Performance Max has been Google's most debated campaign type since its introduction. The promise - full channel coverage, AI-driven optimisation, maximum reach - sits in tension with the reality that many advertisers have experienced: reduced control, opaque spend allocation, and results that are harder to interrogate than traditional campaigns.
The updates Google has rolled out into 2026 are a direct response to that feedback. They don't fundamentally change what Performance Max is, but they change how much control advertisers have over what it does.
Campaign-level negative keywords - finally
The absence of campaign-level negative keywords was the single most common complaint about Performance Max from experienced practitioners. Campaign-level negatives are now available to all advertisers.
In practice, you can exclude branded queries from competitor campaigns, exclude irrelevant product categories, and manage brand safety without relying solely on account-level placement exclusions. A real improvement that changes the viability of Performance Max in sectors where query control matters.
Demographic exclusions and device controls
Two new betas address targeting granularity. Age-based demographic exclusions allow you to exclude age brackets - useful for products with age restrictions or strong demographic skew. Device targeting controls let you customise reach across computer, mobile, and tablet.
Search themes and the usefulness indicator
Search themes have moved out of beta and are now standard, with an accompanying usefulness indicator that tells you whether your search themes are adding incremental reach or duplicating what the algorithm would find independently.
If your search themes are rated low usefulness, the AI is already finding that traffic. If rated high usefulness, they're guiding the algorithm toward traffic it would miss otherwise.
The honest take
These updates make Performance Max more credible for experienced advertisers who were previously deterred by its opacity. They don't make it a clean replacement for well-structured standard Search and Shopping campaigns in all cases. But the balance has shifted meaningfully in the direction of control.