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Search themes

Search themes are words and phrases in a Performance Max asset group that tell Google which searches to add to those it finds from your feed and site.

How it works

Performance Max has no keywords: it uses your assets, feed and landing pages to predict which searches to show for. Search themes fill the gaps with searches you know your customers use. Themes are a signal of an asset group, and they only add searches: the campaign keeps showing for searches outside them. The campaign’s negative keywords and brand exclusions still apply.

A Search campaign can compete for the same search with a text ad. If it has an exact match keyword identical to the search, that keyword wins over Performance Max, even if a theme duplicates it. A theme identical to the search ranks level with a phrase or broad match keyword identical to it, and Ad Rank decides between them.

Our guide to search themes in Performance Max covers where to take themes from. For other ways to steer searches, see how to control search in Performance Max.

Where you see it

  • Google Ads: in a Performance Max asset group, among its signals, next to audience signals.
  • Search terms insights for Performance Max: whether a search came from your themes or from keywordless targeting.

Example

Example store, not client data.

The tableware shop’s asset group “Frying pans” has two themes: “induction frying pan” and “frying pan without teflon”. The campaign can still show for “wok pan”, which is in neither. After the shop adds the negative keyword “wok pan”, the campaign stops showing for that search: themes add searches, and negative keywords take them away.

Not to be confused with

  • Keyword match types — a keyword limits a Search campaign to the searches its match type allows. A theme has no match type and limits nothing.
  • Audience signals — the other asset group signal: it describes people, not searches.

Right and wrong readings

  • Wrong: “Once we add themes, the campaign shows only for those searches.” Right: themes only add searches, so the campaign keeps showing for searches outside them.
  • Wrong: “A theme copying our exact match keyword sends that search to Performance Max.” Right: for a text ad, the identical exact match keyword in Search wins.

Sources