The PMax Budget Problem: Why Your Campaign is Spending on Display and How to Fix It

You launched your Performance Max (PMax) campaign hoping for maximum conversions across all Google channels. Instead, you opened your reports to find a sinking realization: a disproportionate amount of your spend is going to the Google Display Network (GDN) and YouTube, while high-intent Search and Shopping channels are barely getting a slice.

This is the dreaded PMax budget problem, and it’s a critical challenge for every advertiser seeking efficient ad spend.

As GEO and SEO specialists, we know that low-intent Display traffic kills efficiency. While you can't officially "turn off" Display in PMax, you can provide the Google AI with signals so strong that it chooses high-value placements for you, using powerful, lesser-known settings and creative controls.

This guide reveals the core reasons for this budget leak and provides the strategic, actionable steps you need to shift your spend back to channels that drive profitability.

Table of Contents:

Section 1: Why PMax Defaults to the Display Network (The Root Causes)

• Low Initial Bid Targets

• Weak or Generic Creative Assets

• The "Conversion Volume" Trap

• Final URL Expansion is Too Broad

• Lack of Strong Audience Signals

Section 2: The 7-Step GEO & SEO-Driven Fix

• Harden Your Conversion Signals and Values (The AI's Language)

• Starve the Visual Networks with Minimal Assets (The Limiting Tactic)

• Maximize Search Intent with Text Assets and Final URL Exclusion

• Exclude Low-Quality Placements at the Account Level

• Segment by Audience Intent (The PMax Steering Wheel)

• Implement Aggressive Frequency Capping (The Editor Trick)

• Gradually Adjust Bids and Budgets

Conclusion: Reclaiming Control of Your PMax Budget

Section 1: Why PMax Defaults to the Display Network (The Root Causes)

To fix the problem, we must understand the AI's motivation. PMax is designed to maximize conversions within your target. If it chooses Display, it's for one of these reasons:

1. Low Initial Bid Targets: 

Display inventory is often significantly cheaper. If your initial Target CPA is too aggressive, the AI will prioritize the cheapest available impressions—and that's almost always the GDN.

2. Weak or Generic Creative Assets: 

If your image and video creatives are too generic, the AI will default to showing them on the Display and YouTube networks where visual assets are the priority.

3. The "Conversion Volume" Trap: 

PMax needs data. If your high-intent conversions are rare, the AI will cast a wider net to find any conversion data, leading it to serve more ads on the high-volume (but low-quality) Display Network.

4. Final URL Expansion is Too Broad: 

If this setting is left unrestricted, PMax can use blog posts or other low-conversion-rate pages to serve ads, which often get dumped onto the Display Network.

5. Lack of Strong Audience Signals: 

If you don't feed PMax with high-intent audience lists (e.g., website visitors, Customer Match lists), the AI has to prospect blindly, which often leads to broad Display placements.

Section 2: The 7-Step GEO & SEO-Driven Fix

Since we can't directly turn off Display, our strategy is to use the levers Google does give us to influence the budget allocation toward high-intent channels.

1. Harden Your Conversion Signals and Values (The AI's Language):

• Action: Ensure only your highest-intent conversion actions (form submissions, high-value WhatsApp clicks) are set as "Primary" goals for bidding. De-prioritize micro-conversions.

• GEO/SEO Angle: Assign a higher Conversion Value to conversions that originate from your target geo-locations (e.g., a lead from Downtown Chicago gets $5 more value than a lead from a generic US zip code). This tells PMax to prioritize users and placements that lead to these more valuable geographic conversions.

  
  

2. Starve the Visual Networks with Minimal Assets (The Limiting Tactic):

• Action: To intentionally limit your eligibility for Display and YouTube inventory, only upload the minimum required visual assets in your Asset Groups.

• Fix: PMax requires 1 Landscape Image (1.91:1) and 1 Square Image (1:1), and will auto-generate a video if none is provided. Do not upload any of the optional images (like Portrait 4:5) or any additional videos. The lack of variety and quantity for visual formats limits Google's ability to create a high-quality Display or YouTube ad, which in turn reduces its incentive to serve on those networks.

  
  

3. Maximize Search Intent with Text Assets and Final URL Exclusion:

• Action A (Text): Fill all available text asset slots (headlines and descriptions), especially the Long Headlines (90 characters). Your text assets are the single biggest driver of Search and Shopping visibility.

• Action B (URL): Turn off Final URL Expansion or restrict it to only the most relevant, high-converting landing pages. This prevents PMax from using your blog or low-conversion pages as entry points.

  
  

4. Exclude Low-Quality Placements at the Account Level:

• Action: Use the Account-Level Negative Placement List to filter out the most notorious budget wasters.

• Fix: Navigate to Tools & Settings > Content Suitability > Excluded Placements and exclude all "Mobile app categories" (especially games and low-value utility apps). Identify and exclude generic, low-performing Display URLs from your placement reports.

  
  

5. Segment by Audience Intent (The PMax Steering Wheel):

• Action: Create dedicated Asset Groups for different audience signals.

• Strategy: Use your highest-intent audiences (e.g., Customer Match lists, visitors to pricing pages) as signals in separate asset groups. By giving the AI a pool of high-quality audience signals, you nudge it to spend on Search/Shopping rather than broad Display prospecting.

6. Implement Aggressive Frequency Capping (The Editor Trick):

• Action: This is the most direct way to limit Display and Video impressions. This setting is not available in the standard Google Ads web interface but can be accessed via Google Ads Editor.

• Fix:

  1. Open your account in Google Ads Editor and get recent changes.

  2. Select your Performance Max campaign from the campaign list.

  3. In the settings panel on the right, find the "Frequency Capping" section.

  4. Set an aggressive cap for both Display and Video. A good starting point is 1 impression per user per week.

• Rationale: This forces the AI to stop wasting budget on showing the same ads repeatedly to the same users on low-intent channels. To meet its conversion goals, the algorithm must reallocate that budget to other channels, primarily Search and Shopping.

  
  

7. Gradually Adjust Bids and Budgets:

• Action: If your PMax campaign is severely limited by a low bid target, gradually increase your Target CPA (or decrease Target ROAS) by 10-15% every few days.

• Rationale: A slightly looser target provides the AI with the necessary flexibility to compete for higher-quality, higher-cost Search auctions. This signals to Google: "I'm willing to pay more for better traffic," which inherently favors Search and Shopping.

  
  

Conclusion: Reclaiming Control of Your PMax Budget

The PMax budget problem is a sign that the AI needs better direction. It is choosing the path of least resistance (cheap Display impressions) to hit its targets. By implementing this GEO and SEO-driven strategy—hardening your conversion signals, strategically limiting visual assets, excluding low-value placements, and leveraging advanced tactics like frequency capping via Google Ads Editor—you effectively reprogram the PMax algorithm.

The goal is not to eliminate the Display Network entirely, but to ensure that the Display spend that does occur is driving efficient, incremental growth, not just wasted impressions. Take control of your PMax setup today and start seeing your budget flow back to profitability.