Google just dropped a massive set of changes for Performance Max, and honestly, if you aren't paying attention, your ROAS is probably about to take a nose-dive. It’s wild how much the platform has changed in just a few months.
Remember when PMax was just a "black box" that we all complained about?
Well, those days are basically over. The Performance Max updates October 2025 rollout has officially flipped the script on transparency. We’ve gone from begging for data to having almost too much of it. If you’re still running your campaigns the same way you did in 2024, you're leaving money on the table.
The 9:16 Revolution and Why Your Creative is Failing
One of the biggest, and strangely most overlooked, updates this month is the official support for 9:16 vertical images.
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It sounds like a small technical tweak. It isn't.
Before this, PMax would often try to "auto-generate" vertical assets for YouTube Shorts and mobile Display by awkwardly cropping your landscape images. It looked terrible. Users could tell it was AI-generated from a mile away, and they just scrolled right past.
Now, you can finally upload native 9:16 assets. This is huge for anyone trying to win on Shorts, which is currently where the cheapest attention is sitting. I’ve seen early data suggesting that accounts using native vertical assets are seeing a 28% jump in CTR compared to those relying on Google’s "smart cropping."
Basically, stop letting the AI guess what your brand looks like.
Channel Reporting is Finally (Actually) Useful
For years, we had to use "script-based" workarounds just to see how much of our budget was being "stolen" by the Display Network or junk Search Partner traffic.
October 2025 changed that.
Google rolled out enhanced channel-level insights that actually break down performance across Search, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Display within the main UI. You don't need to be a coding wizard anymore.
Here is what the new reporting actually tells you:
- Spend by Network: You can finally see if Google is dumping 40% of your budget into Display when you really wanted Search.
- Conversion Path Transparency: It shows which channel is starting the journey versus which one is closing the deal.
- Asset Performance per Channel: You might find that your high-quality video is crushing it on YouTube but absolutely flopping on the Discovery feed.
Knowing this allows you to pull the "creative lever." If Display is eating your budget but not converting, you don't just complain—you swap out the assets that are attracting the wrong clicks.
AI Max: The New Kid on the Block
You’ve probably seen the "AI Max" terminology popping up in your dashboard. Google is pushing this hard as part of the "Power Pack" alongside PMax and Demand Gen.
In October 2025, AI Max for Search reached full global rollout.
A lot of people think this is just Performance Max for Search. That’s a mistake. AI Max is essentially a super-powered version of Broad Match combined with what used to be called "Dynamic Search Ads" (DSA). It uses your website's content to find queries you never even thought to bid on.
The catch? It can go off the rails fast if your site's SEO is messy. If you have old, irrelevant pages live on your site, AI Max will find them and send paid traffic to them.
The Negative Keyword Limit (10,000 and Counting)
We finally got campaign-level negative keywords earlier this year, but in October, the integration became much smoother. You can now apply negative keyword lists of up to 10,000 terms directly to a PMax campaign without needing a Google rep to do it for you.
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This is a literal lifesaver for brand safety.
I talked to an ecommerce manager last week who was accidentally bidding on "free" and "cheap" versions of their luxury products because PMax's "search themes" were being a bit too ambitious. One quick upload of a standard "junk" negative list saved them nearly $1,500 in wasted spend in the first 72 hours.
High-Value Mode: Bidding for the Big Fish
Google’s new "High Value Mode" is now fully functional within the PMax interface.
It’s a specific setting under New Customer Acquisition goals. Instead of just saying "find me new customers," you can now tell the AI "find me new customers who look like my top 10% of spenders."
To make this work, you have to feed it data. You need to upload a Customer Match list of your highest LTV (Lifetime Value) customers.
The AI then looks for "lookalikes" that exhibit the same behavior. If you’re a subscription-based business or a high-end retailer, this is probably the single most important toggle you’ll flip this year. It moves the needle from "getting clicks" to "growing the bottom line."
Search Themes vs. Keywords: The Great Confusion
There is a massive misconception that Search Themes are just "keywords for PMax."
They aren't.
If you put "running shoes" in a Search Theme, you aren't bidding on that keyword. You’re telling Google, "Hey, my audience generally cares about this topic."
In the October updates, Google added a "Usefulness" indicator to Search Themes. If you add a theme and Google realizes it would have found those customers anyway through your landing page, it will actually tell you the theme is "redundant."
This is Google’s way of saying: "Stop trying to micromanage us with keywords and let the pixel do the work."
Stop Doing These 3 Things Immediately
If you want to survive the Q4 rush after these updates, you need to audit your account right now.
First, stop using the "all assets" approach. If you have a video that’s two years old and looks like it was filmed on a potato, delete it. Google’s AI will try to use every asset you give it, and a bad video will drag down your entire campaign’s "Ad Strength" and Quality Score.
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Second, don't ignore the URL Expansion settings. With the October updates to AI Max, URL Expansion is more aggressive than ever. If you don't want Google sending traffic to your "Privacy Policy" or "Returns" page, you must add those as URL exclusions immediately.
Third, quit checking your ROAS daily. I know, it's hard. But these new AI models—especially with the High Value Mode—need a "warm-up" period. Every time you change a major setting or add a massive negative keyword list, the system goes back into a mini-learning phase. Give it at least 7 days before you panic and hit the "undo" button.
How to Set Up for Success This Week
Look, the 2025 landscape is all about steering the AI, not fighting it.
Start by auditing your asset groups. Ensure you have those 9:16 vertical images ready to go for the mobile crowd. Then, head over to your "Insights" tab and look for the "Channel Performance" report. If you see that 80% of your conversions are coming from Search but 40% of your spend is going to Display, it’s time to tighten your targeting or refresh your creative to better suit the Search intent.
The goal isn't to have a "perfect" campaign on day one. It's to give the machine enough high-quality signals (and enough guardrails) that it can't help but succeed.
Next Steps for Your Account:
- Audit Assets: Upload at least three high-quality 9:16 vertical images to every active asset group to capture the Shorts inventory.
- Set URL Exclusions: Go to your campaign settings and exclude non-converting pages (About Us, Contact, FAQ) from URL Expansion.
- Check Search Themes: Review your themes and remove any marked as "redundant" to declutter the AI’s focus.
- Review Channel Reports: Identify if any network (like Display) is over-consuming budget without producing a return, and adjust your asset quality accordingly.