Performance Max management with AI works best as a controlled loop: give the assistant your business inputs, create or inspect one layer at a time, review the returned settings and assets, then enable or change only what you approve.
With HireOtto connected to Google Ads, your AI assistant can create a standard PMax campaign, manage asset groups and signals, and pull the reports needed to improve it.
It cannot replace your judgment about economics, creative quality, or what a conversion is worth.
The short answer
Use AI to reduce the mechanical work around PMax – not to outsource the strategy. A good workflow has four stages:
Define the goal, conversion action, value model, budget, geography, landing page, and creative theme.
Create the campaign and first asset group in a paused state, with all required assets supplied together.
Review targeting, bidding, URLs, assets, brand settings, and conversion goals before enabling anything.
Diagnose performance at the campaign, asset-group, asset, search-term, placement, and feed levels before making changes.
That sequence matters because PMax distributes ads across Google inventory and optimizes toward the conversion signals you give it. A fast setup built on weak goals or mismatched creative simply reaches the wrong conclusion faster.
What AI can and cannot manage in PMax
A connected AI assistant can help you
Create a standard Performance Max campaign for online sales or lead generation, including its budget and first asset group.
Set Maximize Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value, with an optional target CPA or target ROAS.
Add location and language targeting, final URLs, headlines, descriptions, images, logos, audience signals, and search themes.
Add, pause, enable, or remove asset groups.
Upload new assets or reuse existing assets across groups without duplicating them.
Inspect and update audience signals and search themes.
Pull eight dedicated PMax views: campaign performance, placements, feed types, asset-group performance, asset-group strength, asset performance, top combinations, and search terms.
You still need to decide
Which conversion goals represent real business value.
Whether the budget and bid target are commercially sensible.
How asset groups should map to products, audiences, languages, or landing pages.
Whether creative is accurate, compliant, on-brand, and distinct enough to test.
Whether a weak result needs more time, a better signal, new creative, or a structural change.
HireOtto’s current creation workflow covers standard PMax campaigns. Retail PMax campaigns that depend on a Merchant Center product feed need a different setup path.
Step 1: Prepare the brief before you prompt
Do not start with “Create a PMax campaign.” Start with the choices PMax needs to optimize responsibly.
Minimum planning checklist
Objective: online sale, qualified lead, trial, booking, or another measurable outcome.
Conversion setup: primary conversion action, value rules, attribution assumptions, and data quality.
Economics: daily budget, target CPA or target ROAS, margin or lead-value constraints.
Structure: one clear theme per asset group, paired with the most relevant final URL.
Creative: at least three headlines, one to five long headlines, two descriptions, a landscape image, a square image, a logo, and the business name.
Signals: relevant account audiences and search themes that describe demand, not match-type keywords.
Google recommends organizing separate asset groups around themes such as product category, audience, language, or landing page. Treat an asset group as a coherent creative kit, not a drawer for every asset you own.
Step 2: Create the campaign in a reviewable state
HireOtto can create the budget, campaign, first asset group, required assets, and optional signals in one workflow. The current default is paused for both the campaign and initial asset group, which gives you a review window.
Use a complete prompt so the assistant does not have to infer commercial decisions:
Create a standard Performance Max campaign in Google Ads account [CUSTOMER_ID].
Campaign name: [CAMPAIGN_NAME]
Daily budget: [AMOUNT AND CURRENCY]
Bidding: [MAXIMIZE_CONVERSIONS + OPTIONAL TARGET_CPA / MAXIMIZE_CONVERSION_VALUE + OPTIONAL TARGET_ROAS]
Locations: [LOCATION_IDS OR CLEAR LOCATION NAMES]
Languages: [LANGUAGES]
Keep the campaign and first asset group paused.
Asset group: [ASSET_GROUP_NAME]
Final URL: [LANDING_PAGE_URL]
Business name: [BUSINESS_NAME]
Headlines: [3–15 HEADLINES, EACH ≤30 CHARACTERS]
Long headlines: [1–5 LONG HEADLINES, EACH ≤90 CHARACTERS]
Descriptions: [2–5 DESCRIPTIONS, EACH ≤90 CHARACTERS]
Landscape image URLs: [URLS]
Square image URLs: [URLS]
Logo URLs: [URLS]
Audience signals: [AUDIENCE_IDS, IF AVAILABLE]
Search themes: [PLAIN-TEXT THEMES]
Return the created IDs, statuses, bidding settings, locations, URLs, assets, and signals for review. Do not enable anything.If you use campaign-level brand guidelines, say so in the prompt. The business name and logos then live at campaign level and can be inherited by later asset groups.
Step 3: Run a pre-launch review
The build completing successfully is not the same as the campaign being ready. Ask the assistant to summarize the created structure, then check the high-consequence fields yourself.
Review PMax campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID] and its first asset group. Confirm campaign and asset-group status, budget, bidding strategy and target, conversion goals, locations, languages, final URL, brand-guideline setting, attached assets, audience signals, and search themes. Flag missing, contradictory, or unusually restrictive settings. Do not make changes.Your manual approval checklist
The campaign and asset group are paused.
The correct Google Ads account and currency are being used.
The budget and target CPA/ROAS match the business case.
Primary conversion goals are intentional and measured correctly.
Locations and languages are neither too broad nor accidentally excluded.
Every asset matches the landing page and one clear asset-group theme.
URLs work, tracking parameters are correct, and claims comply with policy.
Search themes and audience signals are useful hints – not substitutes for conversion data.
Only after that review should you ask the assistant to enable the asset group and campaign.
