Your Performance Max campaigns hit 'Learning' in October. It's January. They're still learning. Your CPL is up 40%. Google's recommendation? 'Give it more time.'
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone.
Many B2B SaaS and fintech companies are sold the dream of an all-in-one, AI-powered solution, only to find themselves with rising costs and declining lead quality. You’re watching your budget burn with nothing to show for it.
The Lie You've Been Sold
Google, and many agencies, will tell you that Performance Max is the future. They say it’s an AI-powered tool that optimizes your ads across all of Google's channels. The pitch is simple: just provide your creative assets, set a budget, and let the algorithm do the heavy lifting. They say it just needs time to learn.
This is true, to an extent. For B2C e-commerce businesses with short sales cycles and clear conversion events, Performance Max can be a powerful tool. But for B2B companies with complex sales cycles, the story is very different.
In the B2B world, intent signals are weaker. A 'conversion' might be a whitepaper download from a student, not a demo request from a qualified lead. Sales cycles are often 60-90 days long, making it difficult for the algorithm to learn and optimize effectively.
What's Actually Happening
Performance Max is designed to optimize for conversion volume, not quality. The algorithm will chase the easiest conversions, which often come from low-intent placements like YouTube pre-rolls and Discovery ads. It can't distinguish between a qualified B2B lead and someone who clicked your ad by accident while browsing recipes.
In long B2B sales cycles, attribution is a major challenge. Performance Max often takes credit for bottom-of-the-funnel conversions that it didn't actually drive. We managed a B2B SaaS account spending $15K/month on PMax. Leads were up 30%, but SQLs were down 50%. The algorithm was optimizing for people who would never buy.
Performance Max optimizes for volume. B2B needs quality.
The Alternative That Actually Works
So, what do savvy operators do instead? They take back control. They focus on Search campaigns with tight intent targeting. You control the keywords. You control the message. You see exactly what’s working.
They use high-intent audience segments, like in-market audiences, custom-intent audiences, and retargeting lists. They don't let the AI guess who their customers are.
They create channel-specific creative. YouTube creative is not LinkedIn creative. Performance Max treats them the same, but a smart B2B paid media strategy recognizes the difference.
Here’s a real before-and-after example. A client was spending 60% of their budget on Performance Max, with a cost per SQL of $180. Most of their leads were disqualified. We paused PMax and reallocated the budget to Search and LinkedIn. The result? The cost per SQL dropped to $95, and lead quality went up by 40%.
In another case, with our client Gurtam, we saw a 52% reduction in cost per SQL, from €126.94 in December 2024 to €102.3 in December 2025, after killing Performance Max. We achieved this with half the budget.
When Performance Max Actually Works
To be fair, Performance Max isn't useless. It can be effective for:
- E-commerce businesses with short sales cycles and clear conversion events.
- High-volume, low-consideration purchases.
- Brands with massive creative budgets that can constantly feed the algorithm with new assets.
But for B2B companies with 6-month sales cycles selling $50K contracts, it's the wrong tool for the job.
What to Do If You're Stuck in PMax Hell
If you're currently using Performance Max and seeing poor results, here are some tactical steps you can take:
1. Audit your current PMax performance. Look at your lead-to-SQL conversion rate, not just the number of 'conversions'.
2. Run a 30-day test. Allocate 50% of your PMax budget to a tightly-targeted Search campaign. Track your cost per SQL for both.
3. If Search outperforms PMax, kill it. Reallocate that budget to Search, LinkedIn, and programmatic display with tight targeting.
4.Rebuild your conversion tracking. Make sure you're measuring what matters: SQLs, not MQLs.
It's Not the Algorithm. It's the Wrong Tool.
Most agencies won't tell you this because Performance Max is easy to manage. You upload creative, set a budget, and let it run. It looks like work. But in B2B, easy doesn't mean effective.
We've rebuilt Google Ads accounts for companies with over $10M in annual recurring revenue. Every single time, killing Performance Max and moving to intent-driven Search campaigns has cut the cost per SQL by 30-50%.
If your Performance Max campaigns have been 'learning' for 60+ days and your CPL is rising, it's not the algorithm. It's the wrong tool for the job.
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