Performance Max Channel Reporting: Transparency, But No Control

By: Jyll Saskin Gales, Google Ads Coach

Understanding how your Performance Max campaigns are truly working across different channels has long been a challenge. But Google is making significant strides in bringing more transparency to this automated campaign type, and one of those changes is Performance Max Channel Reporting.

Let me walk you through a few new updates to Performance Max reporting, so you can gain clearer insights and make more informed decisions. We'll cover:

• What is Performance Max channel reporting?
• How to see channel reporting in your PMax campaigns
• How to see your search terms in Performance Max
• New asset reporting capabilities in PMax
• Performance Max Transparency vs. Control: A Crucial Distinction

What is Performance Max channel reporting?

For the last few years, Performance Max campaigns have truly been a black box. It either worked, or it didn't, and there were only so many levers to pull to try to optimize. Up until now, if you were running a Performance Max campaign, you wouldn't know exactly how much of your spend was going towards Search, Display, Maps, or Shopping. While some advertisers used scripts to approximate this data, it was never truly precise.

Now, PMax Channel Reporting gives us a peek behind that curtain. This is rolling out globally in open beta in May 2025. So, if you haven't seen it in your account yet, it's on its way! This feature allows you to see how your impressions, clicks, conversions, etc. are distributed across various Google channels.

How to see channel reporting in your PMax campaigns

To find your channel reports, navigate to your Performance Max campaign in Google Ads. Look for "Insights and Reports" on the left-hand side, and then select "Channel Performance."

While you'll see a graph at the top, scroll down to the table view for a more detailed breakdown. Here, you'll be able to view key metrics like impressions, clicks, cost, and conversions for each channel where your Performance Max ads can appear. These channels include Discover, Gmail, Search, Shopping, and Maps, among others.

You can customize your view by tapping the "Columns" button to add more data points, and the "Segment" button for further breakdowns. And if you're a spreadsheet wizard, you'll be happy to know you can download this data for in-depth analysis.

Note that while Google Ads now gives up reporting on various channels in Performance Max, we do not have direct channel controls. You can't "deselect" any of these channels, even if you're not happy with their performance.

How to see your search terms in Performance Max

Another enhancement to Performance Max reporting is introducing a full search terms report. If you're familiar with Search and Shopping campaigns, you know how crucial a search terms report is for understanding exactly what people are searching for when your ads appear. For a time, this level of detail was limited in Performance Max, making optimization more challenging.

Now, you'll have access to a comprehensive list of search queries that triggered your Performance Max ads. This is invaluable for identifying new keyword opportunities, understanding user intent, and even finding negative keywords to refine your targeting and improve your ad spend efficiency.

What makes this even more powerful is that you can now add up to 10,000 negative keywords in Performance Max, further aligning its capabilities with traditional Search and Shopping campaigns. This gives you both the transparency of seeing what people are searching for and the control to exclude irrelevant terms.

New asset reporting capabilities in PMax

Beyond channel reporting and search term insights, Google Ads is also providing more robust asset reporting metrics within Performance Max. When you go into your asset groups, you can now add various columns to see the performance of your individual headlines, descriptions, images, videos and other assets.

To avoid analysis paralysis, I recommend focusing on click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate. These two metrics offer a clear indication of how engaging and effective your creative assets are. A high CTR suggests your ad copy and visuals are compelling enough to grab attention, while a strong conversion rate indicates that those clicks are leading to desired actions.

Just like with channel reporting, you can export this asset data to conduct your own detailed analysis. This granular view allows you to identify your top-performing assets, understand what resonates with your audience, and continuously refine your creative strategy for better results.

Performance Max Transparency vs. Control: A Crucial Distinction

While these reporting enhancements are a step in the right direction, it's important to consider the distinction between transparency and control. With PMax Channel Reporting, we gain transparency; we can see where our ads are showing and how they're performing on those channels. However, we don't have direct control over which channels Performance Max utilizes. The fundamental design of Performance Max is to optimize delivery across all eligible channels to achieve your given budget and goals.

This is a different approach from Google's recent announcement regarding Demand Gen campaigns. With Demand Gen Channel reporting, you can see how much of your spend goes to YouTube, Discover, Gmail, or Display Network. Crucially, Demand Gen also provides channel controls, allowing you to uncheck boxes and remove channels if you don't want your ads to appear there.

The lack of channel control in Performance Max, while having channel transparency, might lead to some frustration for you. Imagine seeing a significant portion of your budget going to a channel that isn't yet driving conversions for you, but having no direct way to turn it off. This differs from the Search Terms Report, where you have both the transparency of seeing the terms and the control to add negative keywords.

It's a delicate balance. On one hand, giving the system the freedom to learn and optimize across channels is the core promise of Performance Max. Intervening too early or too often might prevent the algorithm from finding what truly works best. On the other hand, advertisers naturally want more control over their spending. Google is clearly listening to advertiser feedback, as evidenced by the numerous changes to Performance Max over the past year, including asset-level conversion reporting, brand exclusions, and negative keywords.

My advice is to work with the system, giving it the data and guidance it needs, rather than trying to force it into narrow constraints.

I'll keep this article updated as PMax Channel Reporting rolls out and we learn more about its capabilities and limitations.