Google Ads now says that Performance Max may filter brand and navigational queries, so a brand Search campaign serves them. If your account uses only Performance Max, check the search terms report and set up a brand Search campaign this week.
The sentence is on the help page How Performance Max interacts with other campaigns. PPC News Feed reported the change on 2 November 2026. Google gave no announcement and no start date.
A brand query is a search that contains the name of your business or product, for example "senja coffee" or "senja coffee promo". A navigational query is a search by a person who wants to open a specific site or page, for example "senja coffee login". People who type these queries already know your brand.
What changed in Performance Max?
The Google help page now contains 1 exception to the Ad Rank rule: Performance Max may filter brand and navigational queries.
The base rule does not change. When more than 1 campaign can serve on a search, Google Ads selects the campaign with the highest Ad Rank. A Search keyword that is identical to the query, also after spelling correction, still wins over Performance Max.
Google says that this filter gives Search campaigns more precise control of brand queries. Google asks for 3 things:
- Give the brand Search campaign enough budget.
- Make sure that the brand Search ads are of high quality and eligible to serve.
- Think about search themes in the Performance Max campaign.
Campaign that serves a query, from the Google Ads help page, read 3 November 2026:
| Query situation | Campaign that serves |
|---|---|
| Query identical to a Search keyword | Search campaign |
| Brand or navigational query, account has brand Search | Brand Search campaign. Performance Max may filter this query. |
| Brand query, account without brand Search | Not explained by Google |
| Other queries | Campaign with the highest Ad Rank |
2 points are not clear. Google does not explain what happens to brand queries when the account has no brand Search campaign. Google also does not say if a brand query means only your brand, or competitor brands too.
This change is different from the channel priority change of 15 October 2026. We explain that change in our article about Google Ads channel priority.
Who does this change affect?
The change affects most the accounts that use Performance Max to catch searches for their own brand name.
Effect by type of Google Ads account:
| Account type | Possible effect | First action |
|---|---|---|
| Performance Max only, no brand Search | Brand queries can go unserved. Google does not explain this case. | Create a brand Search campaign. |
| Performance Max and brand Search with a small budget | Brand queries move to a campaign that is limited by budget. | Increase the brand Search budget. |
| Performance Max with brand exclusions for your own brand | Small effect. Brand queries are already out of Performance Max. | Check the brand list again. |
| Performance Max for competitor brands | Not clear. | Monitor search terms for competitor brands. |
| ROASROASRevenue from ads divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means each Rp 1,000 of ad spend returns Rp 4,000 of gross revenue.How to calculate ROAS and break-even ROAS report per campaign | Performance Max ROAS can decrease in the report. | Measure results from the account total. |
What is the effect on cost and ROAS reports?
Brand conversionsConversionThe action you count as a result, for example a paid order, a sign-up, or a chat that becomes a qualified buyer.Open the glossary can move from the Performance Max report to the brand Search report, while the account total stays the same.
Advertisers have complained for a long time that Performance Max takes cheap brand clicks and records the conversions as its own result. PPC Land recorded this complaint on 3 November 2026. If the filter runs in your account, the recorded Performance Max ROAS can decrease. The cause is brand conversions that move to another campaign, not worse performance.
Also monitor the cost of brand clicks. Tinuiti recorded a 5% increase in brand keyword CPCCPCThe average cost of 1 ad click. Divide the ad spend by the number of clicks.Open the glossary for its clients in Q3 2026, as reported by Digiday on 2 November 2026. This data comes from Tinuiti clients, not from the Indonesian market.
A brand Search campaign with a small budget can show the status limited by budget. In that condition, some brand queries can get no ad from any campaign. Before you review a campaign again, read how to calculate ROAS and break-even ROAS.
Does the brand search results page also change?
Brand search results on desktop also change in examples from the United States, but Google did not confirm this change.
Search Engine Roundtable reported on 2 November 2026 that AI OverviewsAIOThe AI answer summary above search results. It answers part of the question before anybody presses a link.Open the glossary for brand queries moved to the right column. Examples are searches for Apple, Zillow, and Coke. The report uses examples from United States results.
Ads, AI Overviews, and the brand panel on the same page are changing position. If you also manage SEOSEOThe work of making your page easy to find and easy to choose in search results, without paying for ads.Open the glossary, monitor your brand queries in Search Console every week.
What must you check this week?
Do these 6 checks within 7 days, then do them again every week for 4 weeks.
- Open the Performance Max search terms report. Record the number of conversions from brand queries for the last 28 days. Use this number as your baseline.
- Check if the account has a brand Search campaign. If not, create 1 campaign with your brand name keywords in exact match and phrase match.
- Check the budget of the brand Search campaign. The status limited by budget means that some brand queries get no ad. Increase the budget until the status goes away.
- Check brand exclusions in Performance Max. Open Settings, then Additional settings, then Brand exclusions. Make sure that the brand list agrees with your decision. Follow the Google guide to brand exclusions.
- Add a 2 November 2026 annotation to your report. Your team must know that a conversion shift after this date can come from a Google change.
- Measure results from the account total. Use total conversions and the blended cost per conversion of Search and Performance Max. Do not cut the Performance Max budget only because its campaign ROAS decreased.
Questions and answers
Does Performance Max stop serving on brand queries?
Not always. Google says that Performance Max may filter brand and navigational queries, not that it always filters them. Check the search terms report to see the behavior in your account.
When does this change start?
Google gave no date. PPC News Feed reported this sentence on the Google help page on 2 November 2026. Use that date as the baseline point in your report.
Must I create a brand Search campaign?
It is not mandatory, but Google recommends a brand Search campaign with enough budget to catch brand queries. Without that campaign, Google does not explain which campaign serves your brand queries.
Are brand exclusions still useful?
Yes. Brand exclusions give you a written list of brands that Performance Max must not serve. The Google filter runs automatically and has no list that you can examine.
Does this change apply in Indonesia?
The Google help page does not limit the change to a country. The AI Overviews examples in the right column come from United States results. Check the data of your own Indonesian account before you change a budget.
Operational conclusion
Expect brand conversions to move from Performance Max to brand Search from November 2026. Set up a brand Search campaign with enough budget, record a 28-day baseline, then measure results from the account total.
To plan the campaign structure and measurement, see our Digital Marketing Setup service. To join conversion data from more than 1 channel, see Attribution Bridge. For a shop with a product feed, see Google Shopping Setup.
