Putting limits on PMax: brand, negatives, placements, URLs and new customers

"In PMax you do not steer the spend, you steer the incentives" (lesson 1). Incentives come in two kinds: what you measure (measurement and values) and what you forbid. This lesson is the complete catalogue of prohibitions PMax accepts, with their real limits and the order in which to set them up.

1. Brand exclusions

Lists of brands (yours and, if you want, others) that PMax will not use on Search or Shopping: searches containing those names are left out. It is lever number one: without it, PMax claims your brand conversions and looks better than it is. You create them in the shared library (brand lists) and apply them per campaign. Limit: it covers the variants of the brand Google recognises; very unusual brand terms may still need negatives.

2. Negative keywords

• At account level (Account settings → account-level negatives): they apply to PMax and to everything else. For the universal ones (jobs, free…) and anything you never want.
• At PMax campaign level: Google allows negatives in PMax with limits on the number. For whatever is specific to that campaign.

Without negatives, PMax walks into anything that looks relevant.

3. Placement exclusion lists (account)

Excluding domains, apps and channels for Display/video only affects PMax if it is in the account-level list (Tools → Exclusion lists → placements, applied to the account). Campaign-level exclusions do not exist in PMax. Feeding that list is the work of module 5 (fraud).

4. Content exclusions and inventory types

At account level: sensitive categories, inventory types (standard / limited), and excluding content types (embedded video, apps…). PMax respects them. Excluding all apps at account level is, for many businesses, the most profitable exclusion there is.

5. URL exclusions and final URL expansion

URL patterns PMax will not send traffic to (blog, legal, careers, account, out-of-stock pages), or turning expansion off to pin the landing page down (lesson 2).

6. New customer acquisition goal

With customer lists (Customer Match) or purchase data, PMax can bid higher for new customers or bid only for new customers. It is how you stop it spending on recovering recent buyers who would have come back on their own. It requires up-to-date lists and an honest definition of "customer".

7. Audience exclusions

Lists PMax should not chase: recent customers (unless the goal is retention), employees, closed leads. Applied per campaign.

8. Campaign-level conversion goals

Not an exclusion, but a limit all the same: PMax optimises towards the campaign's conversion goals. Taking the soft ones out (view phone number, add to cart) of the PMax campaign stops it chasing them.

The order before the first euro

1. Clean measurement and values (the Measurement II module).
2. Brand exclusions.
3. Account negatives (universal) + campaign negatives.
4. Account placement list applied + app exclusion + content.
5. URL exclusions (or expansion turned off).
6. The campaign's conversion goal with no soft actions.
7. Excluded audiences; new customer acquisition if it applies.
8. A contained budget and two weeks of observation with the reports from lesson 3.

The honest limits

• No lever decides the split between channels: they only condition it.
• PMax negatives have limits on quantity: the important roots first.
• Placement exclusions arrive after the spend: they are reactive unless you detect networks (module 5).
• Google can change which controls exist: review the campaign settings every quarter.

💡 Ninja trick: the advantage of working at account level (account negatives, account placement list, account content exclusions) is that it protects PMax, Demand Gen, Display and video with a single list. That is why Ninja Shield writes its exclusions there; and the universal negative lists from SQONS do the same. Set up at account level everything that is universal; at campaign level, only what is specific.

What you should remember

• Eight levers: brand, negatives (account and campaign), account placements, content/apps, URLs, new customers, excluded audiences, conversion goals.
• The order: measurement → brand → negatives → placements → URLs → goals → audiences → observe.
• Whatever is universal goes at account level: it protects every automated campaign at once.
• Nothing decides the split; everything conditions it.