Performance Max gives retailers access to Google’s full advertising network, from Search and Shopping to YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps.
That reach is valuable, but it also creates a challenge.
When a campaign is built to drive product-led performance, advertisers need to understand whether spend is supporting Shopping activity, or whether budget is moving into channels that are better suited to awareness.
That is why Google’s test of new Performance Max channel controls matters.
The feature appears to let advertisers influence how Performance Max prioritises conversions across different channels. It is not a fixed budget split, so advertisers would not choose exactly how much spend goes into Search, YouTube or Display. Instead, it looks like a way to guide the system towards or away from certain channels based on how valuable they are to the campaign.
Shoptimised has not seen this setting in managed accounts yet, so this should be treated as something to watch rather than something every advertiser can use today.
If it rolls out more widely, it could give retailers a more practical way to reduce low-quality channel spend and keep Performance Max closer to the campaign objective.
The value of this test is not simply that advertisers may get another setting inside Performance Max.
The real value is the potential to reduce low-quality channel spend.
Performance Max can support product discovery, Shopping visibility and conversion growth, but not every channel plays the same role.
YouTube, for example, can be useful for brand awareness and demand creation. But if the goal is direct product-led performance, YouTube assets may not always deliver the same quality of traffic or return as Shopping-led placements.
Display and Discover can create a similar challenge. They may still have value, but retailers need to understand whether they are supporting the campaign objective or absorbing budget that could work harder elsewhere.
If channel controls become available, they could help advertisers guide Performance Max away from channels that are spending without adding enough value, and towards channels that better support the job of the campaign.
Incremental Sales is focused on products that are not contributing properly through the main Shopping setup.
That may include products with low visibility, no clicks or no conversions.
The goal is to give those products more opportunity to appear in Google Shopping and generate revenue.
If Performance Max channel controls allow advertisers to prioritise Shopping-led placements, such as Product Listing Ad carousels, they could help keep Incremental activity focused on the environments most relevant to product discovery and conversion.
That matters because Incremental activity is not designed for broad awareness. It is designed to help overlooked products compete more effectively in Shopping.
For non-Incremental clients, the same principle still applies. If assets are performing poorly on certain channels, or if spend is being pulled into activity that does not support direct response goals, more channel control could help advertisers make better decisions.
Performance Max channel reporting has improved, but it can still be difficult to understand the real value of each channel.
A channel may look weak if it is judged only on directly attributed conversions. But it may still play a role earlier in the customer journey, introducing shoppers who later convert through Search or Shopping.
That is why more control needs better context.
Before reducing investment in a channel, teams should look at product performance, asset quality, conversion paths, feed strength and the role that channel may be playing in the wider journey.
Without that context, teams could pull back from channels that still play a useful role in the wider customer journey.
This feature is not something most advertisers can act on yet, but it is a useful signal of where Performance Max may be heading.
Google has already started giving advertisers more channel-level visibility. If prioritisation controls roll out more widely, retailers may have more ways to act on that information.
For now, the key areas to watch are:
These areas matter because channel control is only useful if retailers can connect it back to campaign objectives, product performance and the role each channel is expected to play.
Performance Max channel controls are not available to most advertisers yet, but they are worth watching.
If rolled out more widely, they could give retailers a better way to reduce low-quality channel spend and keep campaigns closer to their objective.
For product-led campaigns, that means more focus on where budget is going, whether Shopping activity is being supported, and whether each channel is adding the right kind of value.
The opportunity is useful, but it comes with a caution: more control only helps if the reporting, product data and campaign structure are strong enough to support the decisions being made.
Speak to the Shoptimised team about how Incremental Sales helps identify underused products, improve catalogue coverage and give more products a clearer route into Google Shopping.
