How Home and Garden Brands Should Be Using Pmax In 2025

Performance Max Changes, What Marketers Need To Know In 2025

In this episode of T.E.A Talks, Aaron and Lou dig into the new Performance Max updates rolling out for summer 2025, discuss how their opinions have changed over the years, and share what home, garden, and lifestyle brands need to do next.

The Evolution of Performance Max

• Performance Max started out as a mystery: marketers hated the lack of data and control.
• Over the past few years, most of us have moved from “hate it” to “grudgingly respect it”, and some of us even love it (about 70% of the time).
• The latest changes are finally making Performance Max less of a black box and more of a marketer’s tool.

What’s New in Performance Max?

• Search term data is back: You can now see exactly what people are searching for and add negatives to stop wasted spend.
• Placement insights: For the first time, you can see where your budget goes, across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Gmail, and more.
• Audience insights have improved: Now you get a better understanding of how your creative is resonating with real in-market audiences.
• Channel journeys: You can visualise the full path a user takes from seeing your ad to making a purchase, which helps with channel mix and creative planning.
• Gmail split: See, for the first time, how many people saw your ads with or without products in Gmail and what revenue resulted.

Why Does This Matter?

• Marketers finally have more control and can cut out “rubbish” clicks that waste budget.
• You can spot new product trends and test new creative more confidently.
• Scripts are less necessary as Google now shares more placement and performance data natively.
• Testing is easier: don’t be afraid to tweak product titles, creative, and audiences based on new data.

Practical Tips For Brands

• Add video: If you’re not letting Google use video, you’re missing out. Add even basic social video assets.
• Test titles and creative: Use search term data to refine your product titles and see what really works.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket: Performance Max is still evolving. Don’t become over-reliant on any one channel or tactic.
• Look at your marketing as a whole: With limited data everywhere (Google, Meta, email), focus on overall ROI, not channel-by-channel perfection.

Key Takeaways

• Performance Max is less of a black box than ever, with more transparency on what’s working.
• Search term and placement insights give you more control over your spend and performance.
• Regularly test and refresh your creative, using new insights as your guide.
• Don’t become over-reliant on Performance Max or any single channel. Maintain a balanced marketing mix.
• Focus on your total marketing investment and outcomes, rather than obsessing over every single data point.

Final Thoughts

Performance Max is finally giving marketers some of the insights they’ve wanted for years. While it’s still not perfect, these updates mean you can make smarter decisions, reduce wasted spend, and get better results from your campaigns. The golden rule? Stay flexible, keep testing, and don’t be afraid to adapt as the tools evolve.

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