How to: Switch your existing Performance Max campaign (containing assets) to “products only”

Why switch to a products-only Performance Max campaign

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• More control over budget allocation: You can decide how much to spend on Shopping separately and run a dedicated Search campaign alongside it.
• Better fit if you lack strong creative assets: If you don’t have high-quality images, headlines, or videos, you can run Shopping ads using just your product feed.
• Reduce overlap: Keeps Shopping separate from other channels and simplifies campaign structure.

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How to switch an existing Performance Max campaign to products-only

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Step 1: In Google Ads, select the Performance Max campaign you want to change. Go to Asset groups.

In this example, there is one asset group (containing assets). In order to get a products only campaign (without assets), a new asset group needs to be created. Click on the blue + button (shown at the top left corner in the screenshot) to create a new asset group.

Step 2: Create a New Products-Only Asset Group

• Click the blue “+” button (top left).
• Name your group (e.g., Products Only).
• Select the products you want to advertise.
• Skip the “Assets” section entirely: don’t upload images, headlines, or videos. If you add and delete an asset, you won’t be able to save. Leave the assets section empty.
• Click Save.

Step 3: Pause the old asset group with assets

Once your new products-only group is created, pause the original group containing assets.

Step 4: Turn Off automatically created assets

In Campaign Settings, switch off: Automatically created assets → Text assets & Final URL

That’s it. Your Performance Max campaign now runs without assets, acting like the old Smart Shopping campaigns while giving you more control over spend and channel focus.

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Note: watch this video for a more detailed explanation of how you can create Performance Max campaigns in Google Ads while automatically segmenting your products using the Labelizer Strategy.