Solved: Search Ads on Google Maps without Performance Max

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I've had a look over your question about getting your search ads to show up in Google Maps and the trouble you've been having with Performance Max. It's a common frustration, so you're definitely not alone. A lot of people find PMax a bit of a black box, especially when budgets are tight. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and a bit of guidance based on what we've seen work for other service businesses.

The short answer is that you can't really force your standard search ads to show up prominently *inside* the Google Maps interface; that functionality has been almost completely rolled into Performance Max. But the real issue here isn't that PMax is inherently bad for low budgets. More often than not, it's that it's been set up in a way that allows it to waste that budget. The key isn't to avoid PMax, but to tame it and give it very strict instructions. I'll walk you through how to do that, and also an alternative you might not have considered that could be even better for your clients.

The Hard Truth About Search Ads and Google Maps...

Let's get this out of the way first. Your core question is whether you can make a separate ad group or tweak your search campaign to show up in Google Maps. I'm afraid the straightforward answer is no, not in the way you're hoping for.

What you've done by linking your Google Business Profile is correct. This enables location assets (what we used to call extensions) to show with your search ads on the main Google search results page. You'll see your business address, and sometimes a small map pin will appear next to your ad. This is useful, but it does not mean your ad will appear as a sponsored listing when someone is actively searching and browsing *within the Google Maps app or website*. That ad inventory, those top-of-the-list sponsored pins in Maps, is something Google has increasingly reserved for its automated campaign types, primarily Performance Max.

Creating a new ad group within your search campaign won't change this. The targeting for search is based on keywords, not on the platform the user is on (i.e., you can't tell Google "only show this ad group to people using Maps"). The ad serving logic is baked into the campaign type itself. Google's whole push is towards automation and giving the algorithm control over placement. By moving Maps inventory to PMax, they force advertisers to adopt the new system to get access to it. It's frustrating, but it's the reality of the platform now. So, the goal has to shift from "how do I get my search ads on Maps?" to "how do I make the campaign type that *does* run on Maps work for me?".

Why Your Performance Max Campaign Likely Failed (and How to Fix It)

You mentioned PMax has been bad for you due to low budgets. This is probably the most common complaint I hear. It feels like you switch it on, and your money just vanishes into a black hole with very little to show for it. The reason this happens is that PMax, by default, is designed to explore. It will take your budget and test it across every single Google channel: Search, Maps, Display, YouTube, Gmail, and Discover.

When you have a large budget, this exploration phase can be valuable. But on a small budget, it's a disaster. The algorithm spends a little bit here, a little bit there, and before it can gather enough data to learn anything meaningful in one place, your daily budget is gone. Most of that waste usually happens on the Google Display Network and YouTube, where it shows your ads to very broad, low-intent audiences who aren't actively looking for your client's services.

The solution is not to give up on it, but to give it very strong "guardrails". On a low budget, you can't afford to let PMax guess. You need to feed it powerful signals about who your ideal customer is. When you do this correctly, you're telling the algorithm: "Don't waste my money exploring. Focus all your efforts on finding people who look *exactly* like this."

Common mistakes with PMax on a low budget include:

• Weak or Non-Existent Audience Signals: This is the number one killer of PMax campaigns. If you just let it run without telling it who to target, it will guess, and it will guess badly.
• Poor Creative Assets: PMax relies heavily on your images, logos, headlines, and videos. If you provide low-quality assets, your ads will perform poorly on visual channels like YouTube and Display, again wasting your budget. If you don't provide a video, Google will make a truly awful slideshow video for you, which makes your client's brand look unprofessional.
• Not Using Final URL Expansion: This is a tricky one. By default, PMax will send traffic to what it thinks is the most relevant page on your client's site. Sometimes this works, but often it can send traffic to a blog post or an 'About Us' page instead of the service page that actually converts. You need to control this, either by turning it off or by providing page feed exemptions.

Essentially, you have to shift your mindset from "setting and forgetting" to actively managing and guiding the campaign. It's not a truly automated solution, especially not at the beginning.

We'll need to look at Rebuilding Your PMax Campaign for a Small Budget...

So, let's talk about how to build a PMax campaign that actually respects a smaller budget. The entire strategy revolves around control and providing the best possible inputs so the machine doesn't have to guess.

Step 1: Structure with Tightly Themed Asset Groups

Don't just create one big asset group for the entire business. If your client is, say, an electrician, create separate asset groups for each core service. For example:

• Asset Group 1: Emergency Electrical Repairs
• Asset Group 2: EV Charger Installation
• Asset Group 3: Commercial Rewiring

Why? Because this allows you to tailor your images, headlines, and landing pages to be hyper-relevant to each service. The person looking for an emergency callout needs different messaging than the person planning an EV charger install. This relevance improves your ad quality and conversion rate.

