Campaign Types
Search Themes
Search themes are keyword-like phrases added to a Performance Max asset group that tell Google which search queries the campaign should reach, supplementing what it infers from assets and landing pages.
In practice
Search themes are the closest thing PMax has to keywords. Each asset group accepts up to 25 of them, and they influence, without strictly controlling, which queries the campaign enters. They carry the same weight as phrase and broad match keywords in your Search campaigns for traffic routing, and existing exact match keywords in Search still take priority over PMax for identical queries.
Good search themes describe what a buyer types, not what your product is called internally. For a bourbon retailer that means brand names, bottle sizes, gift phrasing, and category terms, not a list of SKUs. Include the brand or product phrase itself where the category is broad; a theme of just wedding photographer in a national campaign is a wide net.
Search themes do not replace negative keywords. Pair them with campaign-level negatives and brand exclusions so the campaign is pointed at demand and away from what you do not want.
Why it matters
Without search themes PMax guesses at intent from your landing pages, and it guesses broadly.
RELATED TERMS
Performance Max (PMax)
Performance Max is a Google Ads campaign type that serves across Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps from a single campaign using automated bidding and asset-based creative.
Asset Group
An asset group is the unit inside a Performance Max campaign that holds a set of creative assets, audience signals, search themes, and (for retail) a listing group filter for a specific theme or product line.
Negative Keywords
Negative keywords are terms added to a campaign, ad group, or shared list that prevent ads from showing on searches containing them.
Written by Ilya Bulychev, Founder, Live PPC Ads. Part of the PPC Glossary.
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