Case Studies

Death by pmax

Death by pmax

The Problem

The Problem

The client generates a high volume of leads, but conversion to qualified prospects remains critically low. Despite testing new audience targeting and creative approaches, lead quality has shown no meaningful improvement—resulting in wasted spend and inefficient sales efforts.

The client generates a high volume of leads, but conversion to qualified prospects remains critically low. Despite testing new audience targeting and creative approaches, lead quality has shown no meaningful improvement—resulting in wasted spend and inefficient sales efforts.

The Observation

The Observation

Our audit revealed that 80% of the client's paid budget was allocated to Performance Max campaigns, severely limiting actionable insights. With minimal transparency into audience segmentation or creative performance, the strategy offered little data for optimization or scalable learning.

Our audit revealed that 80% of the client's paid budget was allocated to Performance Max campaigns, severely limiting actionable insights. With minimal transparency into audience segmentation or creative performance, the strategy offered little data for optimization or scalable learning.

The Analysis

The Analysis

Despite repeated optimizations guided by Google representatives, Performance Max campaigns continued to deliver low-quality leads at scale. Our forensic analysis revealed a critical issue: approximately 65% of purported leads were actually fraudulent bot activity, as verified by third-party spam detection tools. This explained the persistent disconnect between lead volume and conversion rates.

Despite repeated optimizations guided by Google representatives, Performance Max campaigns continued to deliver low-quality leads at scale. Our forensic analysis revealed a critical issue: approximately 65% of purported leads were actually fraudulent bot activity, as verified by third-party spam detection tools. This explained the persistent disconnect between lead volume and conversion rates.

The Recommendation

The Recommendation

We completely restructured the client's account by:

  1. Immediately reallocating all Performance Max budget after identifying its poor ROI

  2. Implementing targeted search campaigns using phrase-match keywords related to core offerings

  3. Employing Maximize Clicks bidding to rapidly gather performance data

  4. Analyzing keyword-level conversion rates to identify high-intent search terms


This approach allowed us to rebuild their strategy with transparent, actionable data - addressing both the fraud issues from PMAX and the previous lack of measurable insights.

Leveraging these insights, we developed a data-driven campaign structure that strategically allocated keywords by funnel stage—deploying high-converting brand and commercial-intent terms as bottom-funnel drivers for immediate purchases, while utilizing top-performing CTR keywords with broader intent to fuel mid-funnel engagement and website conversions. This tiered approach created a continuous flow from discovery to purchase while maximizing ROI at each touchpoint.

Leveraging these insights, we developed a data-driven campaign structure that strategically allocated keywords by funnel stage—deploying high-converting brand and commercial-intent terms as bottom-funnel drivers for immediate purchases, while utilizing top-performing CTR keywords with broader intent to fuel mid-funnel engagement and website conversions. This tiered approach created a continuous flow from discovery to purchase while maximizing ROI at each touchpoint.

The Result

While lead volume decreased after pausing Performance Max campaigns—consistent with PMax's known high-volume/low-quality output—lead quality dramatically improved. The share of qualified leads surged from 10% to 50% of total leads, representing a 2x increase in absolute quality lead generation.