The Short Answer: PMax Uses Keywordless Targeting

If you've spent years tuning exact match keywords and negative keyword lists, opening a Performance Max campaign for the first time feels like walking into a cockpit with the controls removed. There's no keyword field. Not a hidden one, not a locked one — it simply doesn't exist.

That's not an oversight. Google's own documentation describes Performance Max as using "keywordless targeting," and Google's product team refers to it the same way in their 2025 feature announcements. Instead of bidding on specific search terms, PMax uses Google's AI to match your ads, feeds, and landing pages to queries across Search, Display, Discover, YouTube, Gmail, and Maps.

Google is also explicit about the design philosophy: PMax is built to complement keyword-based Search campaigns, not replace them (Google Ads Help Center). Exact match keywords in a traditional Search campaign always take priority over PMax when a query matches. So the keyword channel you know isn't obsolete — it's actually the steering wheel, and PMax is meant to run alongside it.

This is exactly where advertisers get confused. They expect keyword-level control, discover there isn't any, and assume they've missed a setting. In reality, the closest thing PMax offers to keywords is search themes — optional signals, up to 25 per asset group with an 80-character limit, that tell Google's AI what your customers search for (Search Ads 360 documentation). But as WordStream's analysis notes, removing a search theme doesn't stop Google from serving on similar queries the way removing a keyword would. Themes are hints, not directives.

Why does this matter for lead generation budgets specifically? Because without keyword control, PMax can quietly spend on queries you'd never hand-pick — including your own brand terms. Practitioners like Greg Finn point out that brand exclusions and the campaign-level negative keywords rolled out in January 2025 are now essential for "cutting off PMax's reliance on brand spend" (smarter-ecommerce's PMax report).

The practical picture looks like this:

• No keyword field exists anywhere in a PMax campaign
• Search themes act as signals, capped at 25 per asset group
• Negative keywords (added January 2025) are the only true query-level control
• Exact match Search campaigns always outrank PMax on matching queries

For teams comparing lead generation options — like the clients Worqd works with across B2B and local service businesses — the takeaway is simple: PMax can drive demand, but it shouldn't be the only lever. It performs best when strong creative, landing pages, and keyword campaigns feed it good signals, and when fast follow-up converts whatever it sends your way.

Search Themes: The Closest Thing PMax Has to Keywords

Google calls Performance Max "keywordless targeting" by design — there is no keyword field to fill in. Instead, the system matches queries to your assets, feeds, and landing pages across Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. Search themes are the practical substitute, letting you nudge the AI toward the queries that matter most.

You can add up to 25 search themes per asset group, each capped at 80 characters. Google's own best practice suggests aiming for 7–10 themes per campaign, keeping them under 20 characters with no punctuation, URLs, or phone numbers. Advertisers who implemented PMax saw an average of 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action, and a controlled A/B test in home décor showed +37% conversions and +18% ROAS when search themes were used versus a control group.

• Search themes carry the same priority as phrase and broad match — not exact match
• Removing a theme doesn't stop Google from serving on similar queries if it deems them relevant
• Exact match keywords in traditional Search campaigns still take priority over PMax
• Themes respect brand exclusions and account-level negative keywords

Negative keywords arrived at campaign level in January 2025, giving advertisers the only query-level control inside PMax. A new source column in search terms insights now shows whether a query came from keywordless targeting or from an added theme, and a usefulness indicator flags themes driving incremental traffic. For teams running lead generation, this means your landing pages and creative assets effectively become your keywords — the stronger the signal you feed the system, the better it performs. That's where Worqd's Creative Sprint and landing page optimization fit: better inputs, better matches, more demand.

Where Keywords Still Win: Exact Match Priority and Control Levers

Google's own documentation describes Performance Max as using "keywordless targeting" — but that doesn't mean keywords are irrelevant. The priority hierarchy still favors exact match keywords in traditional Search campaigns, which always serve over PMax when a query hits an exact match term. This makes keyword campaigns a must-have for advertisers who need predictable control over their highest-intent traffic.

Search themes carry the same priority as phrase and broad match keywords, not exact match. If a Search campaign is budget-limited, PMax may occasionally serve on exact match terms, but the default behavior protects your keyword investments. Mark Irvine, Director of PPC at SearchLab Digital, puts it plainly: exact match keywords in Search campaigns "are still a must-have for advertisers now."

• Maximum of 25 unique search themes per asset group, each under 80 characters
• Google best practice: aim for 7–10 search themes per campaign
• Search themes replaced custom intent audiences in early 2024 via automatic upgrade
• Exact match keywords in Search campaigns always take priority over PMax

The control levers have improved significantly. Campaign-level negative keywords rolled out to all advertisers in January 2025, and brand exclusions now let lead-gen advertisers cut off PMax's reliance on brand spend — a major concern for lead quality. Greg Finn of Cypress North notes that "conversion quality should be a focus if using it for Lead Gen, and the Brand Exclusions and the addition of negative keywords can now help you cut off PMax's reliance on brand spend." A new source column in search terms insights also shows whether queries come from PMax's keywordless targeting or from added search themes, giving advertisers clearer visibility.

