You run Performance Max, and you read that it may filter out searches for your own business name. Now you want to know whether your campaign is paying for people who were already looking for you, or whether those searches are slipping past it.
The short version: Google's Ads Help says Performance Max may filter out navigational or brand-specific search queries so a dedicated Search campaign can serve them. That is a possibility Google describes, not a removal of every brand search from your account.
Your own account can settle it in about ten minutes. The Performance Max search terms report shows which searches your campaign ran on, and your branded Search campaign shows whether it is ready to take those searches. The steps are below, in the order to do them.
Key Takeaways
Google Ads Help says Performance Max campaigns "may also filter out navigational or brand-specific search queries to prioritize serving them through dedicated Search campaigns." Search Engine Roundtable reported the wording on November 3, 2026.
Open "Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max" and look for your business name, abbreviations, misspellings and product names before you change anything.
Google says brand settings limit a campaign's reach and performance may decrease, so adding one is a decision to weigh against the brand conversions you may lose.
Google's help page says Performance Max may filter brand searches toward Search
On November 3, 2026, Search Engine Roundtable reported that Google's help document "How Performance Max interacts with other campaigns" now contains a new sentence. Barry Schwartz wrote that Hana Kobzová found the change, which she posted on PPC News Feed. The sentence reads: "Performance Max campaigns may also filter out navigational or brand-specific search queries to prioritize serving them through dedicated Search campaigns." You can read it yourself on Google's Ads Help page, and the Search Engine Roundtable report has the full write-up.
Treat the wording as current help documentation, and November 3, 2026 as the date it was reported.
"Navigational" means a search where the person already knows where they want to go, such as your business name typed into Google. Google says "may," and it has not set out a percentage, a trigger or a rule for which accounts are affected. So, whether it is happening in your account is something only your own data can show.
Your search terms report is the evidence, so check it for your name first
Google puts the Performance Max search terms view under Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms. Pick "Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max." The report page says data is available starting from March 2023, so you can choose a recent range with enough activity to mean something.
Once the list loads, search it for your business name. Then look for the short forms customers use, common misspellings, and your product or service names. Write down the impressions, clicks, cost and conversions next to each one, along with the landing page.
Google also says to prioritize conversion data over clicks and impressions when you judge Performance Max. The reason is that the campaign runs across several places, including Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps, and the report does not show every interaction from all of them. A brand term with a lot of clicks and no conversions tells you less than a brand term with a few conversions.
A brand exclusion and a Search campaign do different jobs
Two controls get mixed up when owners talk about brand traffic. One is a setting you choose. The other is how Google decides which campaign serves a search. Keeping them apart makes the account check much easier.
| Control | Who decides | What it does | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand filtering toward Search | Performance Max "may" filter navigational or brand-specific queries toward dedicated Search campaigns | No percentage or trigger is published | |
| Brand exclusion | You | Your campaign won't serve for queries associated with a brand you want to avoid | In Performance Max it applies to Search and Shopping inventory; reach and performance may decrease |
| Search campaign keyword match | Google's auction | A Search campaign with an exact or spell-corrected keyword is preferred over Performance Max | Otherwise the campaign with the higher Ad Rank serves |
| Negative keyword | You | Blocks specific search terms | Works at the level where you add it |
Google's brand exclusions page says brand lists can cover misspellings and variants in other languages. It also says retail advertisers can choose to keep Shopping ads running for excluded brands. If you sell products through a Merchant Center feed, check that setting before you touch the list.
Your branded Search campaign has to be ready to take the traffic
If Google routes a navigational search toward Search, the branded Search campaign needs to be there to answer it. Google advises funding a dedicated brand Search campaign adequately, with strong eligible ads, according to the Search Engine Roundtable report. It also suggests Search Themes inside Performance Max if you want navigational and brand traffic there.
Open your branded Search campaign and look at four things. Is it limited by budget? Are your ads approved and eligible, not paused or disapproved? Do the keywords match how people type your name? What do impressions, clicks, cost and conversions look like over the same date range you used in the Performance Max report?
A campaign that runs out of budget by early afternoon, or one with a disapproved ad, can hand brand searches back to Performance Max or to nobody. Fixing that is often a smaller job than changing exclusions, and it protects the searches you care about most. The Google Ads Help page on Search and Performance Max covers how the two campaign types work together.
If you have not decided whether to bid on your own name at all, should you bid on your own business name walks through that choice first. If your branded Search campaign uses broad keywords, how Google Ads match types work shows which searches each one can pick up.
Exclusions and negative keywords only work at the level you set them
Your last check is the settings. Open the Performance Max campaign and look at its brand exclusions and negative keywords. Then look at your account-level negative keywords, because a broad negative added there years ago can affect every campaign.
The usual slips are practical ones. A brand list leaves out an old business name, a subsidiary or a common misspelling. A negative keyword sits at the account level when someone meant it for one campaign. Or an exclusion blocks Shopping ads that the owner wanted to keep. Each of these produces the same symptom, brand traffic that behaves differently than you expected, and none of them requires a theory about what Google is doing behind the scenes.
