Where is your PMax spend going?

Google's default PMax reporting deliberately hides channel-level data — you cannot see Search vs Shopping vs Display vs YouTube vs Discover splits in the standard interface. Google's product position is "trust the AI." Our position: trust, but verify. We use Google Ads Scripts (Mike Rhodes' PMax Insights script and our own custom scripts), script-derived placement reports for Display + YouTube, manual asset-group segment audits, and search-term cross-checks via paid Search campaigns to make every dollar visible. Most accounts see 70–90% of PMax spend was previously invisible.

Range across 100+ PMax audits we have run since the format launched: 25–55% recoverable spend in the first 30 days post-restructure. Median is around 35%. We quote the actual number for your account in the audit deliverable, with the line-item breakdown (brand-search cannibalisation $X, audience-signal noise $Y, asset-group inefficiency $Z, conversion-tracking gap $W). The median is dragged up by accounts with unmanaged brand-search exclusion (typically 20–35% of spend leaking to brand queries that would convert organically anyway). We do not over-promise.

No — Google Reps are compensated to grow your spend, not optimise it. They will point you at automated bidding (Maximise Conversions, Maximise Conversion Value, Target ROAS), Smart Shopping (deprecated but still pushed), broader audience signals, and "let the AI learn." That advice is correct for Google's revenue and incorrect for yours when 30–50% of spend is leaking. We optimise honestly — sometimes the right answer is more spend (when ROI is positive on the margin), often it is less spend redirected to higher-converting channels.

Shopping is typically the strongest PMax channel — do not remove it. Restructure focuses on feed quality (product titles, GTINs, structured data, image quality), supplemental feed for category + custom-label data, custom labels for margin-tier bidding (high-margin SKUs bid higher), inventory-level bidding via custom labels, brand vs non-brand segmentation in separate asset groups, and seasonal-priority custom labels. Standard Shopping (separate from PMax) sometimes makes sense for full-control accounts; we recommend honestly based on your account scale + team capacity.

7 days for the audit deliverable (with read-only access provisioning typically completing in 1–2 working days from your end), then 4 weeks for the Restructure Sprint to ship: account architecture rebuild, asset-group restructure with brand vs non-brand separation, audience-signal cleanup, supplemental feed deployment, custom-label rollout, conversion-tracking validation including server-side, and 30 days post-launch monitoring. Total 5 weeks from access-grant to fully optimised account. Audits delivered as Loom walkthrough + Looker Studio dashboard, not 80-slide decks.

Yes — PMax audit + restructure is one of our most common white-label arrangements. NDA-default delivery, brand-suppressed deliverables (your logo on the audit doc + dashboards, your client-facing reports), 7-day audit turnaround standard for partner accounts, dedicated agency account manager, Silver / Gold / Platinum partnership tiers with referral commission. Most white-label PPC partners use our PMax audit as a productised offering they sell at $2,499–$3,999 (margin floor 30%+). See /white-label-marketing-agency/ for the full programme.