pmax-audit

Performance Max Audit

A deep audit of your Performance Max campaigns. PMax hides most of its levers — this skill pulls the ones the API still exposes (asset groups, asset coverage, search themes, audience signals, exclusions, channel mix) and flags what's leaking spend.

Requires: Cogny Agent subscription ($9/mo) — Sign up

Prerequisites Check

If mcp__cogny__google_ads__tool_execute_gaql is not available, print the Cogny sign-up instructions (see /google-ads-audit) and stop.

Usage

/pmax-audit — audit every Performance Max campaign in the account /pmax-audit Holiday Retail — audit one campaign by name or id

Why PMax needs its own audit

PMax is a black box compared to Search. There are no keywords and no per-placement bids. The few real levers — asset group ad strength, asset coverage, search themes, audience signals, and exclusions — are what this skill inspects, because they are the only things you can actually change.

Steps

1. Find the Performance Max campaigns

SELECT campaign.id, campaign.name, campaign.status,
  campaign.bidding_strategy_type, campaign.maximize_conversion_value.target_roas,
  campaign.target_cpa.target_cpa_micros, campaign_budget.amount_micros,
  metrics.cost_micros, metrics.conversions, metrics.conversions_value
FROM campaign
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'
  AND segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY metrics.cost_micros DESC

2. Asset group health

SELECT asset_group.id, asset_group.name, asset_group.status,
  asset_group.ad_strength, campaign.name,
  metrics.cost_micros, metrics.conversions, metrics.conversions_value
FROM asset_group
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'
  AND segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS

Flag:

• Ad strength POOR or AVERAGE on any spending asset group
• Campaigns with a single asset group (no audience/theme segmentation)
• Asset groups with status REMOVED/PAUSED still configured but campaign starved

3. Asset coverage per group

SELECT asset_group.name, asset_group_asset.field_type,
  asset_group_asset.performance_label, asset_group_asset.status,
  asset.id, asset.type
FROM asset_group_asset
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'

For each asset group, count assets by field_type and compare to Google's max slots:

Field type	Recommended	Max
HEADLINE	11+	15
LONG_HEADLINE	5	5
DESCRIPTION	5	5
MARKETING_IMAGE (1.91:1)	4+	20
SQUARE_MARKETING_IMAGE	4+	20
PORTRAIT_MARKETING_IMAGE	2+	20
LOGO	1+	5
YOUTUBE_VIDEO	1+	5

Flag:

• Any group below the recommended count for headlines, images, or video
• No video asset — Google auto-generates a low-quality one if you skip it
• Assets with performance_label = LOW that should be replaced
• Only one image aspect ratio (limits inventory: blocks whole channels)

4. Search themes & audience signals

SELECT asset_group.name, asset_group_signal.search_theme.text,
  asset_group_signal.audience.audience
FROM asset_group_signal
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'

Flag:

• Asset groups with no audience signal — PMax starts cold, wastes budget learning
• No search themes set (up to 25 allowed — they steer the Search surface)
• Search themes that overlap your brand terms (inflates brand cannibalization)

5. Search category insight (where spend actually goes)

SELECT campaign_search_term_insight.category_label,
  metrics.clicks, metrics.conversions, metrics.conversions_value
FROM campaign_search_term_insight
WHERE segments.date DURING LAST_30_DAYS
ORDER BY metrics.clicks DESC
LIMIT 50

Flag categories with high clicks and zero conversions — candidates for negative keywords (PMax negatives are set at the account level, or via support).

6. Brand exclusions & new-customer goal

SELECT campaign.name, campaign.brand_guidelines_enabled,
  campaign.customer_acquisition_setting.optimization_mode
FROM campaign
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'

Flag:

• No brand exclusion list — PMax happily spends on your own brand searches
• New-customer acquisition goal not configured (for accounts that want growth, not just remarketing-flavored conversions)
• Final URL expansion ON with no URL exclusions (PMax can send traffic anywhere on the domain)

7. Listing groups (retail PMax only)

If the campaign has a Merchant Center feed:

SELECT asset_group.name, asset_group_listing_group_filter.type,
  asset_group_listing_group_filter.case_value.product_type.value
FROM asset_group_listing_group_filter
WHERE campaign.advertising_channel_type = 'PERFORMANCE_MAX'

Flag everything dumped into one "All products" node — no way to prioritize high-margin SKUs. Recommend /shopping-campaign-audit for full feed analysis.

8. Score and report

Performance Max Audit — [Account Name]
PMax Score: X/100  ·  30-day spend: [X]  ·  Conv: [X]  ·  ROAS: [X.Xx]

Per campaign / asset group:
| Campaign | Asset group | Ad strength | Signal? | Video? | Spend | ROAS |
|----------|-------------|-------------|---------|--------|-------|------|

🔴 Critical   — broken signals, POOR ad strength, no brand exclusion
🟡 Important  — thin assets, missing video, no search themes
🟢 Optimization — add aspect ratios, expand headlines

Top 3 Actions:
1. [Highest $ impact]
2. ...
3. ...

9. Record findings

{
  "title": "PMax 'Holiday Retail' has no audience signal — slow, expensive learning",
  "body": "Asset group 'Gifts' spends $90/day with no audience signal attached. PMax is exploring blind. Add a signal from converting customers (customer match list or your top-converting segment) to speed up learning.",
  "action_type": "audience_refinement",
  "expected_outcome": "Faster learning, lower CPA within 2-3 weeks",
  "estimated_impact_usd": 1200,
  "priority": "high"
}

Action types: asset_optimization, audience_refinement, negative_keyword, campaign_optimization, bidding_strategy, brand_exclusion.

Critical rules

1. Asset strength and audience signals are the real levers. Spend the audit there, not on metrics you can't influence.
2. Always check brand exclusions. Unexcluded brand traffic is the most common PMax money leak.
3. Quote real numbers — ad strength label, asset counts, category clicks.
4. Read-only. Surface issues; never edit asset groups.