Check that Performance Max and your Search campaign count the same conversions as primary goals too. If one campaign reports phone calls and the other reports only form fills, comparing them tells you very little.
If you are still deciding whether the campaign type earns its budget, is Performance Max worth it for a small business covers that question.
Brand exclusions can lower your reach, so decide with the numbers
It is tempting to add your business name to an exclusion list as soon as you see it in the report. Google's own wording is a reason to slow down: brand settings limit the reach of a campaign, and performance may decrease.
Brand conversions still count. Someone who searches your name and calls is often ready to buy, and a conversion is still a conversion even if Performance Max shared in the credit. What an exclusion can give you is a cleaner read on prospecting, meaning the searches from people who did not already know you. That is a measurement choice, and it may cost you reach.
So, a brand exclusion makes sense when you have a reason to separate the two kinds of traffic and your branded Search campaign is ready to take the whole load. An exclusion changes where your ads can show; whether it brings more leads or lowers your cost depends on your account, and nobody can promise either.
The account check, in order
Campaigns, Insights and reports, Search terms, then "Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max," with a recent date range.
Look for the business name, short forms, misspellings and product names, and record conversions beside each.
Look at budget, eligible ads, keywords, impression share and conversions over the same dates.
Check the Performance Max campaign and the account level, and confirm the Shopping setting if you sell products.
Keep the setup, change one thing, or log what you saw and look again next month.
A simple account may need notes and a monthly look, not a rebuild
Say the report shows little brand activity in Performance Max, your branded Search campaign has budget and approved ads, and both campaigns count conversions the same way. The right move there may be to write down what you saw and the date, then check again next month.
If Google's wording does change how your account behaves, the shift will show up in the same report you opened today, in the branded terms and in how your Search campaign's impressions and conversions move. A saved date range and a short note give you something to compare against.
Help is worth paying for when the report does not answer the question, when Search and Performance Max overlap in ways you cannot untangle, when an exclusion would touch Shopping, or when conversion tracking is inconsistent between campaigns. An account that is already set up sensibly may need monitoring more than work.
Check your Performance Max brand search knowledge
Pick an answer to begin.
1. What does Google's help page say about Performance Max and brand searches?
2. Where do you find the searches Performance Max ran on?
3. A Search campaign has a keyword that exactly matches a search. Which campaign does Google prefer?
Frequently Asked Questions About Performance Max Brand Searches
Does Performance Max always filter brand searches?
No. Google's help page says Performance Max "may" filter navigational or brand-specific queries toward dedicated Search campaigns. Your search terms report shows what happened in your account.
Does Performance Max show ads when someone searches my business name?
It can. Check the Performance Max search terms report for your business name, short forms and misspellings over a recent date range.
How can I see branded search terms in Performance Max?
Go to Campaigns, then Insights and reports, then Search terms, and choose "Search terms and landing pages for Performance Max." Google says data starts in March 2023.
Does a Search campaign beat Performance Max for brand searches?
Google says a Search campaign with a keyword that exactly matches or is spell-corrected to the query is preferred. Otherwise the campaign with the higher Ad Rank can serve.
Should I add my business name to a brand exclusion list?
Only if you have a reason to separate brand traffic from new-customer traffic and your branded Search campaign is ready to take it. Google says brand settings limit reach and performance may decrease.
Do brand exclusions affect Shopping ads?
In Performance Max they apply to Search and Shopping inventory. Retail advertisers can choose to keep Shopping ads running for excluded brands, so check that setting first.
Wrapping Up
Google's help page says Performance Max may filter navigational or brand-specific searches toward dedicated Search campaigns. Whether that happens in your account is visible in the search terms report. Check it for your business name, confirm your branded Search campaign has budget and eligible ads, and review exclusions and negative keywords at the right level.
A brand exclusion is a trade between a cleaner read on new customers and the reach and conversions you may lose. With a recent report saved and the settings written down, you will know what to look at next month and whether a change made a difference.
If you want a second set of eyes on the account, Web Leveling can go through your search terms, your branded Search campaign and your exclusions with you through our Google Ads management work. If the account is already set up well, we will tell you to keep watching it. We work with small and medium businesses across the country and overseas. Send us your account questions, and we will help you read what the report shows.
Terms
Performance Max brand search words
Tap a term to see what it means.
Performance Max (PMax). A Google Ads campaign type that runs across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail and Maps from one campaign.
Navigational query. A search where the person already knows where they want to go, such as a business name.
Brand exclusion. A campaign setting that stops ads from serving on queries associated with a brand you list.
Negative keyword. A term you add so your ads do not show for searches that contain it.
Ad Rank. The value Google uses to decide which ad serves when more than one campaign can run on a search.
Search Themes. Signals you add to a Performance Max asset group to guide which searches it targets.
