Build a Performance Max Campaign With AI

A Performance Max build with an AI agent runs in a strict order: brand assets first, then a paused campaign, then an asset group assembled in one batch, then review, then enable. The order is not style — PMax requires a business name and logo before the campaign exists, and asset groups must arrive complete. Every step below is a prompt.

This is the doing page. What PMax shows you, what it hides, and whether you should run it at all is the Performance Max pillar — read it first if PMax is new to you. The search-campaign equivalent of this walkthrough is launch a campaign with AI.

Gather the inputs the agent cannot invent

Text, the agent drafts. Everything else is yours to bring:

• Hosted image URLs — landscape 1.91:1 (1200×628), square 1:1 (1200×1200), and a square logo. Real product or brand images, publicly fetchable.
• The final URL — where PMax sends everyone this asset group wins.
• Budget and bidding — maximise conversions is the sane default; target CPA or target ROAS only if the account has the conversion history to feed them.
• The brand facts — exact business name spelling, and two sentences on the offer for copy drafting.

Step 1 — brand assets

In account <account>, create the brand assets for a new Performance Max
campaign:
1. a text asset with our business name: "<exact name>"
2. an image asset from this logo: <logo URL>, named "<name> logo square"
Give me both resource names when done.

Two quick approvals — create_text_asset and create_image_asset — and the agent holds the two resource names the campaign creation call requires. Assets are inert on their own; nothing here can serve or spend.

Step 2 — the campaign, paused

Create a Performance Max campaign in account <account>:
- name: "PMax - <theme> - <month>"
- daily budget: ₹2,000
- bidding: maximise conversions
- business name and logo: the assets you just created
- status: paused, and keep it paused through the whole build
Confirm the campaign ID.

One create_performance_max_campaign approval. Paused is the default for campaigns created through the connector, and on PMax that default earns its keep twice over — a live PMax campaign starts exploring immediately, so you want the entire asset group reviewed before the first auction.

If you have a working target, say it in the same prompt — "target CPA of ₹900" — because bidding is set at creation. And if you do not want Google expanding beyond your final URL, say so now too: URL expansion is a campaign-creation setting, and "opt out of final URL expansion" belongs in this prompt, not in a later regret.

Step 3 — the asset group, in one batch

Asset groups are created whole — the group and its assets land together. Draft the text in chat first, then let the agent assemble:

Draft the text for asset group "<theme>" (final URL: <URL>):
- 5 headlines under 30 characters
- 4 long headlines under 90 characters
- 4 descriptions under 90 characters, one under 60
Value proposition: <two sentences>. Show me everything for edits before
creating anything.

Edit the copy in the conversation — this is where your time should go — then:

Copy is final. Create the text assets, create image assets from these
URLs: <landscape URL(s)>, <square URL(s)>, and build asset group
"<theme>" on the new campaign with all of it plus the logo. Confirm what
was linked.

Expect a chain of approvals: text assets, image assets, then one create_asset_group call carrying the final URL, every headline, description and image. If Google rejects an image for size or ratio, the agent gets the error back verbatim and can tell you exactly which file to re-export — ask it to quote the error rather than summarise.

Step 4 — review where Google shows you the preview

Open the campaign in the Google Ads UI. The approval prompts verified each call; the UI review verifies the whole:

• Asset group preview renders sensibly across formats
• Ad strength verdict and whatever Google says is missing
• Final URL is right — and URL expansion is set the way you chose
• Budget, bidding and target match the brief
• Status: paused, everywhere

Ask the agent for its own inventory — Summarise the PMax build: campaign settings, every asset, the asset group — and check the two accounts of reality agree. Then, if signals allow it in your account, add audience signals in the UI while you are there; they steer early exploration and are worth the manual minute.

Step 5 — enable, then watch the right things

Everything is reviewed. Enable campaign "PMax - <theme> - <month>".

One set_campaign_status approval — the only spend-affecting click of the build. Then set the monitoring expectation honestly: PMax reports less than search campaigns do, so your weekly check focuses on what is actually queryable:

It's been a week. For the PMax campaign: spend, conversions, cost per
conversion, and asset group performance. What can you see about where
spend went — and tell me plainly what you cannot see.

An agent that states its blind spots is reporting correctly — channel split is mostly hidden by design. Fold the campaign into the weekly routine and give it two to three weeks of learning before judging it.

The whole build is a forty-minute session on a connected account: Start a free pilot, bring a logo URL and two product images, and run Step 1. By the end you will have a complete PMax draft — reviewed, paused, and spending nothing until you say the word.