What Can You Control in Performance Max Channel Settings?

Performance Max channel settings let you prioritize Google channels, Search partners, and the Google Display Network, and set an allocation for a low-priority group. They do not let you prioritize individual Google-owned surfaces, and a nonzero allocation is not a spending cap. Google announced the controls on October 14, 2026; its Help page says availability begins October 15 and rolls out progressively, so check your own account rather than assuming the controls are available.

This guide is for advertisers deciding whether to change a Performance Max campaign. The key exception: channel priority does not affect spend when a campaign is not limited by budget, but a low-priority channel allocation still applies.

Which Performance Max channels can you prioritize?

Google Ads Help describes three configurable groups:

Google channels: Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, and Discover, grouped together.
Search partners.
Google Display Network.

You can distinguish Google channels from Search partners and Display, but these controls do not separate Search from YouTube, Maps, Gmail, or Discover. If your goal is to favor one of those Google surfaces individually, this setting does not provide that control.

Priority is not the same as an allocation

Think of priority as a preference that matters when the campaign is constrained by its budget. Google says prioritization does not affect spend when a campaign is not limited by budget. So if a campaign is not budget-limited, changing its priority alone should not be expected to rebalance its spend across channels.

An allocation is a separate setting for a low-priority channel. Google calculates it from the campaign’s average daily budget, not its actual spend. The allocation resets daily, and Google describes it as best-effort: actual daily spend on that channel may exceed the allocation.

Google documents one distinct case: setting a low-priority channel’s allocation to 0% means the campaign will not spend on that channel. Do not extend that behavior to nonzero percentages; a nonzero allocation is not a hard ceiling.

Hypothetical allocation calculation

Suppose a campaign has a $200 average daily budget and you set a low-priority channel allocation of 10%. The calculation is $200 × 10% = $20. That is the allocation amount for the day—not a guaranteed $20 maximum and not 10% of whatever the campaign actually spends.

Check these details before changing a setting

Confirm the controls are available. Look in the actual account and campaign rather than assuming access based on the announced rollout date. Google says availability may vary by account and campaign type.
Check whether the campaign is budget-limited. This determines whether priority itself is expected to affect spend. If it is not limited by budget, do not expect priority alone to rebalance delivery.
Record the average daily budget and bid strategy. The budget is the basis for the allocation calculation. Record the bid strategy as part of your starting configuration so you can interpret a later comparison; do not assume the setting change will produce a particular business result.
Inspect the settings hierarchy. Google says settings can be assigned at the account or campaign level, and campaign-level settings can override account defaults. Record the effective setting for the campaign you intend to assess.
Check the budget scope. If the campaign uses a shared budget, Google says the settings apply to the shared budget as a whole, subject to eligibility limitations. Make sure your test and interpretation account for the other campaigns within that scope.

As of Google Ads Help’s current documentation, the controls can be managed in Google Ads or Search Ads 360; support for Google Ads API and Google Ads Editor is described as coming soon. Because availability is rolling out, recheck the Help page and the interface you use before planning a workflow around a particular tool.

Decide whether a change fits the problem

Your situation	What to consider
The campaign is budget-limited and you have a preferred order among the three groups.	Priority may be relevant to that constraint. Record the existing configuration before changing it.
You want to test a lower-priority group while setting an allocation for it.	Use the allocation as a best-effort amount based on average daily budget, not as a ceiling on spend.
The campaign is not budget-limited and you only plan to change priority.	Do not expect priority alone to change spend. Revisit whether the proposed change addresses the problem you are trying to solve.
You want to distinguish Search from YouTube, Maps, Gmail, or Discover.	These remain grouped as Google channels in this control, so it cannot make that individual distinction.

Test and verify without overreading the result

Save a baseline. Record the campaign and budget scope, effective account and campaign settings, average daily budget, bid strategy, and the date you make any change. Note other material changes that could affect delivery or results.
Choose a consistent comparison interval. Google’s documentation does not specify how quickly delivery or reporting responds after a change, so it does not establish a standard measurement window. Use comparable intervals and document the dates rather than assuming an immediate response.
Inspect the reporting available in your account. Review spend by channel if your account provides a suitable view, along with total campaign spend. Reporting views and breakdowns may vary, so verify what is actually available instead of relying on a promised report path.
Check business outcomes. Compare conversions and conversion value, and—where you track them—qualified leads or sales. A change in channel spend is not, by itself, evidence of improved lead quality or business performance.
Interpret differences cautiously. A before-and-after change does not prove the setting caused it. Consider the other changes you recorded and avoid treating missing reported spend as proof of a platform restriction.

Which Performance Max group are you considering prioritizing, and what would you use to judge whether the change helped?

Sources

Editorial note: AI assists with research, drafting and automated checks. Sources are linked so you can verify the guidance. Platform requirements can change; confirm the details that apply to your setup.