Google Ads for e-commerce brands: Performance Max, Shopping and the budget split

Fibvo editorial · 28 October 2025 · 5 min read

Performance Max can produce strong return on ad spend numbers that partly reflect the campaign simply capturing branded searches — people who already knew the brand and would have bought anyway. Reading the numbers without accounting for this leads to budget decisions based on an inflated picture.

A sensible campaign structure

• A dedicated Shopping or Performance Max campaign for branded terms, budgeted separately and judged on incremental value, not raw ROAS.
• Performance Max for non-branded discovery, with clear asset groups by product category.
• Search campaigns for high-intent non-branded terms where you want tighter control over ad copy.

What to check before scaling spend

The search terms insights report, limited as it is compared to full search campaigns, still shows some of what is triggering Performance Max. Review it monthly, and use audience signals and negative brand-name asset exclusions to stop the campaign leaning too heavily on people who already searched your name.

A strong ROAS number on Performance Max sometimes just means the campaign found people who were already going to buy.

Seasonal and sale-period budgeting

D2C sales concentrate around specific periods — festive season, end-of-season sales. Increase budget ahead of these windows deliberately, and expect cost per click to rise as competition increases across the category, not just for your own brand.

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Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.