and giving Google vague creative that attracts the wrong clicks. When we build PMax for service businesses, we treat it like a system:
- Conversion hygiene: track calls, forms, and booked events, and count only real leads as primary conversions (spam should not be a “win”). If you’re not sure what to watch, our FAQ on SEO metrics to track is still useful here because the same lead-quality logic applies to paid traffic.
- Clear intent signals: write assets that match what people actually want (pricing expectations, service area, insurance accepted, emergency availability). This ties back to search intent, which is the fastest way to stop wasted spend.
- Location boundaries: set the right geo targeting for Orlando, Winter Park, Lake Nona, Dr. Phillips, and the areas you truly serve, not the whole state unless you really cover it.
- Asset groups by service line: one group for “invisalign,” another for “emergency dentist,” another for “teeth whitening,” so messaging stays tight and you can read what’s working.
- Brand control: keep brand traffic from swallowing the budget when the goal is new customer growth, and add negatives for obvious mismatches (jobs, DIY, free, cheap, competitor names if needed).
If you already have Search campaigns that are working, PMax is often best as an add-on, not a replacement. If you’re starting from zero, we usually begin with a focused Search foundation, then add PMax once tracking and landing pages are solid. If you want us to look at your account and tell you whether PMax is the right move for your category in Orlando, start with our PPC management page and we’ll map the fastest path to cleaner leads and steadier volume.
