About search themes in Performance Max campaigns

Search themes in Performance Max allow you to provide Google AI with information about what your customers are searching for. This helps Performance Max campaigns to serve on placements that may not be obvious to AI, but where they expect good results.

Here are a few examples where search themes can be helpful in situations like the following:

• You’ve just expanded into a new market or launched a new product or service where your campaigns don’t have extensive performance history.
• You are launching a new promotion or sale for the holiday season where you don’t have extensive performance history.
• You want to provide important information to help your campaign ramp up and optimize performance faster.
• You want to expand your reach within Performance Max—including on Search inventory in Performance Max—and ensure you have comprehensive coverage on important business themes.
• Your landing page doesn’t have complete details or the latest updates about the products and services you offer.

Instructions

Follow these steps to apply search themes to an existing campaign:

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. In the navigation panel, click Campaigns, then select your Performance Max campaign.
3. Select Campaign, then select Asset group.
4. Click the pencil icon next to "Signals" on the right side of the asset group card to edit signals.
5. On the “Signals” card, select Search themes.
6. Add up to 25 unique search themes. For example, avoid “car” and “automobile,” as they’ll reach the same audience.
   1. As you enter the search themes, they become chips in the input area.
7. Click Save.

Note:

• If the search themes aren’t eligible, policy errors are shown when you hover over the interface.
• Search themes respect brand exclusions rules.

Validation errors

Validation errors remind you to enter search themes in the correct/proper format. You can view the errors by hovering over the search themes that appear in red.

The following are some possible reasons for validation errors:

• Your search themes are copied and pasted and aren’t separated by either a comma or a line break.
• You pasted too many search themes. Google Ads allows up to 25 search themes per asset group.
• Your search themes are too long. The maximum character limit is 80, so be as straightforward as possible.
• You have duplicate search themes. To avoid this error, make sure each of your search themes is unique.

You can always correct validation errors by editing the search themes.

All search themes are allowed to be used as long as they follow the Google Ads Policies.

Note: After you remove the excess chips if you've entered in more than 25 search themes, the error around the input disappears.

Read the FAQ about search themes for Performance Max in the Google Ads Help Center.