Google's updated Google Ads documentation states that Performance Max can filter navigational or brand-specific searches to direct them towards dedicated Search campaigns. The clarification concerns the selection of campaigns within the same account when several options are eligible for an impression. Brand searches now receive explicit treatment in the rules governing how Performance Max interacts with Search.
A brand search includes the name of an identifiable company, product or service. Navigational intent arises when someone is looking for a particular destination, such as a company's website or a service's sign-in page. The two situations can overlap: someone may use a brand name precisely because they want to reach that brand's page.
A dedicated Search campaign receives an explicit role
According to Google, filtering allows these searches to be handled by campaigns offering more precise control. The documentation calls for a brand Search campaign to have sufficient budget and high-quality ads that are eligible to serve. It also mentions the option of using search themes in Performance Max. These are account configuration conditions, rather than a new advertising format.
Google describes filtering that can intervene in selection, rather than the mandatory removal of every brand search from every Performance Max campaign. The current public explanation provides no separate activation date or country-by-country rollout schedule. The documented development is the addition of this behaviour to the rules for campaign interaction, checked on 3 November 2026.
A Search campaign retains preference when a keyword matches the search exactly, including after spelling correction. The detailed prioritisation page places exact match keywords identical to the search term at the first level. Identity includes corrected spelling, but does not automatically turn a plural or synonym into an identical match.
Selection rules within the same account
- Exact matchAn identical, eligible exact match keyword has priority.
- Brand searchPerformance Max can filter it in favour of dedicated Search.
- Eligibility and Ad RankBudget, approval and relevance remain decisive.
Relevance and eligibility come before an impression
At the next level, phrase or broad match keywords and Performance Max search themes identical to the query have priority over options that are not identical. For relevance-based selection, Google considers the meaning and context of the search, the group's keywords and its landing pages. Ad Rank determines the outcome when the remaining options have equal priority.
A preferred campaign must actually be eligible to serve. Google lists insufficient budget, low-volume keywords, disapproved ads or landing pages, and targeting differences among the exceptions. For example, a campaign restricted to one geographical area does not become eligible for a search outside that area simply because it contains the appropriate term.
The distinction matters in Google Ads campaign management, where a separate brand structure works together with budget, ad approval and serving conditions. Merely placing the company's name in a keyword list does not replace those checks. The documentation also recommends reviewing change history or experiments when selection differs from the expected outcome.
Ad Rank includes more than the bid
Ad Rank is used both to determine whether an ad can appear and to establish its position relative to other eligible ads. Google recalculates it in the auction context. The listed factors include the bid, ad and landing-page quality, minimum thresholds, competition, the circumstances of the search and the expected impact of additional advertising assets.
That context includes the query, location, device and time of the search. Quality covers factors such as message relevance and the experience offered after someone follows the ad. Two campaigns reaching the same opportunity are therefore not separated exclusively by their bid amounts. Priority and eligibility rules apply before the final comparison between the remaining candidates.
Search themes provide additional business information
Search themes are optional signals through which an advertiser describes products, services and intentions relevant to its business. They can supplement the information the system extracts from landing pages and campaign history. Google points to situations such as a product launch, entry into a new market or a seasonal promotion.
A Performance Max asset group accepts up to 50 unique search themes. They are not a closed list of permitted queries, and using them does not restrict the entire campaign to the expressions entered. Under the prioritisation rules, themes identical to the query sit at the level of phrase or broad match keywords, below an identical exact match keyword.
Google specifies that search themes respect brand exclusions. Adding a theme therefore does not override an exclusion rule applied to the campaign. Themes can be removed individually, and their effects can be examined through search term reporting and campaign results. These controls remain separate from the filtering described in the new clarification.
Explicit brand exclusions remain a separate control
Brand settings allow account-level lists to be applied to individual campaigns. Search supports inclusions, which restrict traffic to queries associated with selected brands, as well as exclusions. Performance Max supports brand exclusions for Search and Shopping inventory. Where a campaign has both inclusions and exclusions, the documentation gives precedence to exclusions.
Brand lists recognise variations and forms in several languages, reducing the need to enter every spelling error as a separate term. Distinct names within the same corporate family may need their own list entries. This is an advertiser-configured mechanism, separate from automatic selection between campaigns and from the general rules governing keywords.
Performance Max can use several Google properties, and overlap with other campaigns is handled according to the inventory and applicable rules. For shared opportunities with Display or Demand Gen, Google describes selection by Ad Rank. The clarification about brand searches supplements that framework: dedicated Search campaigns, themes, exclusions and eligibility each have their own role in choosing the ad that appears.
