Feed-only Performance Max

How it works

The campaign is linked to Merchant Center, and each asset group holds a listing group that picks the products, but no assets of your own. Google allows this: in a retail campaign an asset group has either no assets or all the required ones. The campaign’s Shopping ads are then built from the feed: product image, title and price. Our guide to feed-only Performance Max in 2026 covers when the setup makes sense.

Where you see it

Google Ads has no separate campaign type for it: it is a Performance Max campaign whose asset groups hold no assets. The channel performance report shows where its ads ran.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop creates a Performance Max campaign with one asset group. Its listing group covers all 3,000 products, and the shop adds no headlines, images or videos. The campaign’s Shopping ads take each product’s image, title and price from the feed. If the shop leaves Final URL expansion on, the same campaign can also serve text ads to the shop’s category pages.

Not to be confused with

• Shopping campaign — Standard Shopping supports manual CPC and campaign priority. Performance Max, feed-only or not, bids only with Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value, each with an optional target.
• Asset group — the container inside the campaign. “Feed-only” describes what is in it. Google checks each asset group on its own: no assets or all required ones.

Right and wrong readings

• Wrong: “Without assets, the campaign can only appear in Shopping results.” Right: according to Google, an asset group opens Shopping and dynamic remarketing. Google can also generate assets for a campaign linked to Merchant Center, though with limited reach, and Final URL expansion adds text ads. Removing your own assets means fewer ad formats, not Shopping only.

Sources

• Performance Max Asset Groups — a retail asset group has no assets or meets all requirements. Checked 2 October 2026.
• Performance Max for online sales with a product feed (retail) — asset groups enable Shopping and dynamic remarketing; URL expansion enables Dynamic Search Ads; Google can generate assets automatically. Checked 2 October 2026.
• Performance Max campaign reporting — channel-level reporting for Performance Max. Checked 2 October 2026.
• Create a Performance Max campaign — the only supported bidding strategies. Checked 2 October 2026.
• Create a Shopping campaign — manual CPC and campaign priority in Standard Shopping. Checked 2 October 2026.