Step 4: Manage an existing PMax campaign with an audit loop
For a live campaign, begin with diagnosis. Avoid jumping from one bad-looking metric to an asset removal.
Audit PMax campaign [CAMPAIGN_ID] for the last 30 days.
1. Pull campaign performance.
2. Pull asset-group performance and asset-group strength.
3. Pull the PMax search-terms report, sorted by cost, with a CSV export.
4. Pull asset performance and top asset combinations.
5. Pull campaign placements and feed-type performance.
Separate observations from recommendations. For every recommendation, show the evidence, expected upside, risk, and the exact change you would make. Do not change the account.Start with the campaign-level outcome because PMax optimizes to campaign goals. Use asset-group and asset reports to explain the result, not to treat each row as an independent campaign.
How to interpret the output
Campaign performance: Is spend producing the conversion volume and value the business needs?
Asset-group performance: Which themes consume spend and contribute results? Do not remove a group solely because its average CPA is higher or ROAS lower.
Asset-group strength: Which groups lack enough creative variety or have specific action items? Ad Strength is a diagnostic, not a business KPI.
Search terms: Which queries reveal useful demand, brand leakage, irrelevance, or negative-keyword candidates? Review intent before excluding anything.
Assets and combinations: What messages and visuals does Google favor, and do those combinations still represent the offer correctly?
Placements and feeds: Where is delivery occurring, and is poor-quality inventory or a feed segment distorting the result?
Step 5: Improve assets without breaking the group
When the data points to creative fatigue or weak coverage, add alternatives before deleting assets. Google recommends supplying a diverse set of high-quality creative and evaluating PMax at campaign level.
For asset group [ASSET_GROUP_ID], list all linked assets and current asset-group strength. Identify missing coverage and propose three new headlines, one long headline, and two descriptions aligned with [LANDING_PAGE] and [OFFER]. Keep within Google Ads character limits. Do not add or remove assets yet.After reviewing the suggestions, add only approved assets. If you remove an asset, HireOtto checks that the asset group will remain above Google’s minimum requirements. Reuse an existing account asset when it fits; this keeps the asset library cleaner than uploading duplicates.
Step 6: Use audience signals and search themes as hints
Audience signals and search themes help Google understand the people and demand patterns that matter. They do not behave like hard targeting constraints.
List the current audience signals and search themes for asset group [ASSET_GROUP_ID]. Compare them with the landing page, offer, and last 30 days of PMax search terms. Recommend additions or removals, explain why, and do not make changes.Use signals to contribute information Google may not learn quickly from the page or conversion history. Keep them specific to the asset-group theme. If the recommendation is based on a weak or short data window, label it as a hypothesis.
Common mistakes when using AI for PMax
Letting the assistant invent the strategy
AI can format and execute your decisions. It should not guess what a lead is worth or which conversion should guide bidding.
Creating one generic asset group
A mixed bundle of products, audiences, and landing pages makes the creative less coherent and the reports harder to interpret.
Treating search themes like exact-match keywords
Search themes are signals. They tell Google what matters but do not confine delivery to those phrases.
Deleting assets from a short data window
A label or average metric is not enough context. Review conversion economics, combinations, coverage, and time before removing creative.
Optimizing asset groups in isolation
Google’s system optimizes against campaign-level conversion goals. Use lower-level reports as diagnostics, then judge the campaign as a whole.
Enabling before checking the return
Always verify statuses, budget, bid targets, locations, conversion goals, URLs, assets, and signals. “Created” is a technical outcome; “ready” is an operator decision.
Where HireOtto fits
HireOtto is a remote Google Ads MCP server that lets a compatible AI assistant read and manage Google Ads through conversation. For PMax, it brings creation, asset-group changes, signals, and reporting into one reviewable workflow. The advantage is not a magic optimization button. It is reducing dashboard work while keeping the operator in the approval loop.
Already using HireOtto? Start with the audit prompt above on one existing campaign.
New to Google Ads MCP? Read the complete guide: https://insights.hireotto.com/p/google-ads-mcp-complete-guide
Get started with HireOtto here: https://docs.hireotto.com/setup/connect-ai-tool
For the exact product prompts and current requirements, use the PMax documentation: https://docs.hireotto.com/guides/manage-performance-max-campaigns
Frequently asked questions
Can AI create a Performance Max campaign?
Yes. With a write-capable Google Ads connection such as HireOtto, an AI assistant can create a standard PMax campaign, its budget, its first asset group, required creative assets, and optional signals. Review the returned setup before enabling it.
Can AI manage an existing PMax campaign?
Yes. It can inspect campaigns and asset groups, change asset-group status, add or reuse assets, remove eligible assets, manage signals, and pull PMax reports. Human approval should remain the final step for consequential changes.
Are search themes the same as keywords?
No. Search themes are hints about what customers search for and which topics lead to conversions. They do not restrict PMax to those queries.
Should I remove an asset group with a higher CPA?
Not on that fact alone. Google advises evaluating PMax at campaign level because a higher-CPA or lower-ROAS asset group may still contribute to the campaign goal. Review marginal contribution, creative coverage, search demand, and business context.
Does this workflow support retail PMax with a Merchant Center feed?
The HireOtto creation workflow described here is for standard PMax campaigns used for online sales or lead generation. Retail PMax uses product-feed and listing-group requirements that are outside this creation path.
About Me
I’m Suyash – badminton junkie, ex‑GroupM ad‑ops grunt, first marketer at a B2B SaaS startup, and creator of Hiretto: Google Ads MCP Server.
My mission: think, so you can click less.
Let’s build leverage together.