Most Google Ads audits rate an account against the platform: optimisation score, ad strength, recommendations. A commercial audit rates it against the business: contribution per product, cash and whether the sales are incremental. The six areas below are where the two views most often disagree.
None of this is a measured average. How much each area matters varies by account, so treat each as a question to answer with your own data.
Performance Max spend drifting to low-contribution products
Branded demand counted as Performance Max growth
Broad match keywords spending long after they stop converting
Campaigns still built on settings inherited from Smart Shopping
Feed exclusions nobody has reviewed
Target ROAS that no longer matches current margins
1. Performance Max spend drifting to low-contribution products
Performance Max bids towards the conversion value it receives. If that value is revenue, products that convert easily can attract spend regardless of what they contribute after costs. Revenue grows while unit economics weaken, and ROAS still looks acceptable.
How to check
Pull recent Performance Max spend by product and set it beside your contribution per product. If the products taking the most spend are not the ones contributing the most, the conversion values or product grouping deserve a closer look.
2. Branded demand counted as Performance Max growth
Performance Max can serve on searches for your own brand. Some of those customers would have found you anyway, so the campaign can look more effective than it is. Google offers brand exclusions for Performance Max, but they need to be set up and reviewed.
How to check
Review the search terms insights for each Performance Max campaign and note how much activity relates to your brand. Then check whether brand exclusions are in place and whether reporting separates branded from non-branded results.
3. Broad match keywords spending long after they stop converting
Broad match is not inherently bad. The failure is in pruning. A keyword that started well can drift as the match set widens, and if nobody reviews it, spend continues.
How to check
Filter the keyword report to broad match over the last 90 days and sort by cost. Look at keywords with meaningful spend and few or no conversions, using a cost threshold that makes sense for your account, and decide whether each still earns its place.
4. Campaigns still built on settings inherited from Smart Shopping
Google upgraded Smart Shopping campaigns to Performance Max in 2022. Some upgraded campaigns were never restructured: one catch-all asset group, no product segmentation and exclusions that no longer match the catalogue.
How to check
Check when each Performance Max campaign was created and last restructured. If the structure predates your current catalogue and margins, assume it reflects old assumptions until shown otherwise.
5. Feed exclusions nobody has reviewed
Products get excluded for good reasons: stockouts, policy issues, seasonality. The exclusion often outlives the reason, leaving saleable products invisible to Shopping and Performance Max. That is lost revenue rather than wasted spend, but the commercial effect is similar.
How to check
Compare your exclusion list with your current stock file on a regular cycle and restore anything that is saleable and worth advertising.
6. Target ROAS that no longer matches current margins
Targets are often set at launch and left alone, while product mix, input costs, shipping and returns change. A target that once covered costs can drift into loss-making territory without anyone noticing, because the campaign is still hitting it.
How to check
Work out the break-even ROAS for the products in the campaign using current contribution margin. If the target sits at or below break-even, each extra sale at that target loses money before any other costs. The break-even ROAS calculator does the arithmetic.
What measured results look like
Where we can show the outcome of fixing issues like these, we publish it as a named case study with its source, measurement basis and limits. The Thermos case study, for example, starts with double-counted conversions that made reported performance look stronger than it was. More are listed on the case studies page.
Prefer a second pair of eyes? A commercial review looks at these areas against your margins, stock and goals.
Book a commercial reviewFAQs
How do I know if my agency is looking at this?
Ask for a product-level spend report and the commercial reasoning behind the products taking the most spend. If the answer is a ROAS chart, the question has not been asked yet.
Is Performance Max a bad product?
No. It optimises towards the conversion value and signals it is given. With margin-aware conversion values, sensible product grouping and brand controls it can work well. Left on defaults, it can favour products that convert easily rather than those that contribute most.
How often should we review these areas?
A quarterly review is a sensible rhythm for most brands, alongside the financial close, so targets and exclusions are checked against current margins and stock.
Where do these patterns come from?
They are the areas JudeLuxe checks in every commercial review. They are presented as questions to investigate, not as measured frequencies across a dataset. For measured outcomes, see our named case studies, each of which states its source and limits.
Further reading
- Performance Max opacity
- The broad match tax
- ROAS looks good, profit is down
- Working capital and bidding
Chris Avery is Co-founder of JudeLuxe. He writes about profit-led paid media for ecommerce brands.