For teams running integrated lead generation, the takeaway is clear: PMax and keyword Search campaigns work best together. Strong creative and landing pages — the real "keywords" of PMax — drive performance across both. Worqd helps companies build that full path from first click to booked call, combining paid campaigns, creative testing, and instant AI follow-up so no lead sits cold. Book a growth call at https://worqd.com/book to find where growth is stuck and launch a plan that connects every piece.

If Not Keywords, What Actually Drives PMax Performance?

If PMax has no keyword field, what actually tells Google where to show your ads? The answer is everything else you feed the campaign — and that changes how you should think about optimization.

According to Google's own product updates, PMax predicts which queries will perform well based on your assets, feeds, and landing pages. Search themes are additive on top of that — extra hints, not the engine itself. In other words, your creative and your website are doing the work keywords used to do.

• Assets: Headlines, descriptions, images, and video give Google's AI the language and context it uses to match your ads to searches across Search, Display, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and Maps.
• Feeds: For e-commerce advertisers, the product feed dominates — analysis of thousands of PMax campaigns across 500+ accounts found that 74%–97% of PMax costs come from feed-based Shopping ads, with a median of 90%.
• Landing pages: Final URL expansion automatically matches queries to relevant pages on your site, using technology comparable to Dynamic Search Ads, per industry analysis. Weak or thin pages mean weak matching.
• Search themes: Up to 25 per asset group, capped at 80 characters each, per Google's documentation — useful for filling gaps your landing page doesn't cover.

When the inputs are strong, the results follow. In a six-week A/B test by ROI Revolution with a home décor e-commerce brand, adding well-chosen search themes on top of solid assets produced +37% conversions and +18% ROAS, along with +25% clicks and a +22% CTR lift. The themes worked because they sharpened signals the campaign already had.

At a broader level, advertisers implementing PMax saw an average of 18% more conversions at a similar cost per action, according to Google data cited by JumpFly. That lift doesn't come from keyword wizardry — it comes from giving the automation better raw material.

This is the practical takeaway: since Google reads your pages and assets to decide where you show up, the quality of those inputs is your targeting. A landing page that clearly states what you offer, who it's for, and what to do next gives PMax exactly the signals it needs. Vague pages and generic creative produce vague, expensive traffic.

It's also why the "black box" complaint about PMax is only half true. You can't pick queries directly, but you fully control what Google learns from. Teams like Worqd build their growth engagements around this reality — pairing fast creative testing with landing pages built to convert, because in a keywordless campaign, those are the levers that actually move lead volume.

Treat every headline, image, and page as a targeting decision, and PMax stops being a mystery box and starts being a multiplier.

Putting It to Work: A Practical PMax Setup for Lead Generation

Knowing that Performance Max runs on keywordless targeting changes how you should set it up. The advertisers who win with PMax aren't the ones who fight the automation — they're the ones who feed it the right signals and keep control where Google still allows it.

Start by pairing PMax with an exact-match Search campaign. Google's own documentation confirms that exact match keywords always take priority over PMax, so your highest-intent queries stay under your command. As PPC experts have noted, exact-match Search campaigns remain a must-have — PMax is designed to complement them, not replace them.

Next, write search themes that fill gaps. You can add up to 25 themes per asset group at 80 characters each, but Google's best practice is 7–10 per campaign. Use them for terms your landing pages don't explicitly cover — that's where themes add the most value. One six-week A/B test found search themes drove +25% clicks, +37% conversions, and +18% ROAS versus a control.

Then protect your budget from day one:

• Add campaign-level negative keywords — available to all advertisers since January 2025 — to block queries you never want.
• Apply brand exclusions so PMax can't claim credit for people already searching your name.
• Remember that removing a search theme doesn't stop similar queries, so negatives are your real control lever.

Finally, invest in creative and landing pages. Since PMax builds its targeting from your assets, feeds, and landing pages, those inputs are effectively your keywords. Weak creative means weak targeting — no amount of search themes fixes a boring ad or a confusing page.

That's why running ads, creative, and follow-up as separate vendors undercuts PMax specifically. Worqd's integrated model keeps all three moving together: one plan covers the campaign signals, the ad creative that feeds the algorithm, and the fast follow-up that turns PMax's leads into booked calls.

More demand. Faster follow-up. Better creative. If that's the path you want, book a growth call and we'll find where your funnel is stuck first.