What if I'm using Performance Max (PMax)? Does a structure still apply?

Question

I’m trying to use Performance Max (PMax) because Google pushes it, but I need precision for my top five metro areas. How do I stop PMax from stealing budget and credit from my dedicated, high-intent Search Campaigns?

Answer 1

PMax is excellent for broad discovery, but it lacks the necessary control for your high-value, Tier 1 searches. You need to create clear boundaries:

• The Rule: Your Standard Search Campaigns (using the Geo-Hierarchical structure) must own your Tier 1 (High-Priority) cities/regions.

• The Tactic: Use negative keywords in your PMax setup to exclude the exact city + service search terms (e.g., exclude "Best Plumber Seattle") that your Standard Search campaigns are targeting. This forces PMax to work on non-branded discovery (YouTube, Display, lower-intent queries), protecting your most valuable traffic.

Also, here are some more related post to look into: We run monthly promotions, but the offer amount changes by region due to local competition.

I have hundreds of locations, and adding '[Service] near me' keywords to every single ad group is tedious and inefficient. Is there a scalable way to bid on immediate-need, proximity searches?