Step 2: Build High-Quality Audience Signals (This is the most important part)

For each asset group, you need to build a dedicated Audience Signal. This is where you give Google its marching orders. Don't just add a few broad interests. You need to get specific. Your best signals will be:

• Your Data - Custom Audiences: If the client has a list of past customers (with permission, of course), upload it. This is gold. Also, create audiences of all website visitors from the last 30-90 days, and people who have already converted. These are your strongest signals.
• Custom Segment - Search Terms: This is your secret weapon. Take the top 10-20 best-performing keywords from your successful Search campaign. The ones that you know drive conversions. Create a new "Custom Segment" and select "People who searched for any of these terms on Google". Paste your keywords in. Now you are telling PMax to find people with proven purchase intent.
• Custom Segment - Website Visitors: You can also create a custom segment of people who browse websites *similar to* your competitors' websites. Just list their URLs.

By providing these high-quality signals, you're essentially starting the campaign on third base. You're drastically reducing the algorithm's need to waste money on exploration because you've already told it what a good customer looks like.

Step 3: Provide Excellent Creative Assets

For each asset group, you need to max out the available assets. Provide as many high-quality images, headlines, descriptions, and logos as you can. Crucially, create a simple video. It doesn't need to be a Hollywood production. A 15-30 second video made with a simple tool like Canva, showing the client's work and contact info, is a million times better than the horrible auto-generated one Google will create. This stops budget being wasted on a bad video ad on YouTube.

To help you visualise this process, here's a flowchart of the key decisions you'd make when setting up a lean and effective PMax campaign.

I'd say you should seriously consider the Alternative: Google Local Service Ads

Now, after all that talk about fixing PMax, I want to introduce an alternative that might be a much better fit for your clients, especially if they are a local service-based business (like an electrician, plumber, cleaner, solicitor, etc.). This is Google's Local Service Ads (LSAs).

LSAs are a different beast entirely. They appear right at the very top of Google's search results, even above the traditional paid search ads. They feature the business's name, phone number, rating, and crucially, a "Google Guaranteed" or "Google Screened" badge.

Here’s why they are so powerful for local businesses:

1. You Pay Per Lead, Not Per Click: This is the biggest difference. With Search and PMax, you pay every time someone clicks your ad, whether they contact you or not. With LSAs, you only pay when a potential customer actually calls you or sends you a message through the ad. It completely changes the economics. You can even dispute and get refunds for irrelevant leads.
2. The "Google Guaranteed" Badge: To qualify for LSAs, businesses have to go through a verification process with Google, including background checks and proof of license and insurance. Once they pass, they get the green checkmark of trust. This is a massive conversion booster. Customers are far more likely to trust a business that Google has vetted.
3. Top of Page Placement: Being at the very top of the page gives you incredible visibility to the most motivated customers who are ready to hire someone right now.

The downside is that they aren't available for every single industry, and you have to go through the verification process. But if your client's business category is eligible, it's almost always the most cost-effective and highest-quality source of leads you can get from Google. We have seen clients pause all other types of campaigns because LSAs provided them with all the work they could handle at a fraction of the cost.

To put the cost difference into perspective, have a play with this calculator. It estimates the cost to acquire 10 leads from a traditional campaign versus the more predictable cost from LSAs.

You'll need an Action Plan: This is what to do next...

There's a lot to take in here, I know. It's easy to get bogged down in the theory. So, to make it more concrete, here is a practical, step-by-step plan I would recommend for your clients based on everything we've just discussed.

This is the main advice I have for you:

Why Expert Help Can Make the Difference

You can absolutely implement everything I've outlined above on your own. However, the world of Google Ads, and PMax in particular, is constantly changing and has a lot of hidden complexities. Getting the initial setup right is so important, as early mistakes can be costly and can teach the algorithm bad habits that are hard to undo.

Navigating the nuances of audience signal creation, asset optimisation, and interpreting the limited data that PMax provides is where deep experience comes in. We've launched and managed these exact types of campaigns for dozens of service-based businesses, from local HVAC companies seeing leads around the $60 mark in a competitive area, to home cleaning services getting leads for as little as £5. We've seen what works, what doesn't, and how to troubleshoot when a campaign isn't performing as expected.

Working with an expert can help you bypass the expensive trial-and-error phase and get straight to a refined strategy that's built on a foundation of what's already proven to be successful. It’s about applying a tested methodology rather than hoping the "black box" of PMax decides to work in your favour.

If you'd like to discuss your client's specific situation in more detail, I'd be happy to offer you a free, no-obligation strategy session. We could have a look at your current campaigns together and map out a more detailed plan of action. It's a great way to get a second pair of expert eyes on your account and ensure you're on the right track.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh